Japonia - NPB 03/30 05:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hanshin Tigers - View
Japonia - NPB 03/31 05:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hanshin Tigers - View
Japonia - NPB 04/02 09:15 - Chunichi Dragons v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/03 09:00 - Chunichi Dragons v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/04 09:00 - Chunichi Dragons v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/05 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Yokohama Bay Stars - View
Japonia - NPB 04/06 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Yokohama Bay Stars - View
Japonia - NPB 04/07 05:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Yokohama Bay Stars - View
Japonia - NPB 04/09 09:00 - Yakult Swallows v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/11 09:00 - Yakult Swallows v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/12 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hiroshima Carp - View
Japonia - NPB 04/13 05:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hiroshima Carp - View
Japonia - NPB 04/14 05:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hiroshima Carp - View
Japonia - NPB 04/16 09:00 - Hanshin Tigers v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/17 09:00 - Hanshin Tigers v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/18 09:00 - Hanshin Tigers v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/19 09:00 - Hiroshima Carp v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/20 05:00 - Hiroshima Carp v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/21 04:30 - Hiroshima Carp v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/23 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Chunichi Dragons - View
Japonia - NPB 04/24 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Chunichi Dragons - View
Japonia - NPB 04/25 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Chunichi Dragons - View
Japonia - NPB 04/26 08:30 - Yokohama Bay Stars v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/27 05:00 - Yokohama Bay Stars v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/28 05:00 - Yokohama Bay Stars v Yomiuri Giants - View
Japonia - NPB 04/29 05:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Yakult Swallows - View
Japonia - NPB 04/30 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Yakult Swallows - View
Japonia - NPB 05/01 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Yakult Swallows - View
Japonia - NPB 05/03 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hanshin Tigers - View
Japonia - NPB 05/04 09:00 - Yomiuri Giants v Hanshin Tigers - View

Wikipedia - Yomiuri Giants

The Yomiuri Giants (読売ジャイアンツ, Yomiuri Jaiantsu, formally Yomiuri Kyojingun (読売巨人軍)) are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They have played their home games in the Tokyo Dome since its opening in 1988. The team's owner is Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, Japan's largest media conglomerate which also owns two newspapers (including the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun) and the Nippon Television Network (which includes flagship Nippon TV).

The Giants are the oldest professional sports team in Japan. They are also by far the most successful, having won 22 Japan Series titles and an additional nine in the era of NPB's forerunner, the Japanese Baseball League. Their main rivalry is with the Hanshin Tigers, a team especially popular in the Kansai region. The Yomiuri Giants are regarded as "The New York Yankees of Japan" due to their widespread popularity, past dominance of the league, and polarizing effect on fans. (Baseball fans who are indifferent about teams other than their local team often have an intense dislike for the Giants; on the other hand, the Giants have a large fan base even in cities that have a team of their own.)

The English-language press occasionally calls the team the "Tokyo Giants", but that name has not been in use in Japan for decades. (Lefty O'Doul, a former Major League Baseball player, named the team "Tokyo Giants" in the mid-1930s.) Instead, the team is officially known by the name of its corporate owner, just like the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes. The team is often referred by fans and in news headlines and tables simply as Kyojin (巨人, the Japanese word for "giant(s)"), instead of the usual corporate owner's name or the English nickname.

The Yomiuri Giants name and uniforms were based on the New York (now San Francisco) Giants. The team's colors (orange and black) are the same colors worn by the National League's Giants (both then as now in both New York and San Francisco). The stylized lettering on the team's jerseys and caps is similar to the fancy lettering used by the Giants when they played in New York in the 1930s, although during the 1970s the Yomiuri Giants modernized their lettering to follow the style worn by the San Francisco Giants.

History

Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club

The team began in 1934 as The Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club (大日本東京野球倶楽部, Dai-Nippon Tōkyō Yakyū Kurabu), a team of all-stars organized by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki that toured the United States and matched up against an American all-star team that included Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer. While prior Japanese all-star contingents had disbanded, Shōriki went pro with this group, playing in an independent league.

In 1935, the team traveled to the United States and faced off against college and minor league teams, ultimately playing 109 games in 128 days (including 34 games on 17 days as doubleheaders) across the country. The tour ended with a record of 75 wins, 33 losses, and 1 draw.

When they faced off against the San Francisco Seals, the manager of the Seals, Lefty O'Doul, stated the team needed a promotional name[]. He suggested that since Tokyo was the New York of Japan, they should emulate one of the two named MLB teams in New York; either the Yankees or the Giants (New York's third team, which would eventually be called the Dodgers, lacked an official nickname at the time). As "Yankees" was immediately out of the question, O'Doul suggested the name "Giants", and the team adopted the Tokyo Giants moniker mid-tour.

Tokyo Kyojin

In 1936, with the formation of the Japanese Baseball League, the team changed its name to the Tokyo Kyojin, often called the Tokyo Giants in non-Japanese sources. It won eight league championships under that name from 1936 to 1943, including six championships in a row from 1938 to 1943.

Russian-born pitcher Victor Starffin, nicknamed "the blue-eyed Japanese", starred for the team until 1944. One of the league's premier pitchers, he won two MVP awards and a Best Nine award, and won at least 26 games in six different years, winning a league-record 42 games in 1939. He followed his record-setting performance with another 38 wins in 1940. Pitcher Eiji Sawamura co-starred with Starffin on the Kyojin. He pitched the first no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball, on September 25, 1936, as well as two others. In 1937, he went 33–10 with a 1.38 earned run average. From 1937 to 1943 Sawamura had a record of 63–22, 554 strikeouts, and a 1.74 ERA. Sawamura was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army in 1938, 1941, and 1943; he returned to play for the Giants between deployments, though injuries and time away hindered his form and velocity. He was released by the team in 1943, then killed in battle when his ship was torpedoed near the end of the Second World War.

Outfielder Haruyasu Nakajima was a featured hitter during the franchise's first decade-and-a-half, and as player-manager led the Kyojin to a championship in 1941. Tetsuharu Kawakami was a team fixture from 1938 to 1958, winning the batting title five times, two home run crowns, three RBI titles, and had six titles for the most hits in a season. He was the first player in Japanese pro baseball to achieve 2,000 hits and was named the league's MVP three times. Leadoff man Shosei Go starred for the team from 1937 to 1943, winning league MVP in 1943. Only 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) and 140 lb (64 kg), he was nicknamed "The Human Locomotive" due to his speed.

Pitcher Hideo Fujimoto (also known as Hideo Nakagami) pitched for the team for 12 seasons from 1942 to 1955. He holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA (1.90) and seasonal ERA (0.73 in 1943), as well as best all-time winning percentage (.697). He threw two career no-hitters, including the first perfect game in Japanese professional baseball. In addition, he served as the Giants' player-manager in 1944 (there was no 1945 season) and part of 1946.

Yomiuri Giants

In 1947 the team became the Yomiuri Giants, winning the final JBL championship in 1949 (again under player-manager Haruyasu Nakajima). From 1938 to 1987 the Giants played at Korakuen Stadium, moving to their current home the Tokyo Dome in 1988.

In 1950, the Giants were one of the founding members of Nippon Professional Baseball, joining the Central League.

Slugger Noboru Aota starred for the Giants from 1948 to 1952, winning the home run championship twice, and hitting a home run in the 1951 Japan Series, when the Giants defeated the Nankai Hawks 4 games to 2 for their first NPB championship. Hawaiian Wally Yonamine was the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after World War II when he joined the Giants in 1951. A multi-skilled outfielder, as a Giant Yonamine was a member of four Japan Series Championship teams, the Central League Most Valuable Player in 1957, a consecutive seven-time Best Nine Award winner (1952–58), an eleven-time All-Star, and a three-time batting champion.

The team was the Central League champion every year from 1955 to 1959, winning the Japan Series championship in 1955, but they lost four consecutive Japan Series thereafter.

World career home run record holder Sadaharu Oh starred for the Giants from 1959 to 1980, and fellow Hall of Famer Shigeo Nagashima played for the team from 1958 to 1974. The Giants lineup, consisting of Oh batting third and Nagashima batting fourth, was nicknamed the ON Hou, ("Oh-Nagashima Cannon") as the two players emerged as the best hitters in the league. Now the team's manager, Tetsuharu Kawakami led the Giants to nine consecutive Japan Series championships from 1965 to 1973, and Oh and Nagashima dominated the batting titles during this period. During his career, Oh was a five-time batting champion and fifteen-time home-run champion, and won the Central League most valuable player award nine times. Nagashima won the season MVP award five times, and the Best Nine Award every single year of his career (a total 17 times). Future Hall of Famer Tsuneo Horiuchi pitched for the team during its heyday, from 1966 to 1983. The renowned left-hander Masaichi Kaneda pitched for the team from 1965 to 1969, later having his number retired by the Giants.

Shigeo Nagashima was appointed manager of the Giants almost immediately after his retirement in 1974, staying in that position until 1980. After a couple of down years the Giants re-assumed their dominant position in the Central League, winning league championships in 1976 and 1977. Sadaharu Oh rejoined the team as manager from 1984 to 1988. Nagashima returned as Giants manager from 1993 to 2001, winning Japan Series championships in 1994, 1996, and 2000.

Outfielder Hideki Matsui starred for the Giants for ten seasons in the 1990s and early 2000s before migrating to Major League Baseball. He was a three-time NPB MVP, leading his team to four Japan Series, winning three titles (1994, 2000 and 2002), and earning the popular nickname "Godzilla". He also made nine consecutive All-Star Games and led the league in home runs and RBIs three times.