Chunichi Dragons
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The Chunichi Dragons are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu ("Middle of Japan") region of Japan. The team is in the Central League.
The Chunichi Dragons have won the Central League pennant seven times (including 2006), and won the Japan Series in 1954. In 1974, the team won the league title for the first time in 20 years, and this victory stopped the Yomiuri Giants from winning the league for their tenth consecutive year. Another league title came in 1999, and in that year, Dragons set a record by winning 11 consecutive games at the opening of the season.
It is said that the Dragons are a difficult team to score runs against because of the strong throwing arm of outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, and an excellent closer Hitoki Iwase. In the 2004 season they reached the Japan Series, but lost to the Seibu Lions, the Pacific League Champions.
The Dragons won the Central League Pennant for the seventh time in 2006, but after taking the first game of the Japan Series in Nagoya, lost 4 straight games to the champion Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. That series loss made the Dragons the first team to ever lose in six consecutive trips to the Japan Series, breaking a tie they had held with the Seibu Lions and the former Hankyu Braves. [1]
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[edit] Players of note
[edit] Current stars
- Kosuke Fukudome (福留 孝介)
- Masahiro Araki (荒木 雅博)
- Kazuyoshi Tatsunami (立浪 和義)
- Hirokazu Ibata (井端 弘和)
- Byung-Gyu Lee
- Inoue Kazuki (井上 一樹)}}(team leader, 2006, 選手会長)
- Kenshin Kawakami (川上 憲伸)
- Hitoki Iwase (岩瀬 仁紀)
- Motonobu Tanishige (谷繁 元信)
- Morino Masahiko (森野 将彦)
- Masahiro Yamamoto (山本 昌広)
- Tyrone Woods (T. ウッズ)
- Hiromitsu Ochiai (落合 博満) (Manager)
[edit] Former famous stars
- Willie Davis
- Larry Doby
- Genji Kaku
- Leo Gómez
- Mel Hall
- Masahiro Kawai (川相 昌弘)
- Vance Law
- Omar Linares
- Ken Macha
- Luis Martinez (マルティネス)
- Don Newcombe
- Michio Nishizawa (西澤 道夫)}}
- Alex Ochoa(アレックス)}}
- Alonzo Powell
- Dong-Yol Sun
- Tsao Chun-yang
[edit] Retired numbers
- Tsuguhiro Hattori (服部 受弘)
- Michio Nishizawa (西澤 道夫)
[edit] Trivia
The Dragons were featured in the 1992 movie Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck. Their logo at the time, which they used for many years, was "Dragons" written in script which resembled the logo of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The oldest pitcher in NPB to throw a no-hitter is Dragons veteran Masahiro Yamamoto. He performed the feat on September 16, 2006, at 41 years of age.
