Orix Buffaloes

Franchise history

Hankyu/Orix (1936–2004)

Hankyu Braves

The franchise that eventually became the Orix Buffaloes was founded in 1936 under the ownership of a Japanese railway company Hanshin Kyuko Railway Company, as Osaka Hankyu Baseball Club. Later nicknamed the Hankyu Braves, it was one of the first professional baseball teams in Japan, and the oldest surviving team in the Pacific League.

In the early 1950s, the franchise made a dedicated effort to attract foreign talent, particularly African-American veterans of Negro league baseball, including infielders John Britton and Larry Raines, and pitchers Jimmy Newberry and Jonas Gaines. These players were the first Americans other than Wally Yonamine to play Nippon Professional Baseball after World War II.

Starting in the mid-1960s, the Braves became one of the dominant teams not only in the Pacific League but in all of Japanese professional baseball. Between 1967 and 1972, the Hankyu Braves won the Pacific League pennant five times but lost the Japan Series each time against the Yomiuri 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 the 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, including pitcher Hisashi Yamada and outfielder Yutaka Fukumoto.

In the 1980s, the team still was a strong contender in the Pacific League, but lost the PL pennant to the Seibu Lions every year except 1984; that year, the Braves fell to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japan Series in seven games.

On October 19, 1988, Hankyu Railway sold the franchise to the lease company Orient Lease (since 1989 known as Orix Group), in what was known as "the longest day of the Pacific League". The reason is that when the franchise sale occurred, the Kintetsu Buffaloes played the legendary "10.19" double-header for the Pacific League pennant, only to miss the pennant out because of the second game ending in a tie. For Kintetsu to win the pennant, they had to win both games in the doubleheader against the Lotte Orions. The sale was a surprise; at that time, it was much rarer for a Japanese professional baseball team to change owners, not to mention for a large company to sell one of its parts. In that case, Hankyu Railway was thought of as one of the big companies that would never need to do such a thing. The sale was also a surprise, given that prior to Hankyu founder Ichizo Kobayashi's death in 1957, he decreed that under any circumstances, Hankyu must never sell the Braves and the Takarazuka Revue, both of which were passion projects of his. As it turned out, however, the Braves had to be sold in order for Hankyu to keep the Revue afloat.

The sale was not without two assurances: the team name would remain "Braves", and the franchise would stay in Nishinomiya. During the first two years of new ownership, the team was known as the Orix Braves and played in Nishinomiya.

BlueWave

In 1991, the team moved to Kobe and became the Orix BlueWave. Orix put out a poll to decide the new name, and unsurprisingly, people voted Braves. It was said that Orix put out another poll and told fans "Braves" was not allowed. What made it worse was in that second poll, "Thunder" was the winning name, which fit the new color scheme (when Orix bought the team, they changed their colors from black and red to navy blue and gold), and because the team's batting lineup was named Blue Thunder. But, Orix went with "BlueWave". Longtime fans were shocked by these changes. One member of the Braves' cheering squad (応援団 ouendan) said that "the race was decided before the gun even went off". Another thing that did not make sense to fans was they were named BlueWave while playing in then-named Green Stadium (now Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium) in a city whose official color is green. 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 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. In 2001, Suzuki moved to the Seattle Mariners and led the Mariners to a 116 win season, the most wins by an American League team.

Orix Buffaloes (2005 to present)

Following the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment, the BlueWave merged with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. The team struggled since its merger, only finishing in the top half (or A Class) of the Pacific league once from 2005 to 2013. In 2008, The Buffaloes finished second in the Pacific League, going 75–68–1 and finishing games behind the Saitama Seibu Lions, but were swept by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at home in the first stage of the Climax Series. After two seasons of finishing last in the Pacific League, they finished first in 2021, going 70–55–18. They swept the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series to make their first Japan Series appearance since 1996. Ultimately, they were defeated by the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in six games. In 2022, despite a rough start to the season, the Buffaloes finished 1st after a 5–2 win over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on the final day of the Pacific League regular season, combined with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks losing to the Marines, 5–2, at the same time the game was happening, and also because they had 5 more wins against the Hawks during the regular season, 15–10. The Buffaloes would defeat the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the Final Stage of the 2022 Pacific League Climax Series, 4 games to 1, which set up a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series, but this time the Buffaloes exacted revenge on the Swallows, defeating them 4 games to 2. Following that campaign, Masataka Yoshida requested to be posted to MLB, and signed with the Boston Red Sox that offseason. In 2023, an 86-53-4 record yielded them their third straight Pacific League pennant, alongside Yamamoto winning his 3rd consecutive Triple Crown. They swept the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series to make their third Japan Series appearance. However, the Buffaloes were defeated by the Hanshin Tigers in seven games. Yoshinobu Yamamoto's posting to MLB proved to be too much for the Buffaloes to handle, as without their legendary ace, the Buffaloes fell to a record of 63-77-3, ending the year in fifth place. Following that season, manager Satoshi Nakajima announced he was stepping down after he failed to guide the Buffaloes to their fourth straight pennant. He was replaced with Mamoru Kishida.

Current roster

Baseball Hall of Famers

Elected mainly for Hankyu Braves service

• Yutaka Fukumoto, CF, 1969–1988 (inducted 2002)
• Takao Kajimoto, P, 1954–1973 (inducted 2007)
• Hisashi Yamada, P, 1969–1988 (inducted 2006)
• Tetsuya Yoneda, P, 1956–1975 (inducted 2000)

Elected for service with other teams, as well as Hankyu and Orix

• Hiromitsu Kadota, DH, 1989–1990 (inducted 2006)
• Futoshi Nakanishi, Head coach / Hitting coach, 1985–1990†, 1995–1997 (inducted 1999) †For Kintetsu Buffaloes
• Akira Ōgi, MGR 1988–1992†, 1994–2001, 2005 (inducted 2004)
• Toshiharu Ueda, MGR, 1974–1978, 1981–1990 (inducted 2003)
• Ichiro Suzuki, RF, 1992-2000 (inducted 2025)

Elected mainly for Kintetsu Buffaloes service

• Yukio Nishimoto, MGR 1974–1981 (inducted 1988)
• Keishi Suzuki, P, 1966–1985 (inducted 2002)

Notable former players and managers

as Orix Buffaloes

• – 1B

as Orix BlueWave

• (also known as D.J)
• – formerly of the Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners
• – of the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees of MLB's American League

as Kintetsu (and Osaka Kintetsu) Buffaloes

as Hankyu (and Orix) Braves

• – underhanded big-game pitcher who defeated the Yomiuri Giants
• – once pitched a perfect game
• – steal the most bases in NPB up to now
• (the first non-Japanese triple crown hitter in NPB history)

MLB players

Active:

• Masataka Yoshida (beginning 2023)
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto (beginning 2024)

Former:

• Adam Jones (2020–2021)
• Mac Suzuki (2003–2005)
• Joey Butler (2014)
• Hideo Nomo (1990–1994)
• Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1990–1996)
• Masao Kida (1998, 2000–2001)
• So Taguchi (1992–2001, 2010–2011)
• Koo Dae-Sung (2001–2004)
• Tuffy Rhodes (2007–2009)
• Joey Meneses (2018–2019)
• Ichiro (1992–2000)
• Park Chan Ho (2011)
• Yoshihisa Hirano (2018–2020)
• Brandon Dickson (2013–2021)
• Masato Yoshii (1997–2002)
• Marwin González (2023–2024)

Regular season records

Main article: List of Orix Buffaloes seasons

Managers

• Statistics current through the end of the season.

Theme song

The Buffaloes' current theme song is "Sky" by Japanese band Mega Stopper. The song was first used in 2005. Another version that is used is sung by the club's cheerleading squad, BsGirls.

Mascots

;1981 until 1990 :*Bravey #100, a large bird :*Yuta #101, a younger bird :*Braves Boy, a baseball-headed warrior

;1991 until 2010 :*Neppie #111, a young boy :*Ripsea #222, a young girl

;since 2011 :*Buffalo Bull #111, a male hybrid of oryx and buffalo, Bell's brother :*Buffalo Bell #222, a female hybrid of oryx and buffalo, Bull's sister

References

References

1. "Index by team".
2. Zurui, [http://www.blacktokyo.com/2008/09/12/negro-leaguers-in-japan/ "Negro Leaguers in Japan,"] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-05-03 ''BlackTokyo'' (September 12, 2008).)
3. (13 December 2021). "The Orix-Kintetsu Merger – The Story of the 2004 NPB Realignment".
4. "【データ】オリックスがソフトバンクと勝率で並ぶも直接対決の差でＶ（日刊スポーツ）".
5. Whiting, Robert. (1989). "You Gotta Have Wa". Vintage Books.
6. "Nippon Professional Baseball オリックス・バファローズ 年度別成績 (1936–2021)". [[Nippon Professional Baseball.