Hanshin Tigers

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Expand JapaneseTemplate:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball team

The Template:Nihongo are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc.

The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961.

History

Kōshien Stadium in 2009

The Hanshin Tigers, the second-oldest professional club in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935, with the team being formed in 1936.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The team was first called Ōsaka Tigers. In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment and the Tojo government's ban on English nicknames, the Tigers changed the name to simply Hanshin. In 1947, the team reverted to Ōsaka Tigers after the JPBL permitted use of English nicknames. The current team name was assumed in 1961 due to the team playing in the suburb of Nishinomiya, which is not in Osaka Prefecture.

The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two-league system in 1950. Since the league was split into the Central League and Pacific League, the Tigers have won the Central League pennant seven times (1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, 2005, 2023, 2025) and Japan Series twice (1985, 2023).

When the 2004 Major League Baseball season began in Japan, the Tigers played an exhibition game against the New York Yankees at the Tokyo Dome on March 29. The Tigers won 11–7.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The 2025 Major League Baseball season kicked off with two games at the Tokyo Dome between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. Prior to the series, the Tigers played exhibition games against each of these major league clubs, winning both on consecutive shutouts.

In 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009, more than three million people attended games hosted by the Tigers, the only one of the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams to achieve this. In 2011, the Hanshin Tigers drew an average home attendance of 40,256.<ref>https://billsportsmaps.com/?p=3780</ref>

The home field, Koshien Stadium, is used by high school baseball teams from all over Japan for the national championship tournaments in spring and summer. The summer tournament takes place in the middle of the Tigers' season, forcing the Tigers to go on a road trip and play their home games at Kyocera Dome Osaka. Fans call this "The Road of Death".

Famous players in Hanshin Tigers history include Fumio Fujimura, Masaru Kageura, Minoru Murayama, Yutaka Enatsu, Masayuki Kakefu, Randy Bass, Taira Fujita, and many others.

Koshien Stadium

The home field of the Tigers, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, is one of three major natural grass baseball stadiums in Japan. The others are the Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima (Hiroshima Toyo Carp), and Hotto Motto Field Kobe (part-time home of the Orix Buffaloes). Of the three, only Koshien has an all-dirt infield (the other two have an American-style infield.)Template:Citation needed

Koshien Stadium is the oldest ballpark in Japan; built in 1924, the stadium was once visited by American baseball legend Babe Ruth on a tour of Major League stars in 1934.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> There is a monument commemorating this visit within the stadium grounds, in an area called Mizuno Square.

Curse of the Colonel

Template:Main

As with many other underachieving baseball teams, a curse was believed to lurk over the Tigers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1985, when the Tigers had just clinched the Central League pennant, fans celebrated by having people who looked like Tigers players jump into the Dōtonbori Canal. According to legend, because none of the fans resembled first baseman Randy Bass, fans grabbed a life-sized statue of the KFC mascot, Colonel Sanders, and threw it into the river (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese). After this the Tigers managed to defeat the Seibu Lions in the 1985 Japan Series four games to three. After many seasons after the incident without a pennant win, the Tigers were said to be doomed never to win the season again until the Colonel was rescued from the river.

In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with the best record in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect the statues from Tigers fans.

In 2005, like 2003, they clinched the pennant and made it back to the Japan Series, but lost to Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines. They were outscored 33–4 in four games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The top half of the Colonel Sanders statue (excluding both hands) was finally recovered on March 10, 2009, and the bottom half and right hand shortly after, in the canal by construction workers while constructing a new boardwalk area as part of a beautification project. The statue is still missing its left hand and glasses. The KFC outlet where this statue once stood has since closed; the statue is now at the KFC headquarters in Yokohama. It is not viewable by the public. Since then, the Hanshin Tigers made the 2014 Japan Series, but lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 5 games. The curse was finally broken, after the Hanshin Tigers managed to defeat the rival Orix Buffaloes in the 2023 Japan Series four games to three.

Fandom

Tigers fans at a home game at Koshien Stadium
Tigers fans release balloons at the Kyocera Dome, the home stadium of the Orix Buffaloes

Tigers fans are known as perhaps the most fanatical and dedicated fans in all of Japanese professional baseball. They often outnumber the home team fans at Tigers "away" games. Tigers fans also once had a reputation for rough behavior and a willingness to brawl with other fans or with each other, although fights are rare these days.<ref name=WhitingWa>Whiting, Robert. You Gotta Have Wa (Vintage Departures, 1989), pp. 118–120.</ref>

A famous Tigers fan tradition (done by other teams of NPB as well) is the release, by the fans, of hundreds of air-filled balloons immediately following the seventh-inning stretch and the singing of the Tigers' fight song. This tradition is carried out at all home and away games, except at games against the Yomiuri Giants in the Tokyo Dome due to the Giants' notoriously authoritarian and heavy-handed rules for controlling behavior by visiting fans.

The Tigers-Giants rivalry is considered the national Japanese rivalry, on par with the Dodgers-Giants and Yankees-Red Sox rivalries in Major League Baseball or El Clásico in Spanish football. The two teams have historically had a relatively close record of games with the Giants taking 1127 wins over the Tigers whereas the Tigers have taken 888 games over the Giants. 77 of the total games between the two have ended in tie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fight song

"Template:Nihongo", as known as "Template:Nihongo", lyrics by Template:Nihongo and composed by Template:Nihongo, is a popular song in the Kansai area. It is the official fight song of the Tigers. In Japan, wind which blows down from a mountain is known to be cold and harsh, hence the song symbolizes the Tiger's brave challenge under hardship. The song can be found on karaoke boxes.

Japanese Romaji English
Template:Lang

Rokkō oroshi ni sassō to
Sōten kakeru nichirin no
Seishun no haki uruwashiku
Kagayaku wagana zo Hanshin Tigers
Ō-ō-ō-ō Hanshin Tigers
Fure-fure-fure-fure

Tōshi hatsuratsu tatsu ya ima
Nekketsu sude ni teki o tsuku
Jūō no iki takaraka ni
Muteki no warera zo Hanshin Tigers
Ō-ō-ō-ō Hanshin Tigers
Fure-fure-fure-fure

Tetsuwan kyōda ikuchitabi
Kitaete koko ni Kōshien
Shōri ni moyuru eikan wa
Kagayaku warera zo Hanshin Tigers
Ō-ō-ō-ō Hanshin Tigers
Fure-fure-fure-fure

an official English version, not a direct translation

Dashing swiftly through the wind blowin' from Rokko
Like the big sun soaring in the clear blue sky
Mighty spirit of the youth shows the victor's grace
The name that shines in glory "Hanshin Tigers"
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Hanshin Tigers
Go, Go, Go, Go!

Powerful hits and skillful pitch achieved a thousand times
Trained with every discipline here at Koshien
Crowned with constant victory glorious, matchless feat
Always proud, invincible "Hanshin Tigers"
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Hanshin Tigers
Go, Go, Go, Go!

Regular season records

Osaka Tigers (Japanese Baseball League)
Year Manager Games Wins Losses Ties Pct. GB Place
1936 – Spring/Summer Season Shigeo Mori 15 9 6 0 .600 N/A (1 tournament won)
1936 – Fall Season Shuichi Ishimoto 31 24 6 1 .774 N/A Runners-up (2.5 tournaments won)
1937 – Spring Season Shuichi Ishimoto 56 41 14 1 .741 0.5 2nd (out of 8)
1937 – Fall Season Shuichi Ishimoto 49 39 9 1 .806 -.- 1st (out of 8)
1938 – Spring Season Shuichi Ishimoto 35 29 6 0 .829 -.- 1st (out of 8)
1938 – Fall Season Shuichi Ishimoto 40 27 13 0 .675 3.5 2nd (out of 9)
1939 Shuichi Ishimoto 96 63 30 3 .672 3.5 2nd (out of 9)
Hanshin (Japanese Baseball League)
Year Manager Games Wins Losses Ties Pct. GB Place
1940 Kenjiro Matsuki 104 64 37 3 .630 10.5 2nd (out of 9)
1941 Kenjiro Matsuki 84 41 43 0 .488 21.0 5th (out of 8)
1942 Tadashi Wakabayashi 105 52 48 5 .519 21.0 3rd (out of 8)
1943 Tadashi Wakabayashi 84 41 36 7 .530 11.0 3rd (out of 8)
1944 Tadashi Wakabayashi 35 27 6 2 .800 -.- 1st (out of 6)
1946 Fumio Fujimura 105 59 46 0 .562 7.0 3rd (out of 8)
Osaka Tigers (Japanese Baseball League)
Year Manager Games Wins Losses Ties Pct. GB Place
1947 Tadashi Wakabayashi 119 79 37 3 .676 -.- 1st (out of 8)
1948 Tadashi Wakabayashi 140 70 66 4 .514 17.0 3rd (out of 8)
1949 Tadashi Wakabayashi 137 65 69 3 .485 20.5 6th (out of 8)
Osaka Tigers
Year Manager Games Wins Losses Ties Pct. GB Place
1950 Kenjiro Matsuki 140 70 67 3 .511 30.0 4th
1951 Kenjiro Matsuki 116 61 52 3 .539 20.5 3rd
1952 Kenjiro Matsuki 120 79 40 1 .663 3.5 2nd
1953 Kenjiro Matsuki 130 74 56 0 .569 16.0 2nd
1954 Kenjiro Matsuki 130 71 57 2 .554 16.0 3rd
1955 Ichiro Kishi (Interim: Fumio Fujimura) 130 71 57 2 .554 20.5 3rd
1956 Fumio Fujimura 130 79 50 1 .612 4.5 2nd
1957 Fumio Fujimura 130 73 54 3 .573 1.0 2nd
1958 Yoshio Tanaka 130 72 58 0 .554 5.5 2nd
1959 Yoshio Tanaka 130 62 59 9 .512 13.0 2nd
1960 Masayasu Kaneda 130 64 62 4 .508 6.0 3rd
Hanshin Tigers
Year Manager Games Wins Losses Ties Pct. GB Place
1961 Masayasu Kaneda (Interim: Sadayoshi Fujimoto) 130 60 67 3 .473 12.5 4th
1962 Sadayoshi Fujimoto 133 75 55 3 .575 -.- 1st
1963 Sadayoshi Fujimoto 140 69 70 1 .496 14.5 3rd
1964 Sadayoshi Fujimoto 140 80 56 4 .586 -.- 1st
1965 Sadayoshi Fujimoto 140 71 66 3 .518 19.5 3rd
1966 Shigeru Sugishita (Interim: Sadayoshi Fujimoto) 135 64 66 5 .493 25.0 3rd
1967 Sadayoshi Fujimoto 136 70 60 6 .537 14.0 3rd
1968 Sadayoshi Fujimoto 133 72 58 3 .553 5.0 2nd
1969 Tsuguo Goto 130 68 59 3 .535 6.5 2nd
1970 Minoru Murayama 130 77 49 4 .608 2.0 2nd
1971 Minoru Murayama 130 57 64 9 .473 12.5 5th
1972 Minoru Murayama (Interim: Masayasu Kaneda) 130 71 56 3 .558 3.5 2nd
1973 Masayasu Kaneda 130 64 59 7 .519 0.5 2nd
1974 Masayasu Kaneda 130 57 64 9 .473 14.0 4th
1975 Yoshio Yoshida 130 68 55 7 .550 6.0 3rd
1976 Yoshio Yoshida 130 72 45 13 .604 2.0 2nd
1977 Yoshio Yoshida 130 55 63 12 .469 21.0 4th
1978 Tsuguo Goto 130 41 80 9 .350 30.5 6th (last)
1979 Don Blasingame 130 61 60 9 .504 8.0 4th
1980 Don Blasingame (Interim: Futoshi Nakanishi) 130 54 66 10 .454 20.5 5th
1981 Futoshi Nakanishi 130 67 58 5 .535 8.0 3rd
1982 Motoo Andoh (Interim: Takao Sato) 130 65 57 8 .531 4.5 3rd
1983 Motoo Andoh 130 62 63 5 .496 11.5 4th
1984 Motoo Andoh 130 53 69 8 .438 23.0 4th
1985 Yoshio Yoshida 130 74 49 7 .596 -.- 1st – Won Japan Series
1986 Yoshio Yoshida 130 60 60 10 .500 13.5 3rd
1987 Yoshio Yoshida 130 41 83 6 .338 37.5 6th (last)
1988 Minoru Murayama 130 51 77 2 .400 29.5 6th (last)
1989 Minoru Murayama 130 54 75 1 .419 30.5 5th
1990 Katsuhiro Nakamura 130 52 78 0 .400 36.0 6th (last)
1991 Katsuhiro Nakamura 130 48 82 0 .369 26.0 6th (last)
1992 Katsuhiro Nakamura 132 67 63 2 .515 2.0 2nd/3rd (tied)
1993 Katsuhiro Nakamura 132 63 67 2 .485 17.0 4th
1994 Katsuhiro Nakamura 130 62 68 0 .477 8.0 4th/5th (tied)
1995 Katsuhiro Nakamura (Interim: Taira Fujita) 130 46 84 0 .354 36.0 6th (last)
1996 Taira Fujita (Interim: Takeshi Shibata) 130 54 76 0 .415 23.0 6th (last)
1997 Yoshio Yoshida 136 62 73 1 .460 21.0 5th
1998 Yoshio Yoshida 135 52 83 0 .385 27.0 6th (last)
1999 Katsuya Nomura 135 55 80 0 .407 26.0 6th (last)
2000 Katsuya Nomura 136 57 78 1 .423 21.0 6th (last)
2001 Katsuya Nomura 140 57 80 3 .418 20.5 6th (last)
2002 Senichi Hoshino 140 66 70 4 .486 19.0 4th
2003 Senichi Hoshino 140 87 51 2 .629 -.- 1st
2004 Akinobu Okada 138 66 70 2 .485 13.0 4th
2005 Akinobu Okada 146 87 54 5 .617 -.- 1st
2006 Akinobu Okada 146 84 58 4 .592 3.5 2nd
2007 Akinobu Okada 144 74 66 4 .529 4.5 3rd
2008 Akinobu Okada 144 82 59 3 .582 2.0 2nd
2009 Akinobu Mayumi 144 67 73 4 .479 24.5 4th
2010 Akinobu Mayumi 144 78 63 3 .553 1.0 2nd
2011 Akinobu Mayumi 144 68 70 6 .493 9.0 4th
2012 Yutaka Wada 144 55 75 14 .423 31.5 5th
2013 Yutaka Wada 144 73 67 4 .521 12.5 2nd
2014 Yutaka Wada 144 75 68 1 .524 7.0 2nd
2015 Yutaka Wada 143 70 71 2 .496 6.0 3rd
2016 Tomoaki Kanemoto 143 64 76 3 .457 24.5 4th
2017 Tomoaki Kanemoto 143 78 61 4 .561 10.0 2nd
2018 Tomoaki Kanemoto 143 62 79 2 .440 20.0 6th
2019 Akihiro Yano 143 69 68 6 .504 6.0 3rd
2020 Akihiro Yano 120 60 53 7 .531 7.5 2nd
2021 Akihiro Yano 143 77 56 10 .579 1 2nd
2022 Akihiro Yano 143 68 71 10 .579 12 3rd
2023 Akinobu Okada 143 85 53 5 .616 -.- 1st – Won Japan Series
2024 Akinobu Okada 143 74 63 6 .540 3.5 2nd

NOTE: The 1944 Japanese Baseball League season was cut-short, the 1945 season was cancelled due to the ongoing war (World War II) with many players being enlisted to fight, and the 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

List of managers

colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Name colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Term colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Games colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|W colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|L colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|T colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Win %
Shigeo Mori 1936 (Spring – Summer) 15 9 6 0 .600
Shuichi Ishimoto 1936 (Fall)-1939 307 223 78 6 .736
Kenjiro Matsuki 1940–1941 & 1950–1954 824 460 352 12 .565
Tadashi Wakabayashi 1942–1944 & 1947–1949 620 334 262 24 .558
Fumio Fujimura 1946 & 1956–1957 365 211 150 4 .584
Ichiro Kishi 1955 130 71 57 2 .554
Yoshio Tanaka 1958–1959 260 134 117 9 .533
Masayasu Kaneda 1960–1961 & 1973–1974 520 245 252 23 .493
Sadayoshi Fujimoto 1962–1965 & 1967–1968 822 437 365 20 .544
Shigeru Sugishita 1966 135 64 66 5 .493
Tsuguo Goto 1969 & 1978 260 109 139 12 .442
Minoru Murayama 1970–1972 & 1988–1989 650 310 321 19 .491
Yoshio Yoshida 1975–1977, 1985–1987 & 1997–1998 1051 484 511 56 .487
Don Blasingame 1979–1980 260 115 126 19 .479
Futoshi Nakanishi 1981 130 67 58 5 .535
Motoo Andoh 1982–1984 390 180 189 21 .488
Katsuhiro Nakamura 1990–1995 784 338 442 4 .434
Taira Fujita 1996 130 54 76 0 .415
Katsuya Nomura 1999–2001 411 169 238 4 .416
Senichi Hoshino 2002–2003 280 153 121 6 .557
Akinobu Okada 2004–2008 & 2023–2024 1004 554 423 27 .567
Akinobu Mayumi 2009–2011 432 213 206 13 .508
Yutaka Wada 2012–2015 575 273 281 21 .493
Tomoaki Kanemoto 2016–2018 429 204 216 9 .486
Akihiro Yano 2019–2022 143 274 248 27 .525
Kyuji Fujikawa 2025–present 143 85 54 4 Template:Winning percentage

Current roster

Template:Hanshin Tigers roster

Players of note

Former players

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Retired numbers

colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Number colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Player colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Position colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Tenure
10 Template:Flagicon Fumio Fujimura (Template:Lang) IF / P
Manager 		1936–1938, 1943–1956, 1958
1946, 1955–1957
11 Template:Flagicon Minoru Murayama (Template:Lang) Pitcher
Manager 		1959–1972
1970–1972, 1988–1989
23 Template:Flagicon Yoshio Yoshida (Template:Lang) SS
Manager 		1953–1969
1969, 1975–1977, 1985–1987, 1997–1998

MLB players

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Media relating to the Tigers

Mascots

Template:Nihongo is a mascot character of the Tigers. With his girlfriend Lucky, he entertains spectators at team games. His uniform number is 1985, because his first appearance was in 1985. His name is a combination of two separate Japanese words, Template:Nihongo, meaning tiger and Template:Nihongo meaning lucky. His name therefore means "lucky tiger" in Japanese.

To Lucky's first appearance was on the screen at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in 1985. He appeared as a live-action character in 1987. His design was updated in 1992.

Aside from To Lucky, the other mascots of the Tigers are Lucky (Template:Lang Rakkii), his girlfriend, and the most recent addition, Keeta (Template:Lang), Lucky's little brother. Keeta's uniform number is 2011, because he was introduced to the Tigers in 2011. He wears a backwards cap. Lucky's cap is pink unlike her boyfriend's and his little brother's.

Newspapers

Stations

Broadcasting:

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Commons category

Template:Hanshin Tigers Template:Japanese Professional Baseball Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Hanshin_Tigers&oldid=302215"