Many of you are probably aware of the fact that the Hanshin Tigers have a long history of scandal and notoriety. Among the better stories is this one of a home run that embarrassed a rookie pitcher in front of the emperor of Japan.
No franchise should be proud of the fact that it has just one Japan Series championship in 69 years. And yet, you won’t find a baseball team prouder of its win than the Hanshin Tigers. But is that a testament to the lameness of the franchise, or is there more to it than that? The…
Most of us are aware of the fact that Takashi Toritani reached the 2000 career hit mark last September. He became just the second homegrown talent in club history (after Taira Fujita) to reach the mark while still a member of the club. Other guys have done it in a Tigers uniform, but they started their…
As most of you know, the Hanshin Tigers experienced a long drought between 1986 and 2002. The team had just one 2nd place finish during that spell against 10 last place seasons. They became known as ダメ虎 (Dame Tora = Awful Tigers) and looked to be perennial losers until the end of time. Not only…
In a way, the book title says it all – this is a complete summary of the Hanshin Tigers’ 1965 through 1978 seasons. But actually, it starts the tale in the fall of 1958, when the team signed the best pitcher in its history – Minoru Murayama. After brief recaps of the first seasons in…
As I perused the baseball section at the local library, this book seemed like one I should read. Nothing about the cover or the title would compel anyone to read it, but the author’s name might make you feel like you should. Yoshio Yoshida was not only the manager of the 1985 championship team (the…