Orix Buffaloes

ORIX Buffaloes
Established 1936
Team logo Cap Insignia
League affiliations
Japanese Baseball League (1936–1949) Nippon Professional Baseball (1950–present) Pacific League (1950–present)
Current uniform
Colors	Navy, Gold, White
Name
Hankyu (1936–1946) Hankyu Braves (1947–1988) Orix Braves (1989–1990) Orix BlueWave (1991–2004) ORIX Buffaloes (2005–present)
Other nicknames
Ballpark
Takarazuka Stadium (1936) Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium (1937–1990) Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium (1991–2004, 2006) Osaka Dome (2005, 2007–present)
League titles
Japan Series titles (4)	1975, 1976, 1977, 1996
PL Pennants (12)	1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1995, 1996
Owner(s): Orix
Manager: Hiroshi Moriwaki
General Manager:
2012 Orix Buffaloes season

The ORIX Buffaloes (オリックス・バファローズ, Orikkusu Bafarōzu) are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka and Kobe, Japan. They play in the Pacific League. The team is owned by the Orix Group, a leading diversified financial services company based in Tokyo.

The team was formed after the 2004 NPB season by the merger of the Orix BlueWave and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. The merged team began play in the 2005 NPB season, splitting its home games between the Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium, the former home of the BlueWave, in Kobe and the Kyocera Dome Osaka, that of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, in Osaka.

Franchise history

Hankyu/Orix (1936-2004)

The Hankyu Braves

The Orix BlueWave was founded in 1936 under the ownership of a Japanese railway company Hanshin Kyuko Railway Company (阪神急行電鉄, Hanshin Kyuko Dentetsu, present: Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.), as Osaka Hankyu Baseball Club (大阪阪急野球協会, Ōsaka hankyū yakyū kyōkai). Later nicknamed Hankyu Braves, it was one of the first Japanese professional baseball teams.

The Hankyu Braves were one of the strongest teams not only in the Pacific League but in all of Japan. Between 1967 and 1972, the Hankyu Braves won the Pacific League pennant five times, but lost the Japan Series each time against the Tokyo Giants. Manager Yukio Nishimoto was known as "the great manager in tragedy" because of those losses. But the Hankyu Braves won Japan Series three times in a row from 1975, against the Tokyo Giants in 1976 and 1977, led by manager Toshiharu Ueda. At that time many good players in Japanese Baseball history played for the Hankyu Braves.

In the 1980s, the team was still strong but lost the pennant to the Seibu Lions every year except 1984.

On October 19, 1988, Hankyu Railway sold the franchise to the lease company Orient Lease (since 1989 known as Orix Group). That was known as "the longest day of the Pacific League" because it was also the day when Kintetsu Buffaloes played the legendary double-header for the Pacific League pennant (but they could not have got the pennant because of a draw game). The deal had been done with two assurances: the team name would remain "Braves", and the franchise would stay in Nishinomiya. The sale was a surprise, because it was much rarer in those days in Japan for the ownership of a professional baseball team to change, not to mention for a large company to sell one of its parts; Hankyu Railway was thought of as one of the big companies that would never need to do such a thing.

The BlueWave

During the first two years of new ownership, the team was known as the Orix Braves and played in Nishinomiya. In 1991, the team became the Orix BlueWave, and moved to Kobe. Longtime fans were shocked by these changes. However, since Nishinomiya and Kobe are close to one another, and the new home field of the team was better than the old one, most fans accepted the move, although with some nostalgia for the historic "Braves" name. The team was sometimes called Aonami or Seiha (青波) by fans and the baseball media, which means "blue wave" in Japanese.

Led by Ichiro Suzuki, in 1995 and 1996 the Orix BlueWave won the Pacific League pennant. In 1996, they also won the Japan Series.

Kintetsu Buffaloes (1950-2004)

The Kintetsu Buffalo were the first Japanese team to sign an American player. They signed former major league pitcher Glenn Mickens and catcher Ron Bottler for the 1959 season. Mickens had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953 and Bottler had been a career minor league catcher in the United States.

Orix Buffaloes (2005 to present)

The team has struggled since its merger, and has finished in the top half (or A Class) of the Pacific league only once from 2005 to 2013.

In 2008, The Buffaloes finished 2nd in the Pacific League, going 75-68-1 and finishing 2 1/2 games behind the Saitama Seibu Lions, but were swept by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at home in the 1st stage of the Climax Series.

In 2013 the Buffaloes finished in 5th place with a 66-73-5. ^[1]

The Buffaloes signed free-agent Yuniesky Betancourt to a one-year contract for the 2014 season.^[2]

Current roster

{{NPB roster

• 16 Yoshihisa Hirano
• 19 Chihiro Kaneko
• 18 Mamoru Kishida
• 17 Ryota Katsuki
• 34 Shinya Nakayama
• 21 Yūki Nishi
• 20 Hayato Terahara
• 47 Tomoyuki Kaida
• 28 Satoshi Komatsu
• 59 Shōhei Tsukahara
• 32 Brandon Dickson

• 45 Toshio Saitō

•  2 Kōji Yamasaki
• 58 Yūsuke Kajimoto
• 4 Esteban Germán
• 3 Yuniesky Betancourt

Baseball Hall of Famers

Elected mainly for Hankyu Braves service

• Takao Kajimoto, P, 1954-1973 (inducted 2007)
• Yutaka Fukumoto, CF, 1969-1988 (inducted 2002)

Elected for service with other teams, as well as Hankyu and Orix

• Hisashi Yamada, P, 1969-1988 (inducted 2006)
• Hiromitsu Kadota, DH, 1989-1990 (inducted 2006)
• Akira Ōgi, MGR 1988-1992†, 1994–2001, 2005 (inducted 2004)
• Toshiharu Ueda, MGR, 1974–1978, 1981-1990 (inducted 2003)
• Tetsuya Yoneda, P, 1956-1975 (inducted 2000)
• Futoshi Nakanishi, Head coach / Hitting coach, 1985-1990†, 1995-1997 (inducted 1999)

†For Kintetsu Buffaloes Elected mainly for Kintetsu Buffaloes service

• Keishi Suzuki, P, 1966-1985 (inducted 2002)
• Yukio Nishimoto, MGR 1974-1981 (inducted 1988)

Former players and managers

as Orix Buffaloes

• Akira Ogi (仰木 彬) - manager, deceased
• Norihiro Nakamura (中村 紀洋) - IF
• Yoshitomo Tani (谷 佳知) - OF
• Masato Yoshii (吉井 理人) - P
• Karim García - OF
• Cliff Brumbaugh - RF
• Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原 和博) - 1B or 3B
• Ryan Vogelsong - P
• Lee Seung-Yeop - 1B
• Chan-Ho Park - P
• So Taguchi (田口 壮) - OF
• Tuffy Rhodes - OF

as Orix BlueWave

• Akira Ogi (仰木 彬) - manager
• Masato Yoshii (吉井 理人) - P
• *Greg 'Boomer' Wells , IF (the first non-Japanese triple crown hitter in NPB history)
• Shigetoshi Hasegawa (長谷川 滋利) - P (formerly of the Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners)
• Dae-Sung Koo - P
• Takahito Nomura (野村 空生) - P
• Kazuhiro Sato (佐藤 和弘) - also known as "Punch" Sato (パンチ佐藤), OF
• Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗, イチロー) - OF (now playing for the New York Yankees of the American League)
• Tetsuya Yoneda (米田 哲也) - OF (350 game winner)

• Daryl Spencer
• Troy Neel
• So Taguchi
• Tetsuya Yoneda
• Takao Kajimoto
• Yutaka Fukumoto
• Hisashi Yamada (Japan's winningest underhand pitcher)
• Roberto Marcano
• Roberto Barbon
• Tokuji Nagaike
• Mitsuhiro Adachi (underhand big-game pitcher who defeated the Tokyo Giants)
• Masafumi Yamamori
• Hideji Kato
• Yutaro Imai (once pitched a perfect game)
• Nobuyuki Hoshino
• Yoshinori Sato
• Yasuo Fujii

as Kintetsu (and Osaka Kintetsu) Buffaloes

• Norihiro Nakamura (中村 紀洋) - IF
• Masato Yoshii (吉井 理人) - P
• Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄) - P
• Charlie Manuel - OF
• Tuffy Rhodes - OF

as Hankyu (and Orix) Braves

• Roberto Barbon - IF
• Tetsuya Yoneda (米田 哲也) - P
• Yutaka Fukumoto (福本 豊) - OF
• Hisashi Yamada (山田 久志) - P
• Hideji Kato (加藤 英司) - 1B
• Brad "Animal" Lesley - P
• Hiromi Matsunaga (松永 浩美) - 3B
• Roberto Marcano - IF
• Hiromitsu Kadota - OF

Retired numbers

• none

MLB players

Active:

• Ichiro Suzuki (2001-)
• Ryan Vogelsong (2000-2006, 2011-)

Former:

• Hideo Nomo (1990-2005, 2008)
• Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1997–2005)
• Masao Kida (1999–2005)
• So Taguchi (2002–2009)
• Koo Dae-Sung (2005)
• Yuniesky Betancourt (2005-2013)
• Chan Ho Park (1994-2010)
• Tuffy Rhodes (1990-1993)
• Brad "Animal" Lesley (1982-1985)
• Troy Neel (1992-1994)
• Daryl Spencer (1952-1963)
• Cliff Brumbaugh (2001)
• Charlie Manuel (1969-1972, 1974-1975 as player; 2000-2013 as manager)

Mascots

Buffalo Bell (left) and Buffalo Bull (right)

until 2010

• Neppie #111, a young boy
• Ripsea #222, a young girl

since 2011

• Buffalo Bull #111, a male buffalo, Bell's brother
• Buffalo Bell #222, a female buffalo, Bull's sister

References

1. ↑ http://bis.npb.or.jp/yearly/pacificleague_2013.html
2. ↑ http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10369413/yuniesky-betancourt-signs-japan-orix-bluewave

External links

• (Japanese) ORIX Buffaloes