Japanese Baseball
Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson, and the first formal team was established in 1878, and it has been a popular sport since. It is called ?? (????; yaky?) in Japanese, combining the characters for field and ball.
In 1913 and in 1922, American baseball stars visited Japan and played games against university students. They also held clinics on technique. A retired major league player, Herb Hunter, made eight trips to Japan from 1922 to 1932 organizing games and coaching clinics.
It is played at all age levels but most widely in junior high schools and senior high schools. In March and August, two tournaments are held in Koshien Stadium for senior high school teams that win a prefectural tournament.
The highest level of competition is Nippon Professional Baseball, started in 1920. It is called Puro Yaky? (????), meaning Professional Baseball.
In 2005 the Japan Samurai Bears began play in the Golden Baseball League, becoming the first Japanese team in an American professional baseball league.
Baseball Teams Based in Tokyo
Tokyo Yakult Swallows
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows is a professional Tokyo baseball team in the Japan Central League.
The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, the Yakult Corporation. From 1950 to 1965, the company was owned by the former Japan National Railways (known as “Kokutetsu” in Japanese) and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper Sankei Shimbun from 1965 to 1968 and called the Sankei Atoms.
Yakult purchased the team in 1970 and restored its original Swallows name in 1974. Then it was renamed the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2006.
Yomiuri Giants
The Yomiuri Giants (Yomiuri Jaiantsu) is one of the popular Central League Baseball teams based at the Tokyo Dome in Bunkyo city in Tokyo, Japan. The team is often called the “Tokyo Giants” in the American press, but like the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes, the team is officially known by the name of its corporate owner rather than the name of the city it plays in.
The team’s owner is the Yomiuri Group, a media conglomerate which includes two newspapers and a television network. They are regarded as “The New York Yankees of Japan” due to their past dominance of the league.
The Giants are the oldest professional team in Japan. They won nine Japanese Baseball League titles before the establishment of the two league system in 1950. Starting in 1965, the Giants won nine consecutive Central League pennants and Japan Series titles.
Report: O's tab Japan's Uehara - Kansas City Star
Publish Date: December 31, 1969
The versatile right-hander has spent his entire career with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league. The 33-year-old has started and pitched in relief, earning an All-Star nod after spending most of the …
Amateur sports teams losing ground | Asia News | Thailand News
Publish Date: December 31, 1969
A person involved with corporate baseball said, “It’s difficult to change the system in which teams are dependent on companies, as there’s no tradition in Japan of communities supporting their local amateur teams.” (Jan. 7, 2009) …
Japan's Uehara agrees to deal with Orioles: report
Publish Date: December 31, 1969
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