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2003 Nippon Professional Baseball Season
The Nippon Professional Baseball season ended with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks defeating the Hanshin Tigers in the 2003 Japan Series 4 games to 3. Standings Central League Pacific League See also *2003 Major League Baseball season The 2003 Major League Baseball season ended when the Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees in a six-game World Series. The Detroit Tigers set the American League record for losses in a season, with 119, and the Marlins became the first t ... References {{Japan-baseball-stub ...
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Nippon Professional Baseball
is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation of the in 1934. The first professional circuit for the sport in Japan, the Japanese Baseball League (JBL), was founded two years later and continued to play even through the final years of World War II. The organization that is today's NPB was formed when the JBL reorganized in 1950, dividing its 15 teams into two leagues, which would meet in the annual season-ending Japan Series championship play-off series of games starting that year. NPB comprises twelve teams divided equally in two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, a format which it has largely kept since . It has seen several waves of Expansion team, expansion and contraction, sometimes at the same time, to keep it at those number ...
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2003 Japan Series
The Japan Series was the 54th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's postseason championship series. It matched the Pacific League champion Fukuoka Daiei Hawks against the Central League champion Hanshin Tigers. The home team won every game in the series, and three games ended with ''sayonara'' ( walk-off) victories, including back-to-back games with the Tigers at home in Koshien Stadium. In the end, the Hawks would prevail in the seventh game at the Fukuoka Dome. Fukuoka Daiei Hawks The Hawks were looking for their second championship in five years (they defeated the Chunichi Dragons in 1999, four games to one), and this was their third appearance in that span. Despite the team's youth, slugger and manager Sadaharu Oh whipped the young team into shape in the previous seasons. Daiei had the best offense in the league, led by Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Kenji Johjima, and Tadahito Iguchi, with speedsters Munenori Kawasaki and Arihito Muramatsu setting up the sluggers with their speed ...
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Orix BlueWave
, styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment and retail banking, commodities funds and securities brokering. In addition to expanding its offerings, ORIX has also expanded globally, offering financial services in North America, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Divisions include Japan-based ORIX Auto Leasing Corporation, which operates in other countries through subsidiaries such as ORIX Auto Leasing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. It is also known for being the majority owner of the ORIX Buffaloes baseball team in Nippon Professional Baseball. History ORIX was established April 17, 1964 as ''Orient Leasing Co., Ltd.'' The company's name was changed to ORIX Corporation in 1989. ORIX was originally a subsidiary of the trading house Nichimen (now Sojitz). Yoshihiko Miyauchi transferre ...
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Nippon-Ham Fighters
The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō, including Hakodate, Asahikawa, Kushiro, and Obihiro. The team's name comes from its parent organization, Nippon Ham, a major Japanese food-processing company. Founded in 1946, the Fighters called Tokyo home for 58 years, as co-tenants of the Tokyo Dome and Korakuen Stadium with the Central League's Yomiuri Giants near the end of their tenure in the capital city. The franchise has won three Japan Series titles, in 1962, 2006, and, most recently, 2016. Team history Senators and Tokyo eras In 1946, Saburo Yokozawa, manager of the Tokyo Senators in 1936–1937 (and later a prominent umpire), looked to revive the franchise and soon founded t ...
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Chiba Lotte Marines
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific League in as the Mainichi Orions when the Japanese Baseball League reorganized into Nippon Professional Baseball, where they won the inaugural 1950 Japan Series. Since 1992, the Marines' home ballpark has been ZOZO Marine Stadium, located in the Mihama-ku, Mihama Ward of Chiba, seating 30,118 people. The "Marines" name originates from the name of the team's home stadium, which is officially named ''Chiba Marine Stadium'', because the stadium is located right on the water. Through 2024, the franchise's all-time record is 4874-4844-405 (.502). History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural member of the Pacific League, and were owned by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. The Orions were named after Orion (cons ...
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Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stadium, and later in Kyocera Dome Osaka, Osaka Dome. Although the team won four Pacific League championships, they lost all four Japan Series in which they played. The team's batting lineup was known as ''Itemae Dasen'' (:ja:いてまえ打線, いてまえ打線). Logo design A stylized Bison, buffalo's head with angry-looking red eyes (designed by Okamoto Taro), or "Buffaloes" in red script, outlined with white. Another logo featured the "Buffaloes" in red script, while also featuring Buffie, the Buffaloes mascot. Franchise history The team was founded in 1949 and began play in 1950 in the newly organized NPB. Owned by Kinki Nippon Railway, Kinki Nippon Railway Co. (later known as Kintetsu Railway), the franchise was known as the Kinte ...
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Yokohama BayStars
The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current name in 2011, when the club was purchased by software company DeNA. History Origin (1930s–1949) The team began as the Taiyo Fishing Company, an amateur team currently affiliated with the Maruha Corporation (presently Maruha Nichiro). The team began to appear in national tournaments in the 1950s, and won the National Sports Festival in 1948, giving it national recognition. In the 1949 off-season, the Japanese professional baseball league removed many players from the Taiyo amateur team recruited to join the professional leagues. The owner of the Taiyo company decided to join the newly expanded Central League, which was established in 1950. The team's first professional incarnation was as the Maruha Team. The franchise was based in S ...
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Hiroshima Toyo Carp
The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda. Mazda is the largest single shareholder (34.2%), which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family (about 60%). Because of that, Mazda is not considered the owner firm. However, the company connection is highlighted in the club name; until 1984, Mazda's official name was . The Carp are the only one of the 28 History_of_baseball_outside_the_United_States#Asia, Asian professional baseball teams to be majority privately owned. As the Carp was founded only four years after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atomic bombing of Hiroshima and had risen to the Central League champion along with the reconstruction of Hiroshima, the team is often referred to as "the symbol of the post-war reconstruction of Hiroshima". Currently ...
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Yakult Swallows
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri Giants. They have won nine Central League championships and six Japan Series championships. Since 1964, they have played their home games at Meiji Jingu Stadium. The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, Yakult Honsha. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways (known as Kokutetsu (国鉄) 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 renamed it the Yakult Atoms, before renaming it again as the Yakult Swallows in 1974, and then the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2006. Kokutetsu and Sankei era (1950–1969) The franchise was established for the first time ...
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Yomiuri Giants
The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They have played their home games at Tokyo Dome since its opening in 1988. The team's owner is The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, Japan's largest media conglomerate which also owns two newspapers (including the eponymous ''Yomiuri Shimbun'') and the Nippon Television Network System, Nippon Television Network (which includes flagship Nippon TV). The Giants are the oldest professional sports team in Japan. They are also by far the most successful, having won 22 Japan Series titles and an additional nine in the era of NPB's forerunner, the Japanese Baseball League. Their main rivalry is with the Hanshin Tigers, a team especially popular in the Kansai region. The Yomiuri Giants are regarded as "The New York Yankees of Japan" due to their widespread popul ...
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Toshiya Sugiuchi
is a Japanese baseball player. He is a Left-handedness, left-handed starting pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants. Sugiuchi was the Eiji Sawamura Award winner in . He has had some of the most international experience of any active Nippon Professional Baseball, Japanese baseball player, pitching in the Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 Sydney and Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic, 2009 World Baseball Classics. Early life Suiguchi was born in Kasuga, Fukuoka, Kasuga, and raised in Ōnojō, Fukuoka. He began playing baseball in the fourth grade for the Onojo Little League baseball club while attending Onojo Municipal Elementary school, Elementary School as an outfielder, being converted to First baseman, first base the following Fifth grade, year. He became a pitcher in the sixth grade, leading his team to the Round of 16 in the national tournament as their Ace (baseball), ...
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Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch (baseball), plays, with each play beginning when a player on the fielding team (baseball), fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a Baseball (ball), ball that a player on the batting team (baseball), batting team, called the Batter (baseball), batter, tries to hit with a baseball bat, bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the Base (baseball), bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "Run (baseball), runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming Base running, runners, and to prevent runners base running ...
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