Hanshin Tigers

The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc.

The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961.

History

File:Summer Koshien 2009 Final.jpg

Kōshien Stadium in 2009

The Hanshin Tigers, the second-oldest professional club in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935, with the team being formed in 1936. The team was first called Ōsaka Tigers. In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment and the Tojo government's ban on English nicknames, the Tigers changed the name to simply Hanshin. In 1947, the team reverted to Ōsaka Tigers after the JPBL permitted use of English nicknames. The current team name was assumed in 1961 due to the team playing in the suburb of Nishinomiya, which is not in Osaka Prefecture.

The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two-league system in 1950. Since the league was split into the Central League and Pacific League, the Tigers have won the Central League pennant seven times (1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, 2005, 2023, 2025) and Japan Series twice (1985, 2023).

When the 2004 Major League Baseball season began in Japan, the Tigers played an exhibition game against the New York Yankees at the Tokyo Dome on March 29. The Tigers won 11–7.

The 2025 Major League Baseball season kicked off with two games at the Tokyo Dome between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. Prior to the series, the Tigers played exhibition games against each of these major league clubs, winning both on consecutive shutouts.

In 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009, more than three million people attended games hosted by the Tigers, the only one of the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams to achieve this. In 2011, the Hanshin Tigers drew an average home attendance of 40,256.

The home field, Koshien Stadium, is used by high school baseball teams from all over Japan for the national championship tournaments in spring and summer. The summer tournament takes place in the middle of the Tigers' season, forcing the Tigers to go on a road trip and play their home games at Kyocera Dome Osaka. Fans call this "The Road of Death".

Famous players in Hanshin Tigers history include Fumio Fujimura, Masaru Kageura, Minoru Murayama, Yutaka Enatsu, Masayuki Kakefu, Randy Bass, Taira Fujita, and many others.

Koshien Stadium

The home field of the Tigers, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, is one of three major natural grass baseball stadiums in Japan. The others are the Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima (Hiroshima Toyo Carp), and Hotto Motto Field Kobe (part-time home of the Orix Buffaloes). Of the three, only Koshien has an all-dirt infield (the other two have an American-style infield.)

Koshien Stadium is the oldest ballpark in Japan; built in 1924, the stadium was once visited by American baseball legend Babe Ruth on a tour of Major League stars in 1934. There is a monument commemorating this visit within the stadium grounds, in an area called Mizuno Square.

Curse of the Colonel

As with many other underachieving baseball teams, a curse was believed to lurk over the Tigers. In 1985, when the Tigers had just clinched the Central League pennant, fans celebrated by having people who looked like Tigers players jump into the Dōtonbori Canal. According to legend, because none of the fans resembled first baseman Randy Bass, fans grabbed a life-sized statue of the KFC mascot, Colonel Sanders, and threw it into the river (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese). After this the Tigers managed to defeat the Seibu Lions in the 1985 Japan Series four games to three. After many seasons after the incident without a pennant win, the Tigers were said to be doomed never to win the season again until the Colonel was rescued from the river.

In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with the best record in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect the statues from Tigers fans.

In 2005, like 2003, they clinched the pennant and made it back to the Japan Series, but lost to Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines. They were outscored 33–4 in four games.

The top half of the Colonel Sanders statue (excluding both hands) was finally recovered on March 10, 2009, and the bottom half and right hand shortly after, in the canal by construction workers while constructing a new boardwalk area as part of a beautification project. The statue is still missing its left hand and glasses. The KFC outlet where this statue once stood has since closed; the statue is now at the KFC headquarters in Yokohama. It is not viewable by the public. Since then, the Hanshin Tigers made the 2014 Japan Series, but lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 5 games. The curse was finally broken, after the Hanshin Tigers managed to defeat the rival Orix Buffaloes in the 2023 Japan Series four games to three.

Fandom

File:Koshien-tigers.jpg

Tigers fans at a home game at Koshien Stadium

File:Hanshin Tigers, August 2013 ay Kyocera Dome.jpg

Tigers fans release balloons at the Kyocera Dome, the home stadium of the Orix Buffaloes

Tigers fans are known as perhaps the most fanatical and dedicated fans in all of Japanese professional baseball. They often outnumber the home team fans at Tigers "away" games. Tigers fans also once had a reputation for rough behavior and a willingness to brawl with other fans or with each other, although fights are rare these days.

A famous Tigers fan tradition (done by other teams of NPB as well) is the release, by the fans, of hundreds of air-filled balloons immediately following the seventh-inning stretch and the singing of the Tigers' fight song. This tradition is carried out at all home and away games, except at games against the Yomiuri Giants in the Tokyo Dome due to the Giants' notoriously authoritarian and heavy-handed rules for controlling behavior by visiting fans.

The Tigers-Giants rivalry is considered the national Japanese rivalry, on par with the Dodgers-Giants and Yankees-Red Sox rivalries in Major League Baseball or El Clásico in Spanish football. The two teams have historically had a relatively close record of games with the Giants taking 1127 wins over the Tigers whereas the Tigers have taken 888 games over the Giants. 77 of the total games between the two have ended in tie.

Fight song

"", as known as "", lyrics by and composed by , is a popular song in the Kansai area. It is the official fight song of the Tigers. In Japan, wind which blows down from a mountain is known to be cold and harsh, hence the song symbolizes the Tiger's brave challenge under hardship. The song can be found on karaoke boxes.

Japanese	Romaji	English
	Rokkō oroshi ni sassō to Sōten kakeru nichirin no Seishun no haki uruwashiku Kagayaku wagana zo Hanshin Tigers Ō-ō-ō-ō Hanshin Tigers Fure-fure-fure-fure Tōshi hatsuratsu tatsu ya ima Nekketsu sude ni teki o tsuku Jūō no iki takaraka ni Muteki no warera zo Hanshin Tigers Ō-ō-ō-ō Hanshin Tigers Fure-fure-fure-fure Tetsuwan kyōda ikuchitabi Kitaete koko ni Kōshien Shōri ni moyuru eikan wa Kagayaku warera zo Hanshin Tigers Ō-ō-ō-ō Hanshin Tigers Fure-fure-fure-fure	an official English version, not a direct translation Dashing swiftly through the wind blowin' from Rokko Like the big sun soaring in the clear blue sky Mighty spirit of the youth shows the victor's grace The name that shines in glory "Hanshin Tigers" Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Hanshin Tigers Go, Go, Go, Go! Powerful hits and skillful pitch achieved a thousand times Trained with every discipline here at Koshien Crowned with constant victory glorious, matchless feat Always proud, invincible "Hanshin Tigers" Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Hanshin Tigers Go, Go, Go, Go!

Regular season records

Season	GP	W	L	T	%	GB	Finish	Playoffs
2016	143	64	76	3	.457	24.5	4th, Central
2017	143	78	61	4	.561	10	2nd, Central	Lost Climax Series First Stage (BayStars), 1–2
2018	143	62	79	2	.440	20	6th, Central	Did not qualify
2019	143	69	68	6	.504	6	3rd, Central	Lost Climax Series Final Stage (Giants), 1–4
2020	120	60	53	7	.531	7.5	2nd, Central	Did not qualify
2021	143	77	56	10	.579	1	2nd, Central	Lost Climax Series First Stage (Giants), 0–2
2022	143	68	71	10	.579	12	3rd, Central	Lost Climax Series Final Stage (Swallows), 0–4
2023	143	85	53	5	.616	—	1st, Central	Won Japan Series (Buffaloes), 4–3
2024	143	74	63	6	.540	3.5	2nd, Central	Lost Climax Series First Stage (Baystars), 0–2
2025	143	85	54	4	.612	—	1st, Central	Lost Japan Series (Hawks), 1–4

List of managers

colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Name	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Term	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Games	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|W	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|L	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|T	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Win %
Shigeo Mori	1936 (Spring – Summer)	15	9	6	0	.600
Shuichi Ishimoto	1936 (Fall)-1939	307	223	78	6	.736
Kenjiro Matsuki	1940–1941 & 1950–1954	824	460	352	12	.565
Tadashi Wakabayashi	1942–1944 & 1947–1949	620	334	262	24	.558
Fumio Fujimura	1946 & 1956–1957	365	211	150	4	.584
Ichiro Kishi	1955	130	71	57	2	.554
Yoshio Tanaka	1958–1959	260	134	117	9	.533
Masayasu Kaneda	1960–1961 & 1973–1974	520	245	252	23	.493
Sadayoshi Fujimoto	1962–1965 & 1967–1968	822	437	365	20	.544
Shigeru Sugishita	1966	135	64	66	5	.493
Tsuguo Goto	1969 & 1978	260	109	139	12	.442
Minoru Murayama	1970–1972 & 1988–1989	650	310	321	19	.491
Yoshio Yoshida	1975–1977, 1985–1987 & 1997–1998	1051	484	511	56	.487
Don Blasingame	1979–1980	260	115	126	19	.479
Futoshi Nakanishi	1981	130	67	58	5	.535
Motoo Andoh	1982–1984	390	180	189	21	.488
Katsuhiro Nakamura	1990–1995	784	338	442	4	.434
Taira Fujita	1996	130	54	76	0	.415
Katsuya Nomura	1999–2001	411	169	238	4	.416
Senichi Hoshino	2002–2003	280	153	121	6	.557
Akinobu Okada	2004–2008 & 2023–2024	1004	554	423	27	.567
Akinobu Mayumi	2009–2011	432	213	206	13	.508
Yutaka Wada	2012–2015	575	273	281	21	.493
Tomoaki Kanemoto	2016–2018	429	204	216	9	.486
Akihiro Yano	2019–2022	143	274	248	27	.525
Kyuji Fujikawa	2025–present	143	85	54	4	Template:Winning percentage

Players of note

Former players

• Shinjiro Hiyama () – OF
• Norihiro Akahoshi () – OF
• Kenji Johjima () – C
• George Altman – OF
• Sohachi Aniya () – P
• George Arias – IF
• Scott Atchison – P
• Gene Bacque – P
• Randy Bass – IF
• Kaoru Betto () – OF
• Oh Seung-hwan () – P
• Mike Blowers – IF
• Jamie Brown – P
• Darnell Coles – IF, OF
• Doug Creek – P
• Iván Cruz – IF
• Glenn Davis
• Rob Deer – OF
• Yutaka Enatsu () – P
• Tom Evans – IF
• Cecil Fielder – IF
• Lew Ford – OF
• Atsushi Fujimoto () – IF
• Fumio Fujimura () – P, IF
• Taira Fujita – IF ()
• Rich Gale – P
• Mike Greenwell – OF
• Shosei Go () – OF
• Dave Hansen – IF
• Jason Hardtke – IF
• Phil Hiatt – IF
• Katsumi Hirosawa () – IF, OF
• Trey Hodges – P
• Osamu Hoshino () – IF
• Nobuyuki Hoshino () – P
• Makoto Imaoka () – IF
• Kei Igawa () – P
• Atsunori Itoh () – P
• Mark Johnson – IF, OF
• Masaru Kageura () – OF, IF, P
• Masayuki Kakefu () – IF
• Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi () – P
• Tsutomu Kameyama () – OF
• Tomoaki Kanemoto () – OF
• Atsushi Kataoka () – IF
• Tetsuro Kawajiri () – P
• Kozo Kawato () – PH, OF
• Matt Keough – P
• Katsuhiko Kido () – C
• Mike Kinkade – IF
• Willie Kirkland – OF
• Masaaki Koyama () – P
• Kuo Lee Chien-Fu () – P
• Kojiro Machida () – OF
• Kenjiro Matsuki () – IF
• Darrell May – P
• Akinobu Mayumi () – IF, OF
• Susumu Mikoshiba () – P
• Kurt Miller – P
• Toyozo Minamimure () – IF, OF
• Takao Misonoo () – P
• Trey Moore – P
• Ramón Morel – P
• Minoru Murayama () – P
• Rodney Myers – P
• Yutaka Nakamura () – OF
• Kiyooki Nakanishi () – P
• Toshihiro Noguchi () – C
• Atsushi Nomi () – P
• Satoru Nakano () – OF
• Akinobu Okada () – IF
• Tom O'Malley – IF
• Curtis Olsen – P
• Chris Oxspring – P
• Eduardo Pérez – IF
• Larry Parrish – IF
• Alonzo Powell – OF
• Mike Reinbach – OF
• Jerrod Riggan – P
• Bienvenido Rivera – OF
• Tsuyoshi Shinjo () – OF
• Shane Spencer – OF
• Kento Sugiyama () – P
• Koichi Tabuchi () – C
• Yasuaki Taiho (, ) – IF
• Yasushi Tao () – OF
• Shuta Tanaka () – IF
• Tony Tarasco – OF
• Katsunori Tomari () – IF, OF
• Shoji Toyama () – P
• Tomochika Tsuboi () – OF
• Marc Valdes – P
• Ryan Vogelsong – P
• Yutaka Wada () – IF
• Tadashi Wakabayashi () – P
• Jeff Williams – P
• Craig Worthington – IF
• Marvell Wynne – OF
• Keiichi Yabu () – P
• Hiroshi Yagi () – IF, OF, PH
• Kazuyuki Yamamoto () – P
• Kazuhiro Yamauchi () – OF
• Akihiro Yano () – C
• Hiroshi Yoshida () – OF
• Yoshio Yoshida () – IF
• Toshiro Yufune () – P
• Kōyō Aoyagi () – P
• Kazuyuki Yamamoto () – P
• Kyuji Fujikawa () – P
• Takumi Akiyama () – P
• Sheldon Neuse – OF

Retired numbers

colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Number	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Player	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Position	colspan=1 style="Template:Baseball primary style;"|Tenure
10	Template:Flagicon Fumio Fujimura ()	IF / P Manager	1936–1938, 1943–1956, 1958 1946, 1955–1957
11	Template:Flagicon Minoru Murayama ()	Pitcher Manager	1959–1972 1970–1972, 1988–1989
23	Template:Flagicon Yoshio Yoshida ()	SS Manager	1953–1969 1969, 1975–1977, 1985–1987, 1997–1998

MLB players

• Kenji Johjima (2006–2009)
• Ryan Vogelsong (2000–2006, 2011–2017)
• Tsuyoshi Shinjo (2001–2003)
• Keiichi Yabu (2005, 2008)
• Masanori Murakami (1964–1965)
• Cecil Fielder (1989)
• Glenn Davis (1984–1993)
• Chris Oxspring (2005)
• Kei Igawa (2007–2010)
• Marvell Wynne (1983–1990)
• Craig Worthington (1988–1992, 1995–1996)
• Jeff Williams (1999–2002)
• Marc Valdes (1995–1998, 2000–2001)
• Tony Tarasco (1993–1999, 2002)
• Jerrod Riggan (2000–2003)
• Alonzo Powell (1987, 1991)
• Matt Murton (2005–2009)
• Leon McFadden (1972)
• Oh Seung-hwan (2016–2019)
• Kyuji Fujikawa (2013–2015)
• Pierce Johnson (2020–present)
• Robert Suarez (2022–present)
• Shintaro Fujinami (2023–2025)
• Koyo Aoyagi (2025)

Media relating to the Tigers

Mascots

is a mascot character of the Tigers. With his girlfriend Lucky, he entertains spectators at team games. His uniform number is 1985, because his first appearance was in 1985. His name is a combination of two separate Japanese words, , meaning tiger and meaning lucky. His name therefore means "lucky tiger" in Japanese.

To Lucky's first appearance was on the screen at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in 1985. He appeared as a live-action character in 1987. His design was updated in 1992.

Aside from To Lucky, the other mascots of the Tigers are Lucky ( Rakkii), his girlfriend, and the most recent addition, Keeta (), Lucky's little brother. Keeta's uniform number is 2011, because he was introduced to the Tigers in 2011. He wears a backwards cap. Lucky's cap is pink unlike her boyfriend's and his little brother's.

Newspapers

• Daily Sports (published by the Kobe Shimbun, except Hiroshima region)
• Nikkan Sports (affiliated company of the Asahi Shimbun, Kansai region)
• Sankei Sports (published by the Sankei Shimbun Osaka Head Office)
• Sports Nippon (affiliated company of the Mainichi Shimbun, Kansai region)

Stations

Broadcasting:

• Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc.
• Asahi Broadcasting Corporation
• Kansai Telecasting Corporation
• Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation
• Television Osaka, Inc.
• SUN-TV

See also

• Central League
• Western League
• Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group – Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
• Tampere Tigers

External links

• Official website Template:In lang
• Suicide Spurs Reflections on Japanese Baseball – The New York Times
• Appetite for Hanshin – Hanshin Tigers English news website