The Japan Samurai Bears are a defunct traveling professional baseball team that played in the independent

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

, which is not affiliated with either

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

''or'' Minor League Baseball. They were based in the Arizona Division. The team, which existed for one season, played all of its games on the road in order to keep an even number of teams in the league. The manager of the team was

Warren Cromartie Warren Livingston Cromartie (born September 29, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player best remembered for his early career with the Montreal Expos. He and fellow young outfielders Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson were the talk ...

(aka "Cro"), an American who had played for a number of years in the Japanese

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

league. The team was almost entirely made of players from Japan, but did include some US-born players of Japanese descent to fill out the roster.

Team history

The Samurai Bears were one of eight charter teams in the Golden Baseball League that began play in 2005 joining the likes of the

Chico Outlaws The Chico Outlaws were a professional baseball team based in Chico, California, in the United States. The Outlaws were a member of the Northern Division of the independent North American League, which is not affiliated with either Major League Ba ...

, Fullerton Flyers,

Long Beach Armada The Long Beach Armada were an independent professional baseball team based in Long Beach, California, in the United States. The Armada was a member of the North Division of the now-defunct Golden Baseball League (GBL), which was not affiliated wi ...

and

San Diego Surf Dawgs The San Diego Surf Dawgs are an independent professional baseball team representing San Diego, California, that played for two seasons in the Golden Baseball League, based out of San Ramon, California, and then later in the short-season instructi ...

of California; the

Mesa Miners The Mesa Miners were an independent professional baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona. They began as a member of the Arizona Division of the now-defunct Golden Baseball League in 2005. The original team became known as the Reno Silver Sox in ...

, Surprise Fightin' Falcons and

Yuma Scorpions Yuma can refer to: Places * Yuma Desert, desert in southwest U.S. and northwest Mexico ;United States * Yuma County, Arizona ** Yuma, Arizona ** Fortuna Foothills, Arizona ** Marine Corps Air Station Yuma ** United States Army Yuma Proving Ground ...

of Arizona. They were the first, and so far only, "traveling team" in league history. They replaced the

Tijuana Toros The Toros de Tijuana (or Tijuana Bulls) are a Mexican Minor League Baseball, Baseball team based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. They are members of the Mexican Baseball League and play their home games at Estadio Chevron. Team history Ori ...

, who were supposed to be one of the original eight teams, but who were unable to play due to the Baja California State Government seizing their stadium with police troops and turning it over to the Mexican League a few months before the start of the GBL season. In their only season, the Samurai Bears finished last in the Arizona division with a league worst 33-57 record. Though the team struggled, there were some bright spots for the season. They had 3 pitchers (Hideki Nagasaka, Takaaki Igarashi, and Rentaro Seki) on the Arizona Division all-star team. First baseman Yuji Nerei was a Gold Glove winner and led the team in home runs and RBI, in addition to several other offensive categories. Pitcher Keisuke Ueno had his contract purchased by the Texas Rangers at the end of the season. Takaaki Igarashi still holds the single season GBL record for strikeouts and Rentaro Seki still holds the GBL single season record for shutouts. In 2007, a documentary of the experience was released titled "Season of the Samurai." The documentary, directed by Matthew Asner and Danny Gold, looked at the on- and off-field experiences of the team, including an in-depth look at the challenging relationship with the coach. The film was made an official selection to the Santa Barbara Film Festival.The film also was selected as the opening film of The 11th annual Comedia at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal.

Other logos

File:Japan Samurai Bears Main Logo.png, First team logo (2005) File:Japan Samurai Bears Updated Logo.png, Second team logo (2005) File:Japan Samurai Bears Alternate Logo.png, Alternate Team Logo (2005)

Team record

{, class="wikitable" , - ! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%" , Season ! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%" , W ! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%" , L ! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%" , Win % ! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="5%" , Place ! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="10%" , Playoff , - align=center , 2005 , , 33 , , 57 , , .367 , , 4th, Arizona Division , , Did not qualify

External links

Season of the Samurai HomepagePhotographs of the Samurai Bears on FlickrGolden Baseball League
Defunct Golden Baseball League teams Defunct independent baseball league teams Baseball teams established in 2005 Baseball teams disestablished in 2006 2005 establishments in Japan 2006 disestablishments in Japan Defunct baseball teams in Arizona