was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

. The league's dominant team was

Tokyo Kyojin The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

(renamed the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

in 1947), which won nine league championships, including six in a row from 1938 to 1943, when many of Japan's best players were serving in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

.Reaves, Joseph A. (2002). ''Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia''. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 70–71. . Standout players from the Japanese Baseball League era included

Haruyasu Nakajima Haruyasu Nakajima (中島治康 June 28, 1909 – April 21, 1987) was a Japanese baseball player. An outfielder with a strong throwing arm, he played an active part in the beginning of professional baseball in Japan. Nakajima attended Waseda U ...

Tetsuharu Kawakami was a Japanese baseball player and manager, known for his red bat, and his nickname . He was a professional player for 18 years, winning the batting title five times, two home run crowns, three RBI titles, and had six titles for the most hits in ...

, and

Kazuto Tsuruoka , also known as Kazuto Yamamoto, was a former professional baseball infielder and manager in the Japan Baseball League (JBL) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Tsuroka played for the same franchise in 1939, and from 1946 to 1952, which du ...

; pitchers

Hideo Fujimoto (also known as Hideo Nakagami) (May 10, 1918 – April 26, 1997) was a Japanese baseball pitcher. He holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA (1.90) and seasonal ERA (0.73), as well as best all-time winning percentage (.697). During his ...

Eiji Sawamura Eiji Sawamura (沢村栄治; February 1, 1917 – December 2, 1944) was a Japanese professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, he played in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants. Early life On November 20, 1934, the 17-year-old Sawamura fa ...

, Victor Starffin, and

Tadashi Wakabayashi Tadashi Henry Wakabayashi () (March 1, 1908 – March 5, 1965) was a professional baseball player from Oahu, Hawaii. He was a second generation Japanese American. Biography Wakabayashi's parents had immigrated to Hawaii from Hiroshima, Japan, an ...

; and

two-way player In sports that require a player to play on offense and defense (such as basketball and ice hockey), a two-way player refers to a player who excels at both. In sports where a player typically specializes on offense or defense (like American footb ...

Fumio Fujimura was a Japanese baseball infielder and pitcher who played 22 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) from 1936 to 1958. He began his career as a stellar right-handed pitcher for the Osaka Tigers, but achieved his greatest fame as a hitter. ...

Shosei Go Shosei Go (; Japanese: ''Go Shōsei''; June 28, 1916 – June 7, 1987) was a two-way baseball player from Taiwan. Go was a leadoff man who played for the Tokyo Giants (1937–1943, now the Yomiuri Giants), Hanshin Tigers (1944–1949) and Maini ...

, Masaru Kageura, and Jiro Noguchi.

League structure

Unlike American pro teams, Japanese Baseball League teams were usually named after their corporate owners/sponsors rather than the cities or regions in which they played. This was because Japanese franchising does not have strong territorial requirements as in the Major Leagues; as a result, the JBL teams clustered in metropolitan areas in Japan's center (Tokyo,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

) and south (

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

). As a result, teams were notorious for how often they changed their names, often because of changes in ownership/sponsorship (and also because of nationalistic regulations imposed during wartime, such as the outlawing of English team names). (The

, the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

, and the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

are the only surviving major clubs that have always been based in their respective cities. Additionally, the current

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

are a merger of two clubs which never left their hometown.) Most Japanese Baseball League teams did not have an "official" home stadium; instead, teams played at any stadium in the area in which they were based. All league championships went to whoever had the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played.

History

The league was established on February 5, 1936, as the Japan

Occupational Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a co ...

Baseball League, with an initial complement of seven teams. Three of the teams were based in Tokyo, two in

, and two in

. Due to a lack of position players, a number of players in the league both pitched and batted. At first (until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

), the JBL was a "

dead ball Dead ball is a term in many ball sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it or the players from their respective positions of significance. Depending on the sport, this event may be quite rou ...

" league, due to Japan conserving rubber (including inside baseballs) for its war efforts; instead it used

Balatá ''Manilkara bidentata'' is a species of ''Manilkara'' native to a large area of northern South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Common names include bulletwood, balatá, ausubo, massaranduba, quinilla, and (ambiguously) " cow-tree". D ...

inside the balls. Initially, the league played split seasons, doing so from 1936 to 1938. In the debut 1936 season, it split into spring, summer, and fall seasons, only keeping track of the standings in the fall season. The league played spring and fall seasons in 1937 (c. 100-game schedule in total) and 1938 (total 75-game schedule), adding one new team each year. The league was renamed the Japanese Baseball League in 1939, playing a 96-game schedule. Before the 1940 season, one of the founding teams,

Nagoya Kinko Nagoya Kinko (long name: Nagoya Kinnosachihiko)"Nagoya Kinko"
Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed Mar ...

(originally the

Nagoya Golden Dolphins Nagoya Kinko (long name: Nagoya Kinnosachihiko)"Nagoya Kinko"
Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed Mar ...

), merged with the

Tokyo Senators The Nishitetsu Baseball Club was a team in the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). Founded in 1936 as the Tokyo Senators, the team went through a number of name changes and mergers before being dissolved after the 1943 season. The team's undisputed ...

. The 1940 season featured a 104-game schedule. In October 1940 (responding to rising hostility toward the West due to World War II), the league outlawed the use of English in Japanese baseball. In response, the

Korakuen Eagles The Yamato Baseball Club was a Japanese baseball team in the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). Based in Tokyo, the franchise was founded as the Korakuen Eagles before the 1937 season and was dissolved before the 1944 season. Franchise history Ko ...

became "Kurowashi", the

Osaka Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

became "Hanshin", the

became "Tsubasa", and (eventually)

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

became "Asahi." In 1941, the JBL appointed its first president, Jiro Morioka (formerly VP of

Dai Tokyo The Shochiku Robins were a Japanese baseball team that played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The franchise originated in the Japanese Baseball League (NPB's predecessor) and existed from 1936–1953, when it merged with the Taiyo Whales. Or ...

). Morioka negotiated with the

Japanese Imperial Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

to keep professional baseball going through the early years of the Second World War. The league played a 90-game schedule in 1941, a 104-game schedule in 1942, and an 84-game schedule in 1943. Two Tokyo-based teams dissolved before the 1944 season: the Yamato Baseball Club (originally the

) and the

Nishitetsu Baseball Club The Nishitetsu Baseball Club was a team in the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). Founded in 1936 as the Tokyo Senators, the team went through a number of name changes and mergers before being dissolved after the 1943 season. The team's undisputed ...

(originally the

). Due to the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, the 1944 season was truncated to c. 35 games, and the 1945 season was skipped entirely. Many players enlisted in the

, with 72 of them losing their lives in the war.

Whiting, Robert Robert Whiting (born October 24, 1942) is a best-selling author and journalist who has written several books on contemporary Japanese culture - which include topics such as baseball and American gangsters operating in Japan. He was born in New Jer ...

. ''You Gotta Have Wa'' (Vintage Departures, 1989), p. 46. The league restarted on November 6, 1945, and a full season of 105 games was played the next year, with two new teams (both based in Tokyo) joining the league. One of the new teams, Gold Star, was owned by textile manufacturer

Komajiro Tamura Komajirō Tamura (February 21, 1904–January 21, 1961) was a Japanese businessman and Professional baseball in Japan, professional baseball team owner. Tamura was a textile manufacturer, and owner of, among others, Taiyo Rayon and of Lucky Gol ...

, who also owned

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

(formerly

Asahi Asahi (朝日, 旭, or あさひ) means "morning sun" in Japanese and may refer to: Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi (旭� ...

). A rival four-team league, known as the , played a 30-game summer season in 1947. Unable to compete against the more established JBL, however, the Kokumin League disbanded a few games into the 1947 fall season. The Japanese Baseball League played a 119-game schedule in 1947. That year, baseball personality Sōtaro Suzuki proposed that JBL teams should have pet names like the Yomiuri Giants', whose pet name was "Kyojin", and names such as the

' alias "Mouko" (''fierce tiger''), the revived

' "Seito" (''bluestockings'') and the

's "Taihei" (''tranquility'') began to be used by the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

. However, some teams rejected the use of these pet names, so they were never fully adopted. The 1948 season had a 140-game schedule, and the 1949 season had a 134-game schedule. After the 1949 season, the league reorganized into today's

(NPB). The four earliest-established clubs formerly in the Japanese Baseball League were placed in NPB's

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

, while the four later surviving franchises went to the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

Foreign players

Victor Starffin, an ethnic

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

pitcher, was a dominant player of the era and the first professional pitcher in Japan to win 300 games.

, nicknamed "The Human Locomotive", was a speedy player from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

who played in the league for the Kyojin and the Tigers. He won the 1943 JBL Most Valuable Player award as a member of the champion Kyojin. Hiroshi Oshita was another Taiwanese player who starred in the JBL. From 1946 to 1949 he played for the

Tokyu Flyers The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Figh ...

. (After reorganization, Oshita stayed with the Flyers until 1951, and then moved to the

Nishitetsu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

, finishing his Japanese professional career with a .303 lifetime batting average, 201 home runs, and 861 RBI.) Andrew "Bucky"

Harris McGalliard __NOTOC__ Andrew Harris McGalliard (September 25, 1906 – May 26, 1978), better known as Bucky Harris, was an American professional baseball player who played in the Japanese Baseball League from 1936 to 1938. While playing for the Korakuen Eag ...

(Japan's "Bucky Harris"), Herbert "Buster" North, and James E. "Jimmy Bonna" Bonner became the first

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

to play in Japan's professional baseball league in 1936. (Bonner was

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, thus beating

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

to professional baseball 11 years before Robinson broke in with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

.)Thomas, Dexter
"Japan's First Black Baseball Player: Eleven years before Jackie Robinson, Tokyo signed a black ace pitcher,"
''Medium'' "Culture Club" (Oct. 7, 2014). They were joined by the

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asia ...

players Kiyomi "Slim" Hirakawa, Fumito "Jimmy" Horio, Kazuyoshi "George" Matsuura, Yoshio "Sam" Takahashi, and Tadashi "Bozo" Wakabayashi.

Teams

MVPs

* 1937 (spring):

, P * 1937 (fall):

, C * 1938 (spring):

Hisanori Karita Hisanori (written: 尚成, 尚徳, 永徳, 寿典 or 久則) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * (1880–1970), Imperial Japanese Navy admiral * (born 1978), Japanese actor * (born 1964), Japanese footballer ...

, 2B * 1938 (fall):

, OF * 1939: Victor Starffin,

, P * 1940: Victor Starffin,

, P * 1941:

, 1B * 1942:

Shigeru Mizuhara is a former professional baseball infielder and manager in Japan's Japanese Baseball League (JBL) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). As a player his team won nine JBL championships; as a manager his teams won five Japan Series championships ...

, 2B * 1943:

, OF * 1944:

Hanshin , derived from the second kanji from and the first kanji from (but in ''on''-reading instead of ''kun''-reading), refers generally to Osaka, Kobe, and the surrounding area in the Kansai region of Japan. In the context of a region of Hyōgo ...

, P * 1945: ''No league play because of World War II'' * 1946:

, Kinki Great Ring, 3B * 1947:

, P * 1948:

, Nankai, 3B * 1949:

, 3B

Season-by-season standings

Season champion in bold.

Notes

References

External links

Japanese Baseball Data Archive at ''The Baseball Guru''

List of players at Japanese Baseball

"Japanese Baseball League (Spring) (Foreign) Encyclopedia and History," (1936–1938)
at Baseball-Reference.com
"Japanese Baseball League (Fall) (Foreign) Encyclopedia and History," (1936–1938
at Baseball-Reference.com
"Japanese Baseball League (Foreign) Encyclopedia and History," (1939–1949
at Baseball-Reference.com {{Professional Baseball Defunct baseball leagues in Japan Sports leagues established in 1936 Sports leagues disestablished in 1949 1936 establishments in Japan 1936 disestablishments in Japan