Hiroshima Toyo Carp

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Hiroshima Toyo Carp League Central League Location Hiroshima Ballpark Hiroshima Municipal Stadium Year Founded 1949 Nickname(s) Hiroshima (広島), Carp (カープ), Koi (鯉, koi) League championships 1975, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1991 Japan Series championships 1979, 1980, 1984 Former name(s) Hiroshima Carp (1950–1967) Colors Red and white Logo Design "Carp" written in red cursive Roman, outlined in white

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp are a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by Matsuda Hajime. Mazda is the largest single shareholder (34.2%), which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family (about 60%). Because of that, Mazda is not considered as the owner firm. However, the company connection is highlighted in the club name—until 1984, Mazda's official name was Tōyō Kōgyō Kabushiki Gaisha.

[edit] History

[edit] Early Years

The Nippon Professional Baseball league was scheduled to be expanded into two separate leagues in 1949, and Hiroshima prefecture decided to establish a professional baseball team as part of the reconstruction process from the devastation of the atomic bomb. The team joined the Central League in December, 1949 as the Hiroshima Carp.

The team's first home field was a small state-funded stadium, and the team's lack of sponsorship made it extremely difficult to gather players. Manager Hideichi Ishimoto had to personally scout players just to form a starting lineup. The ragtag team ended up in last place from 1950 to 1951.

The team's lack of funding became an even more serious problem in 1951, and it was proposed that the team be disbanded, or merge with the Taiyo Whales team, which was based in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi at the time. Hiroshima citizens strongly protested against disbanding the team, and raised the money needed to keep the team through donations.

The Central League had 7 teams in 1952, making it difficult to form a coherent schedule for each team. Therefore, it was decided that any team that ended the season with a winning percentage below .300 would be disbanded or merged with another team. This agreement was obviously aimed towards the Carp, since the team had been in last place every season. The team won only 37 games in 1952, but ended with a .316 winning percentage to barely save itself from being disbanded. The Shochiku Robins ended the season in last place with a .288 winning percentage, and was merged with the Taiyo Whales.

The team's financial plight only worsened in the following years, and the team could only issue one uniform per player in 1953. Nevertheless, the team continued to play each season, and finally ended the season above the .500 mark in 1960. The team moved to its current home field, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, in July, 1957.

In 1968, Toyo Kogyo (current Mazda) became the team's chief sponsor, and the company name was inserted to become the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. The team ended the season above 3rd place for the first time the same year, but quickly fell back into last place from 1972 to 1974.

[edit] The "Akaheru" Golden Age

Red became the new team color in 1973, and the team's uniforms were completely redone to resemble the current team uniform. The team logo was also changed from a letter "H" to a red "C" in imitation of the Cincinnati Reds logo.

The team hired its first non-Japanese manager, Joe Lutz, in 1975. Lutz ordered the team's cap to be changed to red to symbolize a never-ending fighting spirit. Lutz left the team halfway into the season, but the team won its first ever league championship in 1975 to begin a memorable series of championship berths.

The Carp team became a powerhouse in 1978, hitting over 200 home runs in one season for the first time in Japanese baseball history. Koji Yamamoto, Sachio Kinugasa, Jim Lyttle, and Adrian Garrett formed the powerful Akaheru (literally meaning "Red Helmet") lineup, which won two consecutive pennants and Japan Series from 1979 to 1980. A strong pitching staff led to another Japan Series win in 1984. Manager Takeshi Koba retired in 1985, but the team still won the pennant the following year.

Star player Koji Yamamoto became manager in 1989, and the team won yet another pennant in 1991. However, the team fell into last place in 1993, and Yamamoto resigned from his position.

[edit] Dark Years

The team has not been in serious contention since their last championship in 1991. They remain the only team in the league to have never been above third place since the turn of the century. The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters won a league championship in 2006, making the Carp the team the farthest removed from a league championship. They are also the only Japanese team to have never produced a major league baseball player (excluding the recently founded Rakuten Eagles). Ace starter Hiroki Kuroda seems the player most likely to make it to the major leagues.

The major reason for the team's recent demise is the lack of financial support it gets from its sponsors. The team has never signed any free agents, and is often forced to let go of star players because they can no longer pay their salaries (recent examples include Tomoaki Kanemoto, Akira Etoh, Andy Sheets, Nathan Minchey, and Greg LaRocca). The Hiroshima Carp was the last Japanese team to have a non-Japanese player on its roster (excluding Japanese-Americans). 1965 American League MVP Zoilo Versalles was the first non-Japanese player to play for the Carp.

Marty Brown became the manager in 2006, becoming the first non-Japanese manager in 31 years since Joe Lutz. The team set a new record in April, 2006, scoring only 2 runs for the first 9 games of the season.

[edit] Carp Academy

The Carp was the first Japanese baseball team to establish a baseball academy outside of Japan. The team was unable to recruit non-Japanese players from the major leagues due to financial constraints, and the academy was established to cheaply send young players to play in Japan. The Carp Baseball Academy was created in the Dominican Republic in 1990, and Robinson Checo became the first player imported to Japan from the academy in 1995. Checo achieved moderate success in Japan, leading to further imports which include Timoniel Perez and Alfonso Soriano.

[edit] Players of note

[edit] Current manager

• Marty Brown (from 2006 season, ex Buffalo Bisons manager)

[edit] Current stars

• Kōji Yamasaki (山崎 浩司) - IF
• Takamitsu Ioh (井生 崇光) - OF
• Tomonori Maeda (前田 智徳) - OF
• Akihiro Higashide (東出 輝裕) - IF
• Yoshinori Ogata(尾形 佳紀) - IF
• Kenta Kurihara (栗原 健太) - IF
• Eishin Soyogi (梵 英心) - IF
• Koichi Ogata (緒方 孝市) - OF
• Toshimitsu Higa (比嘉 寿光) - IF
• Yasuhiro Oyamada (小山田 保裕) - P
• Yūta Shirahama (白濱 裕太) - C
• Kenta Satake (佐竹 健太) - P
• Nobuaki Umehara (梅原 伸亮) - P
• Hiroki Kuroda (黒田 博樹) - P
• Chōji Mori (森 跳二) - P
• Kan Ohtake (大竹 寛) - P
• Shinji Sasaoka (佐々岡 真司) - P
• Hiroto Tanaka (田中 敬人) - P
• Katsuhiro Nagakawa (永川 勝浩) - P
• Shane Douglass (ショーン・ダグラス) - P
• Ken Takahashi (高橋 建) - P
• Ryūji Yokoyama (横山 竜士) - P
• Takaya Kawauchi (河内 貴哉) - P
• Takahiro Arai (新井 貴浩) - IF
• Jun Hirose (廣瀬 純) - OF
• Kazuyoshi Kimura (木村 一喜) - C
• Kōji Hiroike (広池 浩司) - P
• Tsuyoshi Sato (佐藤 剛士) - P
• Yoshiyuki Ishihira (石原 慶幸) - C
• Tomoya Sayashi (鞘師 智也) - OF
• Satoshi Nibe (仁部 智) - P
• Hayato Aoki (青木 勇人) - P
• Kazunori Okagami (岡上 和典) - IF
• Tomohiro Umetsu (梅津 智弘) - P
• Yoshikazu Kura (倉 義和) - C
• Shigeru Morikasa (森笠 繁) - OF
• Masayuki Hasegawa (長谷川 昌幸) - P
• Shinsuke Yamada (山田 真介) - OF
• Takaaki Matsumoto (松本 高明) - IF
• Takayuki Ohshima (大島 崇行) - P
• Kei Yoshida (吉田 圭) - OF
• Jared Fernandez (ジャレッド・フェルナンデス)- P
• Masamitsu Suzuki (鈴木 将光) - OF
• Masafumi Suenaga (末永 真史) - OF
• Makoto Ohsuga (大須賀 允) - IF
• Masaki Hayashi (林 昌樹) - P
• Shigenobu Shima (嶋 重宣) - OF
• Masahito Kai (甲斐 雅人) - IF
• Shinjiro Kojima (小島 紳二郎) - P
• Yoshihiko Yamamoto (山本 芳彦) - IF
• Yūki Saito (齊藤 悠葵) - P
• Shō Yamamoto (山本 翔) - C
• Keisuke Imai (今井 啓介) - P
• Toshiaki Aizawa (相澤 寿聡) - P
• Kazuhiro Uemura (上村 和裕) - C
• Yui Maruki (丸木 唯) - P
• Suzunosuke Kinjoh (金城 宰之左) - P
• Sōichirō Amaya (天谷 宗一郎) - OF
• Victor Marte (ビクトル・マルテ) - P
• Hiroyuki Iida (飯田　宏行) - P
• Tsubasa Nakatani (中谷 翼) - IF

[edit] Former Players

• Rod Allen
• John Bale
• Ty Van Burkleo
• Robinson Checo
• Eddy Díaz
• Manabu Kitabeppu
• Takehiko Kobayakawa
• Rick Lancellotti
• Greg LaRocca
• Luis Medina
• Alan Newman
• Kenjiro Nomura
• Yutaka Ohno
• Timo Pérez
• Ramón Ramírez
• Erik Schullstrom
• Andy Sheets
• Alfonso Soriano
• Tsunemi Tsuda
• Yutaka Enatsu
• Tomoaki Kanemoto
• Jim Lyttle
• Nathan Minchey

[edit] Retired numbers

• Sachio Kinugasa
• Koji Yamamoto (ex manager)

[edit] Honored Numbers

• Kenjiro Nomura
• Manabu Kitabeppu

[edit] Trivia

For Hiroshima citizens, the Carp carry a symbolic link to reconstruction.

The team was founded only five years after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima, 1945.

Its home ballpark, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, stands opposite the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (原爆ドーム, Genbaku Dōmu, means "A-Bomb Dome").

This ballpark is closed every memorial day, August 6, and the Carp always play in other stadiums, even if they have a home game.

The Carp have simailar uniforms to the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies, both of which play in Major League Baseball.

Also, their mascot, "Slyly", is similar to the Phillie Phanatic, the mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies.

There is the 1st Japanese baseball dog called "Micky". He brings new balls to the umpire during the game.

The Carp's championship drought dates back to 1991.

The Carp has also been dubbed "Damekoi" ("spoiled carp") by fans and the media, a moniker which arises during losing streaks.

[edit] External link

• Hiroshima Carp official web site