Category Archives: History

articles about Japanese baseball history

Old games

While dredging through 50 years of games in my pursuit of estimating park effects, I discovered a few things by accident, which provided a few reminders of how much things have changed over the years.

The first thing that caught my eye was how makeshift the schedules with so few usable ballparks.

In 1950, Tokyo’s Korakuen Stadium was the main home park of the Central League’s Yomiuri Giants, Taiyo Whales and Kokutetsu Swallows as well as the Pacific League’s Tokyu Flyers, Daiei Stars and Mainichi Orions. Osaka’s Namba Stadium was kind of home to the Nankai Hawks and Kintetsu Pearls and the CL’s Shochiku Robins.

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Saves in Japan

On Friday, Shingo Takatsu became the third closer to be elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, following Tsunemi Tsuda and Kazuhiro Sasaki. Takatsu was, for a time, Japan’s career saves leader, and is now second with 286 behind future Hall of Famer Hitoki Iwase’s 407.

Takatsu’s support has been slowly building over the years, unlike Sasaki, is third all-time and who shot in with relative ease. I mentioned Tsuda, but his selection was a sentimental one, owing more to his tragic death at the age of 32 than the quality of his career.

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