Hanshin Tigers

Hanshin Tigers
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
League	Nippon Professional Baseball Central League (1950–present) Japanese Baseball League (1936–1949)
Location	Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan
Ballpark	Hanshin Koshien Stadium (1936–present)
Year founded	1935
Nickname(s)	Tora (トラ, tigers) Mōko (猛虎, fierce tigers)
Japanese Baseball League titles	4 (1937 Fall, 1938 Spring, 1944, 1947)
Central League championships	5 (1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, 2005)
Nippon Series championships	1 (1985)
Former name(s)	Hanshin Tigers (1961–present) Osaka Tigers (1946–1960) Hanshin Club (1940–1944) Osaka Tigers (1935–1940)
Colors	Yellow, Black, White
Mascot	To-Lucky, Lucky, and Kita
Playoff berths	8 (2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Retired numbers	10 11 23
Ownership
Management	Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Manager	Akihiro Yano
Uniforms

HANSHIN Tigers Co., Ltd.
株式会社阪神タイガース

Type	Kabushiki gaisha
Founded	Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan (December 10, 1935 (1935-12-10), Osaka Baseball Club Co.)
Headquarters	2–33, Koshiencho, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Parent	Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Footnotes / references renamed "Hanshin Tigers Co., Ltd." in 1961

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 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, one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935 with the team being formed in 1936.^[1] The team was first called "the Ōsaka Tigers". In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment, the Tigers changed the name to "Hanshin" and in 1947 changed the name back to "Ōsaka Tigers". The current team name was assumed in 1961.

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 the Pacific League, the Tigers have won the Central League pennant five times (1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, 2005) and the Japan Series once (1985).

When the 2004 Major League Baseball season opened 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.

In each of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, more than three million people attended games hosted by the Tigers. The Tigers were the only one of the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams to achieve this.

On January 31, 2007, the Tigers presented uniforms for the 2007 season. For the home uniforms, yellow, one of the colors of the team, was used again.

The home field, Koshien Stadium, is used by high school baseball teams from all over Japan for play in 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 an annual three-week road trip to allow the tournament to be played.

Famous players in Hanshin Tigers history include Fumio Fujimura, Masaru Kageura, Minoru Murayama, Yutaka Enatsu, Masayuki Kakefu, Randy Bass 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). There are numerous smaller grass field ballparks around the country; Japanese baseball teams frequently play games in small cities so that local fans can see more of their heroes.

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.^[2] There is a monument commemorating this visit within the stadium grounds, in an area called Mizuno Square.

Koshien is revered as a "sacred" ballpark, and players traditionally bow before entering and before leaving its hallowed field. The stadium hosts the annual Japanese High School Baseball Championship in the summer and Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in the spring. The losing team in any high school baseball game played at the ballpark is allowed to scoop up handfuls of Koshien infield dirt, stuffing holy soil into their cleat bags as hordes of Japanese media snap photos at arm's length.

Curse of the Colonel[]

As with many other underachieving baseball teams, a curse is believed to lurk over the Tigers.^[3] After their 1985 Japan Series win, 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 Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot Colonel Sanders and threw it into the river (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese). After many seasons 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 them from Tigers fans.

The top half of the statue (excluding its left hand) 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; only employees and special guests are permitted to gaze into the rescued Colonel's eyes. Since then, the Hanshin Tigers made the 2014 Japan Series, but lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 5 games.

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.^[4]

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 San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers and the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry in Major League Baseball or Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona in Spanish football.

"The Hanshin Tigers' Song (阪神タイガースの歌, Hanshin Tigers no Uta)", as known as "Rokko Oroshi (六甲颪, 六甲おろし, lit. The (Downward) Wind of Mount Rokko)", lyrics by Sonosuke Sato (佐藤 惣之助) and composed by Yuji Koseki (古関 裕而), is a popular song in the Kansai area. 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 even be found on karaoke boxes.

Season-by-season[]

From the Kosaido Publishing Co., Ltd. (株式会社廣済堂出版, Kabushikigaisha Kōsaidō Shuppan) guidebook.

Regular season records[]

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

List of managers[]

Players of note[]

Current roster[]

Former players[]

Retired numbers[]

• 10 Fumio Fujimura (藤村 富実男)
• 11 Minoru Murayama (村山 実)
• 23 Yoshio Yoshida (吉田 義男)

MLB Players[]

Media relating to the Tigers[]

Mascots[]

To Lucky (トラッキー, Torakkii) 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, Tora (トラ), meaning tiger and Rakki (ラッキ) meaning lucky. His name therefore means "lucky tiger" in Japanese.

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

Newspapers[]

• Daily Sports (デイリースポーツ, published by the Kobe Shimbun, except Hiroshima region)
• Nikkan Sports (日刊スポーツ, affiliated company of the Asahi Shimbun, Kansai region)
• Sankei Sports (サンケイスポーツ, published by the Sankei Shimbun Osaka Head Office)
• Sports Nippon (スポーツニッポン, affiliated company of the Mainichi Shimbun, Kansai region)

Stations[]

(Broadcasting):

• Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. (MBS, 毎日放送, Radio and TV)
• Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC, 朝日放送, Radio and TV)
• Kansai Telecasting Corporation (関西テレビ, TV)
• Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (読売テレビ, TV)
• Television Osaka, Inc. (テレビ大阪, TV)
• SUN-TV (サンテレビ, TV)

See also[]

• Central League
• Western League
• Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group – Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
• Tampere Tigers

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hanshin Tigers.

• Hanshin Tigers official website (in Japanese)
• Suicide Spurs Reflections on Japanese Baseball – The New York Times
• Appetite for Hanshin - Hanshin Tigers English news website