Founded on: December 10, 1935

Home Stadium: Hanshin Koshien Stadium (Nishinomiya, Hyogo)

Previously Known As: Osaka Tigers (1936-40, 1946-60); Hanshin (1941-44)

Championships Won: 6 Central League Titles (see here for details), including 2 Japan Series championships

Current Uniforms:
Away –  Home – 

Top 5 Players in Team History (Links to longer lists of the best Japanese and import players in team history.)

1) Fumio Fujimura (3B/P): The original “Mr. Tigers” who revolutionized the game and was a longtime fan favorite.

2) Minoru Murayama (P): Second generation “Mr. Tigers” who holds the NPB record for most career victories by a university graduate (222).

3) Yutaka Enatsu (P): One of the most dynamic pitchers in NPB history, and world record holder for most single-season strikeouts (401).

4) Masayuki Kakefu (3B): Most recent “Mr. Tigers” who is the team leader in career home runs.

5) Randy Bass (1B): Two-time Triple Crown and MVP winner, NPB record holder for best single-season batting average (.389).

Most Famous Manager: Akinobu Okada (led the team to a Japan Series victory in 2023, Central League pennant in 2005)

Current Top Position Players: Yusuke Ohyama, Koji Chikamoto, Teruaki Sato

Current Top Pitchers: Shoki Murakami, Hiroto Saiki, Masashi Itoh, Suguru Iwazaki

Brief History:

When the Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Club (later known as the Yomiuri Giants) formed in 1934 to face a team of MLB stars during their tour of Japan, giving Japan its first professional baseball team, Giants owner Matsutaro Shoriki began to think about forming a professional league. The first group he contacted was a train company in the Osaka-Kobe area, called Hanshin Electric Railway. The company was, after all, owner of the largest stadium in the Orient: Hanshin Koshien Stadium (built in 1924). Hanshin was interested to see if professional baseball would take root in Japan, but was also concerned with the possibility that putting a pro team at Koshien, already hallowed home of the spring and summer high school tournaments, would taint the stadium and company image. After all, baseball had never been played for money in Japan, and as such, fans of the game had never had to pay admission fees to watch a game.

They held a “test game” on August 16, 1935, at Koshien Stadium. If the turnout was good, they would start work on setting up a team. If not, they would delay, or even pull the plug. The area received a lot of rain the previous day, and there was a chance the game would not even take place. However, the rains stopped overnight, and the field was in fine playing condition. The game was played in front of eight thousand fans, 4,486 of whom paid admission. It was enough of a success. A manager was hired out of the Tokyo Big6 – Shigeo Mori. But before that, they signed six players, including Masato Monzen (first contracted player in club history) and future legend Fumio Fujimura. In response to the Yomiuri Shimbun’s naming of their team, the Hanshin group initially called their club “Osaka Yakyu Club.” The name Tigers came when the Hanshin Electric Railway company asked its employees for ideas. “Tigers” was among the more popular entries, and one particular explanation made the decision an easy one. Much like Detroit (home of Major League Baseball’s Tigers), Osaka was a strong industrial city. So from its first professional game in 1936, the team became known as the Osaka Tigers.

The Tigers were among the stronger teams during the single-league era (called Japanese Professional Baseball) from 1936 to 49, winning the title four times during that span. They were led by a strong pitching staff (led by Hawaii-born Tadashi Wakabayashi) and an order referred to as the Dynamite Dasen (lineup). However, when the league split in two (the Central, to which the Tigers belonged, and the Pacific) in 1950, Wakabayashi left the club and convinced several of his key teammates to do the same. This was not done out of spite or malice, but in order to help the Pacific League draw fans away from the Central (which featured Hanshin and Yomiuri, the most popular teams in Japan). The result was a Japan Series win for Wakabayashi and the Mainichi Orions, but also a long stretch of mediocrity for the Tigers, who did not win a single Central League pennant in the first twelve seasons of two-league play.

The team changed its name from Osaka Tigers to Hanshin Tigers in 1961, and then in 1962, it rode the outstanding pitching arms of Minoru Murayama and Masaaki Koyama to its first-ever Japan Series. Though they lost that series, 2-4-1 to the Toei Flyers, the Tigers had a newfound confidence in themselves. Manager Sadayoshi Fujimoto inspired his players by refusing to be intimidated by the Giants. They would win the Central again in 1964, with the main contributor being import pitcher Gene Bacque, who became the first import pitcher ever to win the Sawamura Award that season. They would ultimately lose 3-4 in the Japan Series to the crosstown Nankai Hawks, who were also led by a foreign pitcher (Joe Stanka).

Unfortunately for the Tigers, though they were good through the next decade, the Giants went on a nine-year run of Japan Series Championships. Following that decade of being bridesmaids, the Tigers floundered for another ten years, even ending a season in last place (1978) for the first time ever. It would take until 1985 for them to win the Central League again, and this time, they also took the Japan Series (4-2 against the Seibu Lions).

However, the jubilation was short-lived, as the team apparently picked up a curse at season’s end. It took two years for them to plummet into last place, and from then until 2001, they only had one three-year stretch in which they avoided the cellar for more than one season. This period has become known as the Dark Ages (ankoku jidai) among fans. It took the hiring of Senichi Hoshino, former pitcher of the Chunichi Dragons, to lead the team to greatness once again.

In 2003, the team that had been a perennial punching bag for nearly two decades tore through the Central League and clinched the pennant in mid-September. The biggest difference, other than the manager, was that the team had acquired hot-ticket free agent slugger and ironman Tomoaki Kanemoto the previous offseason, and from then on, they stopped being the butt end of baseball fans’ jokes. They lost in the Japan Series 3-4 to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, though. Two years later (2005), the Tigers won their fifth CL pennant in a convincing manner, and fans were excited to finally witness another Japan Series win. They never came close, though, being outscored 33-4 (a number that core fans still joke about) in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Chiba Lotte Marines.

From 2006 to 2022, the team failed to win another pennant, though they only finished in last place once during that stretch (2018). At long last in 2023, the team put everything together, winning the Central League by 11.5 games and sweeping the Carp to advance to the Japan Series against the Orix Buffaloes. The first all-Kansai Japan Series in 64 years was not a disappointment, going seven games and seeing the Tigers triumph, bringing their 38-year championship drought to an end.

The Tigers are supported by perhaps the most loyal fanbase in Japan, which has been both a blessing and a curse that they have had to live with since their inception nearly ninety years ago.

Central League Team Profiles

Chunichi Dragons / Hiroshima Toyo Carp / Tokyo Yakult Swallows / Yokohama DeNA BayStars / Yomiuri Giants

Pacific League Team Profiles

 Chiba Lotte Marines / Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks / Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters / Orix Buffaloes / Saitama Seibu Lions / Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
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