The were a Japanese professional baseball team that was founded in 1946, and played in various incarnations until 1957, when it merged with another team. Overall, the franchise only had three winning seasons, never rising higher than third place. The team was in the second division, or B-class, for seven seasons, including its last four years of existence. The Stars played in

Korakuen Stadium was a stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Completed in 1937, it was originally used for baseball, and was home to the Yomiuri Giants for nearly fifty years. For various periods of time, it was also the home stadium of six other professional Japanese baseba ...

in Bunkyo, Tokyo.

Franchise history

Japanese Baseball League

The franchise was founded in 1946 as Gold Star, a new post-war team in the

Japanese Baseball League The was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball. The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine le ...

. They were owned by textile manufacturer and Lucky Gold Star Telephones owner

Komajiro Tamura Komajirō Tamura (February 21, 1904 – January 21, 1961) was a Japanese businessman and professional baseball team owner. Tamura was a textile manufacturer, and owner of, among others, Taiyo Rayon and of Lucky Gold Star Telephones. Prior to bec ...

, who also owned the Pacific Baseball Club (formerly known as the Asahi Baseball Club). Gold Star consisted mostly of former Asahi players and was managed by Asahi's former manager Michinori Tubouchi. In Gold Star's inaugural season, they won 43 games and lost 60, finishing 22 games out of first place. One of the team's losses that season set the record for highest run differential in Japanese professional baseball history. In 1947 the team became the Kinsei Stars ("Kinsei" meaning ''made of gold'' in Japanese) and signed long-time

Tokyo Kyojin 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 ...

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 ...

pitcher

Victor Starffin Viktor Starukhin (, 1 May 1916 – 12 January 1957), nicknamed , or more commonly known as Victor Starffin , was a Japanese baseball player. Born in Russia, he became the first professional pitcher in Japan to win 300 games. With 83 career shutout ...

, who came over from Tamura's other team, the Taiyo Robins (formerly Asahi). Starffin pitched for the franchise for six seasons, winning 80 games and losing 70. The team acquired

Michio Nishizawa was a prominent Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player who excelled as both a pitcher and a position player. Playing with the Chunichi Dragons franchise for most of his career, Nishizawa became one of Japan's most beloved athletes. His num ...

mid-season 1946, during the period he was transitioning from a once-dominant pitcher to a fearsome hitter. His two full seasons with the team were unremarkable, however, and he returned to his original team, the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

in 1949, where he really hit his stride with the bat. In 1948, the team hired

Sadayoshi Fujimoto was a Japanese baseball manager, most notably as the first manager of the Tokyo Kyojin, which was later renamed to the Yomiuri Giants. With the Kyojin, he won the Japanese Baseball League pennant seven times. He was also the manager of the Paci ...

as manager; he stayed at the helm of the team until partway through their final season, 1956. In 1949, after being bought by

Masaichi Nagata was a Japanese businessman and served as president of Daiei Film. The self-proclaimed creator of Gamera, he produced the kaiju's second film ''Gamera vs. Barugon'', with the remainder of the Gamera#Films, Showa ''Gamera'' films produced instead ...

Daiei Film Daiei Film Co. Ltd. ( Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ''Daiei Eiga Kabushiki Kaisha'') was a Japanese film studio. Founded in 1942 as Dai Nippon Film Co., Ltd., it was one of the major studios during the postwar Golden Age of Japanese cinema, produci ...

, the team changed its name to the Daiei Stars, with Nagata serving as team president. Outfielder Makoto Kozuru hit .361 for the Stars in 1949, leading the league in hitting and earning

Best Nine Award The Best Nine Award is awarded annually to the best player at each position in both the Central League and Pacific League of Japanese professional baseball as determined by a pool of journalists. History While the Best Nine Award was first prese ...

honors.

Nippon Professional Baseball

In 1950 the Stars became charter members of 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 ...

when the JBL reorganized into

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 ...

and split into the Pacific League and 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 ...

. Outfielder Shigeya Iijima was a league

-winner in 1950–1951. He led the Pacific League in batting in 1952, hitting .336, while his teammate Giichi Hayashi led the league in innings pitched, with 269-2⁄3.

Merger

In 1957, the Stars merged with the

Takahashi Unions The were a Japanese team in Nippon Professional Baseball. A Pacific League expansion team in 1954, they were brought into the league to increase the number of teams to eight. The team was stocked with players from the other Pacific League teams, i ...

to form the Daiei Unions. The Unions existed for a single season, finishing last in the

, at 41-89-2, 43-1/2 games out of first. Pitcher Masayoshi Miura led the Pacific League in losses, with 21. In 1958, the Unions merged with the

Mainichi Orions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific League in as the Mainichi Or ...

(founded in 1950) to form the

Daimai Orions 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 Le ...

. This enabled the

to shrink from the ungainly seven-team arrangement caused by the 1957 merger to a more manageable six teams. The Orions, after a number of relocations and name changes, are now known as the

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 Le ...

Managers

* 1946–1947: Michinori Tubouchi * 1948–1956:

* 1956–1957: Kenjiro Matsuki

Season-by-season records

References

{{reflist Baseball teams in Tokyo Baseball teams established in 1946 1946 establishments in Japan Defunct Nippon Professional Baseball teams 1957 disestablishments in Japan Baseball teams disestablished in 1957