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The
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...
was the 52nd edition of
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 ...
's postseason championship series. It matched the
Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...
champion
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 G ...
against the
Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...
champion
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 Stadi ...
. The Swallows defeated the Buffaloes in five games to claim their fifth Japan Series championship.


Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes

Kintetsu had one of the most powerful offenses ever seen in the league. Foreign import
Tuffy Rhodes Karl Derrick "Tuffy" Rhodes (born August 21, 1968) is a retired American professional baseball player. He played six years in Major League Baseball in the US, and thirteen years in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan. Rhodes is the all-t ...
teamed up with
Norihiro Nakamura is a Japanese former professional baseball third baseman. Nakamura spent almost all of his professional career in Japan with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. Nakamura had a .266 career batting average, 404 home runs and 1348 RBI, and was an eight- ...
to become one of the most feared hitting tandems in
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 ...
history. Rhodes hit 55 home runs to tie the NPB record for most home runs hit in a season, while Nakamura hit 46 home runs of his own. Kintetsu entered the series looking for the franchise's first ever Japan Series win. They lost in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
and
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
to the
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 ...
and in
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
against the
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 h ...
.


Yakult Swallows

Most of the core team from the
1997 Japan Series The 1997 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1997 season. It was the 48th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champions, the Seibu Lions, against the Central League champions, the Yakult Swa ...
championship still remained in
Kazuhisa Ishii Kazuhisa Ishii (石井 一久 ''Ishii Kazuhisa'') (born September 9, 1973) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and manager and general manager. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yakult Swallows and Saitama Se ...
and all-world catcher
Atsuya Furuta Atsuya Furuta (古田 敦也, b. August 6, 1965) is a Japanese former baseball player and player-manager for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball club in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Drafted in the 2nd round in ...
.
Shinya Miyamoto is a former professional baseball player from Suita, Osaka, Japan. He played shortstop. He was chosen as the captain of the Japanese olympic baseball team for the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially t ...
anchored the middle of the infield.


Summary

Game 1 Game 1 would become one of the best pitching performances turned in by any one starter in quite some time. In fact, it almost became historic. Yakult ace
Kazuhisa Ishii Kazuhisa Ishii (石井 一久 ''Ishii Kazuhisa'') (born September 9, 1973) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and manager and general manager. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yakult Swallows and Saitama Se ...
kept the powerful Buffaloes lineup at bay, striking out 12 batters and walking 4. After walking the first batter of the game, Ishii retired the next 8 batters he faced. He would no-hit the Buffaloes through 6 and 1/3 innings and eventually shut them out, throwing a complete game.


See also

*
2001 World Series The 2001 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2001 Major League Baseball season, 2001 season. The 97th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (ba ...


References

{{Japan-baseball-stub Japan Series Tokyo Yakult Swallows Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes Japan Series, 2001
Series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...