Orix Buffaloes

Orix Buffaloes
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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 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.

Famous players

Famous former Orix BlueWave players include Ichiro Suzuki (now playing for the Seattle Mariners of the American League) and Shigetoshi Hasegawa (formerly of the Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners), as well as Daryl Spencer, Troy Neel, and So Taguchi.

Other remarkable former players include: Tetsuya Yoneda (350 game winner), Takao Kajimoto, Roberto Barbon, Tokuji Nagaike, Mitsuhiro Adachi (underhand big-game pitcher who defeated the Tokyo Giants), Yutaka Fukumoto, Hisashi Yamada (Japan's winningest underhand pitcher), Hideji Kato, Yutaro Imai (once pitched a perfect game), Roberto Marcano, Yoshinori Sato, Greg 'Boomer' Wells (the first non-Japanese triple crown hitter in NPB history), Masafumi Yamamori, Nobuyuki Hoshino and Yasuo Fujii.

Kintetsu, 1950-2004

Main article: Kintetsu Buffaloes

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.

Current roster

Orix Buffaloes roster
First squad				Second squad
Pitchers 00 Anderson Espinoza 11 Shunpeita Yamashita 13 Hiroya Miyagi 14 Yūki Udagawa 15 Ren Mukunoki 17 Ryūhei Sotani 23 Kōsei Yoshida 29 Daiki Tajima 42 Andrés Machado 54 Luis Castillo 57 Nobuyoshi Yamada 59 Luis Perdomo 66 Hiroshi Suzuki 94 Kento Kawase 97 Seiryū Kotajima Catchers 2 Kenya Wakatsuki 37 Ryō Ishikawa 44 Yūma Tongū		Infielders 5 Masahiro Nishino 24 Kōtarō Kurebayashi 25 Hō Naitoh 30 Taishi Hirooka 31 Ryō Ohta 36 Tatsuya Yamaashi 40 Leandro Cedeño 64 Kōsei Ohsato Outfielders 0 Haruto Watanabe 7 Ryōma Nishikawa 33 Ryū Sugisawa 38 Ryōto Kita 99 Yūtarō Sugimoto Manager 78 Satoshi Nakajima Coaches 88 Katsumi Mizumoto (Head) 76 Naoyuki Kazaoka (General fielding) 75 Kazuyuki Atsuzawa (Pitching) 72 Masafumi Hirai (Pitching) 73 Rui Makino (Pitching) 71 Mamoru Kishida (Pitching) 79 Ryūtarō Tsuji (Batting) 83 Eiichi Koyano (Batting) 85 Shinji Takahashi (Batting) 77 Eishin Soyogi (Infield defense/base running) 80 Shūhei Kojima (Infield defense/base running) 3 Ryōichi Adachi (Infield defense/base running) 81 Sō Taguchi (Outfield defense/base running) 70 Yūsuke Matsui (Outfield defense/base running) 87 Toshio Saitoh (Battery) 74 Katsuki Yamazaki (Battery)		Pitchers 12 Kōhei Azuma 16 Yoshihisa Hirano 19 Taisuke Yamaoka 20 Shōta Abe 21 Sōichirō Yamazaki 22 Ryōta Muranishi 26 Kyōsuke Saitoh 28 Ryōga Tomiyama 35 Motoki Higa 43 Yuito Mae 46 Hitomi Honda 48 Kaisei Tōmatsu 52 Kaede Yokoyama 56 Atsuya Kogita 58 Kazutomo Iguchi 63 Kōsuke Kawachi 93 Kazuma Satoh 95 Kaito Saiki 96 Taito Takashima 98 Ryūsei Gonda Catchers 4 Tomoya Mori 32 Shō Fukunaga 62 Shūna Hori		Infielders 3 Ryōichi Adachi 6 Yūma Mune 8 Marwin González 9 Tomoya Noguchi 10 Kōji Ohshiro 34 Seiya Yokoyama 53 Shō Gibo 67 Keita Nakagawa Outfielders 　 1 Shūhei Fukuda 27 Kendai Gen 39 Ryōma Ikeda 41 Kōdai Sano 45 Cody Thomas 50 Yūya Oda 55 T–Okada 61 Tokumasa Chano Manager 89 Hiroshi Kobayashi Coaches    Seiichiro Nakagaki (Patrol head) 90 Toshio Haru (Chief development) 86 Shintarō Yoshida (Development) 84 Kōhei Suzuki (Development) 91 Daisuke Iida (Development)
Development Players
003 Yuito Nakata (P) 032 Kaito Iriyama (P) 041 Hiroto Suga (P) 042 Kaito Ōe (P) 043 Riku Miyaguni (P) 044 Taketo Ashida (P) 130 Taiki Ono (P) 034 Kyōichirō Murakami (C) 045 Sōta Kawano (IF) 124 Kyōhei Ueno (IF) 126 Kazuya Katsuki (IF) 004 Yamato Hirano (OF) 020 Takayuki Yamanaka (OF) 123 Motohide Kinoshita (OF)
Updated September 13, 2024				→ All NPB rosters

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
• Karim García - OF
• Cliff Brumbaugh - RF
• Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原 和博) - 1B or 3B
• Ryan Vogelsong - P

as Orix BlueWave

• Akira Ogi (仰木 彬) - manager
• Greg Wells, IF
• Shigetoshi Hasegawa (長谷川 滋利) - P
• Hiromitsu Kadota - OF
• 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
• 51 Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗, イチロー) - OF
• So Taguchi (田口 壮) - OF

as Kintetsu Buffaloes

• Norihiro Nakamura (中村 紀洋) - IF
• Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄) - P
• Charlie Manuel - 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
• Animal Resry - P
• Hiromi Matsunaga (松永 浩美) - 3B
• Roberto Marcano - IF

Retired numbers

• none

MLB player

Active:

• Ichiro Suzuki (2001-)

Retired:

• Hideo Nomo (1990-2005, 2008)
• Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1997–2005)
• Masao Kida (1999–2005)
• So Taguchi (2002–2009)

Mascots

File:Buffalo bell.jpg

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

External links

• Template:Ja icon Orix Buffaloes