Saitama Seibu Lions

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Saitama Seibu Lions
League	Pacific League
Location	Tokorozawa, Saitama
Ballpark	Seibu Dome
Year Founded	1950
Nickname(s)	Seibu (西武), Lions (ライオンズ), Leo (レオ), Shishi (獅子, which means lion)
League championships	1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004
Japan Series championships	1956, 1957, 1958, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2004
Former name(s)	Nishitetsu Clippers (1950) Nishitetsu Lions (1951-1972) Taiheiyo Club Lions (1973–1976) Crown Lighter Lions (1977–1978) Seibu Lions (1979–2007) Saitama Seibu Lions (2008–)
Colors	Blue, white and green
Logo Design	A white lions's head on a green field.[1]
Uniforms
Home	Away

The Saitama Seibu Lions (埼玉西武ライオンズ, Saitama Seibu Raionzu^?) are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League. As a company, it is a subsidiary of Prince Hotels, belonging to Seibu Group. Recently, the team has stood on shaky financial ground, a standing that may be remedied now that the Lions' superstar pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka has signed with the Boston Red Sox. With the Red Sox signing Matsuzaka, the Lions will get the 6 billion Japanese yen (about USD 51.11 million) posting fee. Since 1978, the team logo and mascot is based on the adult Kimba the White Lion, a famous classic anime series by Osamu Tezuka.^[2]

In 2004, former Seibu Lions player Kazuo Matsui became the first Japanese infielder to play in Major League Baseball.

[edit] Franchise history

[edit] Nishitetsu Clippers (1950)

In 1950, the team became a founding member of the Pacific League, and was owned by Nishi-Nippon Railroad based in Fukuoka. The team finished sixth that year, and at the end of the season the team was merged with the Nishi-Nippon Pirates to form the Nishitetsu Lions.

[edit] Nishitetsu Lions (1951-1972)

In 1951, the Nishi-Nippon Pirates and Nishitetsu Clippers merged to form the Nishitetsu Lions. They were one of the top Pacific League teams of the decade, winning four pennants and winning three straight Japan Series against the Yomiuri Giants. Osamu Mihara managed the team throughout their 1950s success period. The team was not as successful in the following decade and in 1973 was sold and became the Taiheiyo Club Lions. The Nishitetsu Lions called Heiwadai Stadium home for their entire existence.

[edit] Taiheiyo Club Lions (1973-1976)

In November, 1972, the Nishitetsu Lions were bought by the Fukuoka Baseball Corporation from Nishi-Nippon Railroad. The company was founded by Nagayoshi Nakamura, owner of the Lotte and the Orions. The team's sponsorship rights were then sold to Taiheiyo Club, a golf course and resort developer, and the team was renamed. The team remained as the Taiheiyo Club Lions until after the 1976 season. Through the course of the 1970s, the Lions finished no higher than third.

[edit] Crown Lighter Lions (1977-1978)

At the end of the 1976 season, the Fukuoka Baseball Corporation announced that the team's new sponsor was Crown Gas Lighter. With this, the team's name for the upcoming season was changed to the Crown Lighter Lions. At the end of the 1978 season the team was sold to Kokudo Keikaku (later Kokudo, then merged into Prince Hotels), a Seibu Railway Group company.

[edit] Seibu Lions (1979-2007)

The Crown Lighter Lions were sold to Seibu Group in 1978, and since then have used the name Seibu Lions, and relocated to a new ballpark in Tokorozawa, Saitama.

[edit] The "Golden Age" of Seibu Lions(1982-1994)

Seibu Lions started their history in the last place in 1979. But with new manager Tatsuro Hirooka and starplayers such as Osamu Higashio, Koichi Tabuchi, they started their Golden Age with two-year straight Japan Series winning in 1982-1983 and 1985 league champion. In the years with next manager Masaaki Mori, Lions had neary dominated the Japanese professional baseball scene over ten years with devastating batters and pichers. Lions had various type of batters- sluggers such as Kouji Akiyama, Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Orestes Destrade, skilled players such as Hiromichi Ishige, Hatsuhiko Tsuji, and smart catcher Tsutomu Ito. And they also had great pichers- starting pichers: "The Oriental Express" Taigen Kaku, Kimiyasu Kudo, Hisanobu Watanabe, bullpen pichers: Yoshitaka Katori, Testuya Shiozaki. Mori won 8 league championship(1986-1988,1990-1994) and 6 Japan Series championship(1986-1988,1990-1992) in his nine-year managing career. Seibu Lions was called "Invincible Seibu" because of their accomplishment in those days.

[edit] Stars in their "Golden Age"

[edit] Saitama Seibu Lions (2008-)

In order to reinforce relationship with their hometown, the Lions added their region (prefecture) name "Saitama" to their team name.

[edit] Season-by-season records

[edit] Current roster(2008)

[edit] Pitcher

• 11 Takayuki Kishi (岸 孝之)
• 12 Shinya Okamoto (岡本 真也)
• 13 Fumiya Nishiguchi (西口 文也)
• 14 Chikara Onodera (小野寺 力)
• 15 Kohji Onuma (大沼 幸二)
• 16 Hideaki Wakui (涌井 秀章)
• 17 Satoshi Yamazaki (山崎 敏)
• 19 Masamitsu Hirano (平野 将光)
• 20 Jun Yamamoto (山本 淳)
• 23 Ming-Chieh Hsu (許 銘傑)
• 24 Hironori Matsunaga (松永 浩典)
• 25 Eiji Shotsu (正津 英志)
• 26 Tomoki Hoshino (星野 智樹)
• 28 Ryohei Fujiwara (藤原 良平)
• 29 Koji Mitsui (三井 浩二)
• 30 Okamoto Atsushi (岡本 篤志)
• 34 Shuichiroh Osada (長田 秀一郎)
• 35 Tetsuya Iwasaki (岩崎 哲也)
• 36 Minoru Yamagishi (山岸 穣)
• 38 Junji Nishikawa (西川 順司)
• 40 Matthew Kinney (M.キニー)
• 41 Fumikazu Kimura (木村 文和)
• 47 Hoashi Kazuyuki (帆足 和幸)
• 48 Shota Takekuma (武隈 祥太)
• 50 Yuhya Tazawa (田沢 由哉)
• 54 Alex Graman (A・グラマン) - CL
• 57 Yasuhiro Tanaka (田中 靖洋)
• 59 Ayumu Yamamoto (山本 歩)
• 61 Kazuhisa Ishii (石井 一久)
• 62 Daiei Syu (朱 大衛)
• 63 Kouki Fujiwara (藤原 虹気)
• 66 Kazumasa Azuma (東 和政)
• 69 Shinji Taninaka (谷中 真二)

[edit] Catcher

• 22 Kohsuke Noda (野田 浩輔)
• 27 Tohru Hosokawa (細川 亨)
• 31 Taichi Yoshimi (吉見 太一)
• 37 Ginjiro (銀仁朗)
• 49 Tatsuyuki Uemoto (上本 達之)
• 64 Syota Nakata (中田 祥多)
• 68 Kohji Tahara (田原 晃司)

[edit] Infielder

•  2 Hitoshi Taneda (種田 仁)
•  3 Hiroyuki Nakajima (中島 裕之)
•  4 Hiroyuki Takagi (高木 浩之)
•  5 Yoshihito Ishii (石井 義人)
•  6 Taketoshi Gotoh (後藤 武敏)
•  7 Yasuyuki Kataoka (片岡 易之)
•  8 Hiroshi Hiroshi (平尾 博嗣)
• 33 Akira Etoh (江藤 智)
• 42 Craig Brazell (C.ブラゼル)
• 43 Takuya Hara (原 拓也)
• 45 Keisuke Mizuta (水田 圭介)
• 52 Hidekazu Hoshi (星 秀和)
• 56 Haruki Kurose (黒瀬 春樹)
• 60 Takeya Nakamura (中村 剛也)
• 67 Naomichi Umeda (梅田 尚通)

[edit] Outfielder

•  0 Yuutaro Oosaki (大崎 雄太朗)
•  1 Takumi Kuriyama (栗山 巧)
•  9 Shogo Akada (赤田 将吾)
• 10 Tomoaki Satoh (佐藤 友亮)
• 39 Masahide Kaizuka (貝塚 政秀)
• 44 Hisashi Takayama (高山 久)
• 46 G.G.Satoh (G.G.佐藤)
• 51 Hiroyuki Ohshima (大島 裕行)
• 53 Taka Miura (三浦 貴)
• 55 Hiram Bocachica (H.ボカチカ)
• 58 Kenta Matsusaka (松阪 健太)
• 65 Syogo Saitoh (斉藤 彰吾)

[edit] Coaches/Other

[edit] Manager

• 99 Hisanobu Watanabe (渡辺 久信)

[edit] Coaches

• 81 Hidetoshi Kuroe (黒江 透修) - Head
• 80 Kazuyoshi Ono (小野 和義) - Pitching
• 86 Tetsuya Shiozaki (潮崎 哲也) - Pitching
• 96 Hiromoto Ookubo (大久保 博元) - Hitting
• 78 Tohru Kumazawa (熊澤 とおる) - Assistant Hitting
• 82 Takanori Okamura (岡村 隆則) - Defending and Base-running
• 85 Masakazu Seike (清家 政和) - Defending and Base-running
• 88 Katsuya Souma (相馬 勝也) - Battery
• 72 Shinsaku Katahira (片平 晋作) - Farm Manager
• 77 Takehiro Ishii (石井 丈裕) - Farm Pitching and Training
• 97 Takashi Ishii (石井 貴) - Farm Pitching
• 89 Hiroyuki Mori (森 博幸) - Farm Hitting
• 76 Norio Tanabe (田辺 徳雄) - Farm Defending and Base-running
• 70 Yuusuke Kawada (河田 雄祐) - Farm Defending and Base-running
• 91 Hisashi Ooi (大井 久士) - Farm Battery
• 98 Kouichi Ohsako (大迫 幸一) - Training
• 99 Shinobu Sakamoto (坂元 忍) - Farm Training

[edit] Managers

• Kaname Miyazaki(宮崎 要) 1950
• Osamu Mihara(三原脩) 1951-1959
• Tokuji Kawasaki(川崎 徳次) 1960-1961
• Futoshi Nakanishi(中西 太) 1962-1969
• Kazuhisa Inao(稲尾 和久) 1970-1974
• Shinichi Eto(江藤 愼一) 1975
• Masakazu Kito(鬼頭 政一) 1976-1977
• Rikuo Nemoto(根本 陸夫) 1978-1981
• Tatsuro Hirooka(広岡 達朗) 1982-1985
• Masahiko Mori(森 祇晶) 1986-1994
• Osamu Higashio(東尾 修) 1995-2001
• Haruki Ihara(伊原 春樹) 2002-2003
• Tsutomu Ito(伊東 勤) 2004-2007
• Hisanobu Watanabe (渡辺 久信) 2008

[edit] Former players of note

• Terry Whitfield (テリー・ウィットフィールド) 1981-1983
• Koichi Tabuchi (田淵 幸一) 1979-1984
• Steve Ontiveros (スティーブ・オンティベロス) 1980-1985
• George Vukovich (ジョージ・ブコビッチ) 1986-1987
• Osamu Higashio (東尾 修) 1969-1988
• Tyler Van Burkleo (タイラー・バン・バークレオ) 1987-1990
• Yoshiie Tachibana (立花 義家) 1977-1991
• Kouji Akiyama (秋山 幸二) 1981-1993
• Hiromichi Ishige (石毛 宏典) 1981-1994
• Orestes Destrade (オレステス・デストラーデ) 1989-1995
• Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原 和博)1986-1996
• Darrin Jackson (ダリン・ジャクソン)1995-1996
• Taigen Kaku (郭 泰源) 1985-1997
• Tony Fernández (トニー・フェルナンデス) 2000
• Corey Paul (コーリー・ポール) 1999-2001
• Kazuo Matsui (松井 稼頭央) 1994-2003
• Tetsuya Shiozaki (潮崎 哲也) 1990-2004
• Shinji Mori (森 慎二) 1997-2005
• Daisuke Matsuzaka (松坂 大輔) 1999-2006
• Chang Chih-Chia (張 誌家) 2002-2006
• Alex Cabrera (A・カブレラ) 2001-2007

[edit] Honored numbers

• none

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Seibu Lions

• (Japanese) Seibu Lions official web site

[edit] Notes and references