Hanshin M6, Daiei M16

I know his has nothing to do with the topic, but I was wondering, how do the come up with the team names in Japanese baseball? Like, the Ham Fighters? Blue Wave? Swallows? and others. I'm really trying to find out, and am not making fun of their names. I love Japanese baseball.

Let's go Tigers!

Where does any team get their name? What is a Met? What were the people of Brooklyn dodging?

There are stories of how teams got their names. Whiting explained the origin of the Giants' name in "Wa." Kintetsu used to be called the Pearls until Chiba Isao took over as manager in 1959. Chiba-san's nickname was "Buffaloe," and the team took on that name as its mascot. Taiyo, a sea food producer, named their team the Whales as that was one of their products back when the team was founded.

The BayStars, while they were the Whales, had a "name the team" contest and "BayStars" was the winner (submitted by five people, I think). Lotte wanted an image change when the moved to the new city of Makuhari Messa in Chiba. As the new stadium was off the bay, it was named Chiba Marine Stadium, and the team was renamed to the Marines (with a sea gull as their mascot, not a solder in camouflage).

One of the more perplexing names to me has always been the Hankyu Braves (1947-1989). Why Braves? I have an image of American Indians, which doesn't at all fit in Japan.

My guess is that many early teams got their mascot names from MLB teams. No, there aren't any Swallows in MLB, but there are Blue Jays and Cardinals, so a team named after a bird isn't so unusual.

To try to bring this back on topic, you can find pictures of the mascots for each team from their respective official web sites [NPB Official Site]. Please bear in mind that the images are copyrighted by their respective teams. While you should be able to use them for a non-profit project under fair use provisions, I would advise you to "add value" to the images by making your own customized images based on the mascots (a different angle, 3D renderings, sketch art, etc.). If a team notifies you that you may not use their images, then there's not much you can do. But it's better than straight out copying.

[Note, I am not a lawer, and none of this should be construed as legal advice. It's just common sense in a increasingly nonsensical world.]

If you're looking for data to power your game, all of my data up until mid-season is available at the Baseball DataBank project [Yahoo Groups]. I'll be merging my data with the BDB this next off season, so I can't guarantee an upgrade path for the Japanese only data for next season. I will release one more file after the 2003 season with the current data set/IDs after adding the 2003 results.

Hope this helps.

- Where does any team get their name? What is a Met? What were the people of Brooklyn dodging?

I know I'm continuing the off-topic aspect, but Mets, as I understand it is short for Metropolitans, which a 19th century NYC based team had been named. The Dodgers were originally the "Trolley Dodgers," which was shortened to Dodgers.

Jim Albright

- My guess is that many early teams got their mascot names from MLB teams. No, there aren't any Swallows in MLB, but there are Blue Jays and Cardinals, so a team named after a bird isn't so unusual.

I'm always very much impressed by your erudition. But let me comment one thing on the Swallows. If my poor memory is correct, Kokutetsu's (Japan National Railway Co., Ltd. now called "JR" after privatization more than 10 years ago) fastest train then was "Tsubame" (=Swallow), thus the team nickname was named after it.

Hope this helps.

It's just Fighters, not Ham Fighters. Nippon Ham is the name of the company that owns them.

The BayStars are called that because the Bay is a distinctive part of Yokohama.

The Carp, Dragons, Swallows, Hawks, and Lions are just typical animal mascots.

Many early team names were borrowed from historic MLB franchises, including the Giants and the Tigers, as well as the Braves and the Senators.

As for the BlueWave, that comes from their uniforms. In the late 1980s the Hankyu Braves had the dark blue uniforms with yellow trim. When Orix took over the team, they changed it to BlueWave.

And to answer Westbay-san's questions: a Metropolitan, and trolleys.

I was always amused with the observation that the Hanshin Tigers, while (I assume) named after their Detroit counterparts, seem to have taken their uniform design from the New York Yankees, down to the interlocking H and T on the cap.

A favorite fantasy of mine involves imagining interleague series between teams of similar uniform design: Carp vs. Cincinnati Reds, Dragons vs. LA Dodgers, Hanshin vs. Yankees. Might be confusing (and amusing) on the field.

Let's go Tigers! Tora tora tora!

I really enjoy this site, having found it by accident after looking around for something on the 2 leagues over there and after talking to an ANA flight attendant who told me about the Tigers.

I live in Reston, VA, but was stationed in Japan for several years back in the 1960's. While there I was able to see several games in Tokyo and had the fortune to see both Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima in their primes. I also played a round of golf at Kasumigaseki with Arnold Palmer and a LH pitcher from one of the Japanese teams. (He was one of the top pitchers, but I don't remember his name or the team).

Do you ever publish the entire standings? I was a Nankai Hawks fan in those days and still would like to follow them. Keep up the good work.

In response to one of the queries, you may have been kidding, but you were right in regard to the Dodgers. They got their name because people in Brooklyn were always dodging trolley cars that ran along the streets. In fact, the team was originally called the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers.

Ditto on what Bill Rogers and others have said. "Mets" is short for Metropolitans. Brooklyn's original name was the "Trolley Dodgers."

Here is a good link for the origins of the names of professional baseball teams [FactMonster.com].

I've always wondered about the Utah Jazz. I mean Utah and Jazz? The team was originally from New Orleans, that's where it got the name.

The magic number is now 4. It won't be long now!

Tiger's fight song:

Rokko oroshi ni sasso to
Soten kakeru nichirin no
Seishun no haki uruwashiku
Kagayaku wagana zo Hanshin Taigasu
O-o-o-o Hanshin Taigasu
Fure-fure-fure-fure!

Toshi hatsuratsu tatsu ya ima
Nekketsu sude ni teki o tsuku
Ju-o no iki takaraka ni
Muteki no warera zo Hanshin Taigasu
O-o-o-o Hanshin Taigasu
Fure-fure-fure-fure!

Appreciate the info on where to locate nicknames. An interesting one is the Cleveland Browns (I realize this is off the baseball scene). Most people think they were named after their original coach, Paul Brown. Actually it was a result of a contest, and the winner was the Brown Bombers (based on the war and Joe Louis). However, the final decision was not to focus on WWII anymore, and Joe Louis'nickname might not be acceptable to everyone, so they settled on just Browns.

Finally remembered the name of the pitcher I played golf with over there in the 60's - Kaneda.

Does anyone know where I can get a Hawks cap? Go team. With Saito and Wada, I don't think the Tigers stand a chance.

There are plenty of Hawks' caps available in the two huge souvenir shops outside the Fukuoka Dome.

Please see the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for caps, jerseys, and other Pro Yakyu goods.