Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Encyclopedia
The are a Japan
ese baseball team based in Fukuoka
, Fukuoka Prefecture
. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.
The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei
bought the team from Osaka
's Nankai Electric Railway
Co., and its headquarters were moved to Fukuoka. The Daiei Hawks won the Pacific League
championship in 1999, 2000 and 2003 and won the Japan Series
in 1999
, 2003
. The Softbank Hawks won the pennant and the Japan Series in 2011
.
in 1938, with the name originating with the Nankai Electric Railway Co.
, which owned the team at the time. The team's name was changed to Kinki Nihon in mid-1944, at the end of World War II, as team officials responded to the nationalistic atmosphere of the period. In 1946 the name was changed to Kinki Great Ring. Throughout the name changes the club underwent between 1948 and 1946, Nankai Electric Railway Co. continued to maintain ownership during the period.
In mid-1947, Nankai settled upon its current moniker. The became one of the most successful franchises through the first two decades of the Pacific League
's existence, taking 2 Japan Series championships and 10 Pacific League pennants.
The team fell on hard times between 1978 and 1988, finishing no better than 4th place out of the 6 teams in the Pacific League in any year in the period. The team witnessed a its fan base constrict as a result of the prolonged period of poor play, with attendance dropping and the club dealing with diminished profits.
The change in the club's financial performance led Nankai Electric Railway to question the value of maintaining ownership, even after considering the value the team represented as an advertising tool. The company's board of directors and union leadership put pressure on Den Kawakatsu, then-president of Nankai Railway and owner of the team, to sell the team, which he refused to do. However, Mr. Kawakatsu, who represented the most ardent supporter of Nankai's ownership of the Hawks, died in 1988, and the team was sold to the Daiei corporation to become the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks after the 1988 season.
Katsuya Nomura
, Mutsuo Minagawa, Hiromitsu Kadota
, and Chusuke Kizuka are among the more notable franchise players that were active during the Nankai era.
The Hawks front office adopted a strategy of drafting and developing younger players, supplemented by free agent signings, a policy overseen by team president Ryuzo Setoyama and his aides. Setoyama's most brilliant moves were the hiring of Sadaharu Oh
to take the reins of manager, a title he would hold until 2008 before he moved into the general manager's position. Oh replaced then-manager Rikuo Nemoto, who was named team president and held that position until his death in 1999. Also tapped was Akira Ishikawa, a little-known former player, who was tasked with bringing in talented amateurs. He brought in the likes of current Hanshin Tigers
catcher Kenji Johjima
, Kazumi Saitoh, Nobuhiko Matsunaka
, future Chicago White Sox
and current Chiba Lotte Marines
infielder Tadahito Iguchi
, current shortstop Munenori Kawasaki
, and future team captain Hiroki Kokubo
.
Supplementing the amateur signings were some free-agent acquisitions, most of them former Seibu stars from their 1980's championship teams. Among them were infielder Hiromichi Ishige
, immensely popular outfielder and current manager Koji Akiyama
, and ace left-handed pitcher Kimiyasu Kudoh
.
These moves (and a few unpopular cost-cutting measures) helped to make the Hawks gradually more competitive with each passing year, and in 1999, the team finally broke through. That season, Daiei made their first Japan Series
appearance since 1973, and defeated the Chunichi Dragons
in five games, giving them their first championship since 1964. Kudoh was dominant in his Game 1 start (complete game, 13 strikeouts), and Akiyama was named Series MVP.
The following year, the Hawks again made the Japan Series, but this time lost to the powerful Yomiuri Giants
in six games. Despite the shaky financial ground that Daiei was on thanks to their rampant expansion in bubble-era Japan, the team continued to be competitive. The team won their second Japan Series in five years, defeating the popular Hanshin Tigers
in seven games in the 2003 Japan Series
, an exciting series in which the home team won every game.
, playing for the Kintetsu Buffaloes
, hit 55 home runs with several games left, equaling Hawks' manager Sadaharu Oh
's single-season home run record. The Buffaloes played a weekend series against the Oh-managed Hawks late in the season, and Rhodes was intentionally walked during each at-bat of the series. Video footage showed Hawks' catcher Kenji Johjima grinning as he caught the intentional balls. Oh denied any involvement and Hawks battery coach Yoshiharu Wakana stated that the pitchers acted on his orders, saying, "It would be distasteful to see a foreign player break Oh's record." Rhodes completed the season with 55 home runs. League commissioner Hiromori Kawashima denounced the Hawks' behavior as "unsportsmanlike." Hawks pitcher Keizaburo Tanoue went on record saying that he wanted to throw strikes to Rhodes and felt bad about the situation.
In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera
hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season, with several of those to be played against Oh's Hawks. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes to Cabrera, but most of them ignored his order and threw balls well away from the plate. After the game, Oh stated, "If you're going to break the record, you should do it by more than one. Do it by a lot." In the wake of the most recent incident involving Cabrera, ESPN
listed Oh's single-season home run record as #2 on its list of "The Phoniest Records in Sports."
. Daiei attempted to hold on to the team and held discussions with its primary lenders, including UFJ Bank, to see if it could find a way to retain the team, but ultimately the sale went through to Softbank in January 2005.
The Hawks continued their winning ways after the sale of the team to SoftBank
. Following the sale, the Hawks represented one of the richest teams in Japan, with a player core still intact from the last years of the Daiei era. Particularly strong was the team's starting pitching behind Saitoh, Tsuyoshi Wada
, Nagisa Arakaki
, and Toshiya Sugiuchi
. In 2005, the Hawks finished in first place during the regular season, but fell to the eventual Japan Series
champions, the Chiba Lotte Marines
in the second stage of the Climax Series
. In 2006, a dramatic pennant race led to an even more exciting playoff run that ended in the Sapporo Dome at the hands of the eventual Japan Series Champions, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
. Team manager Sadaharu Oh missed most of the 2006 season
due to stomach cancer.
The Hawks' 2007 season
was plagued by injuries and general ineffectiveness and inconsistency, leading to another 3rd-place finish and first-stage exit in the playoffs at the hands of the Marines. In 2008
, though various injuries still affected the Hawks' bench (especially the bullpen), the club claimed its first Interleague title in June, winning a tiebreaker against the Hanshin Tigers
. However, injuries caught up with them in the final month of the season, and the Hawks finished in last place with a 54-74-2 record. The finish represented their worst since 1996.
At the end of the 2008 season, Oh announced his retirement, and former Hawk and fan favorite Koji Akiyama
was named as Oh's successor. In 2009
, the team cracked the playoffs once again on the backs of breakout seasons from surging starting pitcher D.J. Houlton, outfielder Yuya Hasegawa
, Rookie of the Year Tadashi Settsu
and another stellar season from ace Sugiuchi. However, the team still was unable to get out of the first stage, as the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
ousted the Hawks in a 2-game sweep.
The Hawks finally reclaimed the Pacific League regular season title in 2010
after a seven-year wait. The title came after a see-saw season in which the team recovered several times after extended losing streaks. Starting pitcher Wada, back from injury through much of the previous two seasons, was, along with fellow ace Sugiuchi, at his best. Wada set career highs in wins and games started. The reliable "SBM" relieving trio of Settsu, Brian Falkenborg
, and Mahara limited opponent offenses late in games. The bullpen also benefited from the emergence of Keisuke Kattoh and Masahiko Morifuku, with the latter blossoming in the second half of the season.
The Hawks offense was largely composed of role players who seemed to take turns having big games and off days, and it was the team's speed that drove the team as the Hawks led the league in stolen bases in the regular season with 148, well ahead of their nearest challenger, who had 116. Yuichi Honda
stole 59 bases while Kawasaki stole 30. However, despite putting forward a strong group, the Hawks failed to make it to the Japan Series
, losing to the Lotte Marines in six games in the Climax Series despite having a 3-1 series lead.
SoftBank won the Pacific League again in 2011, with a dominating season on all fronts. The offense was bolstered further by the acquisition of former Yokohama BayStars
outfielder Seiichi Uchikawa
, who led the league in batting in 2011. Pitching from Sugiuchi, Wada and an excellent bounce-back season from Houlton also helped propel the team to the best record in NPB. After sweeping the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Pacific League Climax Series, the Hawks took on the Chunichi Dragons
to win the Japan Series, a rematch of the 1999 Japan Series. The Dragons pushed SoftBank to the full seven games, but the Hawks shut out the Dragons 3-0 in the seventh game to win their first Japan Series since 2003.
, in which he was depicted with the team in the Nankai Hawks era. This is the only squad number honored to a fictional manga character in the NPB.
Sadaharu Oh
's 89 was originally planned to be retired or honored after his retirement, but Oh made clear his preference to give the number to his successor. Ultimately, however, the man who replaced him as manager of the Hawks, Akiyama, declined to wear the number on the grounds that the honor of bearing it would be too great so shortly after Oh's departure. Instead, Akiyama wore the number 81.
, Hawk family. The current family member since 1992 as follows:
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese baseball team based in Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
, Fukuoka Prefecture
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....
. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.
The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei
Daiei
, based in Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Marubeni Corporation and ÆON Co., Ltd., another Japanese supermarket chain....
bought the team from Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
's Nankai Electric Railway
Nankai Electric Railway
is a private railway in Japan. IC cards are accepted.Nankai Railway Company was founded on June 16, 1884, then became one of the companies that merge to form Kinki Nippon Railway Co., Ltd. in 1944. However Kin-nichi transferred the former Nankai Railway Company Lines to present Nankai Electric...
Co., and its headquarters were moved to Fukuoka. The Daiei Hawks won the Pacific League
Pacific League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series...
championship in 1999, 2000 and 2003 and won the Japan Series
Japan Series
, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....
in 1999
1999 Japan Series
Kimiyasu Kudoh took the mound for the Hawks and asserted his dominance from the beginning of the game. He would strike out 13 batters, and scattered six hits. His counterpart, Shigeki Noguchi, did not fare as well. Noguchi walked five batters in five and 2/3 innings, and while he only gave up...
, 2003
2003 Japan Series
The first game of the 2003 Japan Series set the stage for one of the most exciting series in recent memory. The first game was a matchup of matching 20-game winners: Igawa for Hanshin, and Saitoh for Daiei. Saitoh got out of a jam in the first, and Igawa struck out Hiroshi Shibahara and Munenori...
. The Softbank Hawks won the pennant and the Japan Series in 2011
2011 Japan Series
The 2011 Japan Series is the 62nd edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff between the respective champions of the Central League's and the Pacific League's Climax Series...
.
Nankai Electric Railway Company Ownership
The franchise's original name was Nankai when it joined the Japanese Baseball LeagueJapanese Baseball League
For the current Japanese Professional League, see Nippon Professional Baseball. was a professional baseball league in Japan.It was established on February 5, 1936 as "Japan Occupational Baseball League". Then it was renamed "Japanese Baseball League" in 1939. It was run until 1949. There was no...
in 1938, with the name originating with the Nankai Electric Railway Co.
Nankai Electric Railway
is a private railway in Japan. IC cards are accepted.Nankai Railway Company was founded on June 16, 1884, then became one of the companies that merge to form Kinki Nippon Railway Co., Ltd. in 1944. However Kin-nichi transferred the former Nankai Railway Company Lines to present Nankai Electric...
, which owned the team at the time. The team's name was changed to Kinki Nihon in mid-1944, at the end of World War II, as team officials responded to the nationalistic atmosphere of the period. In 1946 the name was changed to Kinki Great Ring. Throughout the name changes the club underwent between 1948 and 1946, Nankai Electric Railway Co. continued to maintain ownership during the period.
In mid-1947, Nankai settled upon its current moniker. The became one of the most successful franchises through the first two decades of the Pacific League
Pacific League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series...
's existence, taking 2 Japan Series championships and 10 Pacific League pennants.
The team fell on hard times between 1978 and 1988, finishing no better than 4th place out of the 6 teams in the Pacific League in any year in the period. The team witnessed a its fan base constrict as a result of the prolonged period of poor play, with attendance dropping and the club dealing with diminished profits.
The change in the club's financial performance led Nankai Electric Railway to question the value of maintaining ownership, even after considering the value the team represented as an advertising tool. The company's board of directors and union leadership put pressure on Den Kawakatsu, then-president of Nankai Railway and owner of the team, to sell the team, which he refused to do. However, Mr. Kawakatsu, who represented the most ardent supporter of Nankai's ownership of the Hawks, died in 1988, and the team was sold to the Daiei corporation to become the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks after the 1988 season.
Katsuya Nomura
Katsuya Nomura
was one of Nippon Professional Baseball's greatest players as a catcher and was also a long-time manager for the Yakult Swallows, the Hanshin Tigers, and the Rakuten Golden Eagles of NPB's Pacific League.-Career:...
, Mutsuo Minagawa, Hiromitsu Kadota
Hiromitsu Kadota
was a Japanese professional baseball player for the Nankai Hawks, Orix Braves and Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. Reputed for his slugging ability, he ate a lot and became a strong hitter, though he is suffered from diabetes mellitus even now. He hit 44 home runs at the age of 40 in 1988. He was retired after...
, and Chusuke Kizuka are among the more notable franchise players that were active during the Nankai era.
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1988 to 2004)
After the franchise was acquired by department store chain Daiei, Inc., the Hawks were flush with new funds and a new home city in Fukuoka, the capital of the eponymous prefecture on Kyushu Island. However, in spite of those efforts of the new ownership, the Hawks still were usually in the cellar of the Pacific League, and continued to be at the bottom half of the league until 1997.The Hawks front office adopted a strategy of drafting and developing younger players, supplemented by free agent signings, a policy overseen by team president Ryuzo Setoyama and his aides. Setoyama's most brilliant moves were the hiring of Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh, or Wang Chenchih , is a retired Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager. He batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Oh, who was born in Sumida, Tokyo the son of a Taiwanese father and a Japanese mother, had originally signed with the powerhouse Yomiuri...
to take the reins of manager, a title he would hold until 2008 before he moved into the general manager's position. Oh replaced then-manager Rikuo Nemoto, who was named team president and held that position until his death in 1999. Also tapped was Akira Ishikawa, a little-known former player, who was tasked with bringing in talented amateurs. He brought in the likes of current Hanshin Tigers
Hanshin Tigers
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...
catcher Kenji Johjima
Kenji Johjima
is a Japanese catcher who is currently playing for the Hanshin Tigers. He played in Major League Baseball for four years with the Seattle Mariners in the American League....
, Kazumi Saitoh, Nobuhiko Matsunaka
Nobuhiko Matsunaka
is a left fielder and designated hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.Matsunaka is the only active hitter in Japanese professional baseball to have ever led the league in all three Triple Crown categories in the same season...
, future Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
and current Chiba Lotte Marines
Chiba Lotte Marines
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...
infielder Tadahito Iguchi
Tadahito Iguchi
is a Japanese second baseman currently playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines.-Early life and Japanese career:Iguchi began playing in high school and after graduating in 1993, went to Aoyama Gakuin University where he distinguished himself by hitting the Tohto University Baseball League record of...
, current shortstop Munenori Kawasaki
Munenori Kawasaki
is a Japanese shortstop for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He played for the Japanese national team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics.-Early life and high school career:...
, and future team captain Hiroki Kokubo
Hiroki Kokubo
Hiroki Kokubo is a professional baseball player from Wakayama, Japan. He currently plays for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the Japanese Pacific League....
.
Supplementing the amateur signings were some free-agent acquisitions, most of them former Seibu stars from their 1980's championship teams. Among them were infielder Hiromichi Ishige
Hiromichi Ishige
Hiromichi Ishige is a retired Japanese professional baseball player and manager in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball....
, immensely popular outfielder and current manager Koji Akiyama
Koji Akiyama
Koji Akiyama is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. He played for the Seibu Lions and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball...
, and ace left-handed pitcher Kimiyasu Kudoh
Kimiyasu Kudoh
is a left-handed pitcher for the Pacific League's Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball . He has recorded 224 career wins...
.
These moves (and a few unpopular cost-cutting measures) helped to make the Hawks gradually more competitive with each passing year, and in 1999, the team finally broke through. That season, Daiei made their first Japan Series
Japan Series
, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....
appearance since 1973, and defeated the Chunichi Dragons
Chunichi Dragons
The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...
in five games, giving them their first championship since 1964. Kudoh was dominant in his Game 1 start (complete game, 13 strikeouts), and Akiyama was named Series MVP.
The following year, the Hawks again made the Japan Series, but this time lost to the powerful Yomiuri Giants
Yomiuri Giants
The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...
in six games. Despite the shaky financial ground that Daiei was on thanks to their rampant expansion in bubble-era Japan, the team continued to be competitive. The team won their second Japan Series in five years, defeating the popular Hanshin Tigers
Hanshin Tigers
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...
in seven games in the 2003 Japan Series
2003 Japan Series
The first game of the 2003 Japan Series set the stage for one of the most exciting series in recent memory. The first game was a matchup of matching 20-game winners: Igawa for Hanshin, and Saitoh for Daiei. Saitoh got out of a jam in the first, and Igawa struck out Hiroshi Shibahara and Munenori...
, an exciting series in which the home team won every game.
Home Run record controversy
In 2001, American Karl "Tuffy" RhodesTuffy Rhodes
Karl Derrick "Tuffy" Rhodes is a professional baseball player. He played six years in Major League Baseball in the US, and eleven years in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan....
, playing for the Kintetsu Buffaloes
Kintetsu Buffaloes
The was a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka, Japan, which were in the Pacific League. The team was owned by Kinki Nippon Railway Co. and later sold to the Orix Group, the owner of the Orix BlueWave baseball team, in 2004...
, hit 55 home runs with several games left, equaling Hawks' manager Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh, or Wang Chenchih , is a retired Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager. He batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Oh, who was born in Sumida, Tokyo the son of a Taiwanese father and a Japanese mother, had originally signed with the powerhouse Yomiuri...
's single-season home run record. The Buffaloes played a weekend series against the Oh-managed Hawks late in the season, and Rhodes was intentionally walked during each at-bat of the series. Video footage showed Hawks' catcher Kenji Johjima grinning as he caught the intentional balls. Oh denied any involvement and Hawks battery coach Yoshiharu Wakana stated that the pitchers acted on his orders, saying, "It would be distasteful to see a foreign player break Oh's record." Rhodes completed the season with 55 home runs. League commissioner Hiromori Kawashima denounced the Hawks' behavior as "unsportsmanlike." Hawks pitcher Keizaburo Tanoue went on record saying that he wanted to throw strikes to Rhodes and felt bad about the situation.
In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera
Alex Cabrera
Alex Cabrera is a Venezuelan first baseman and right-handed batter who played in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball...
hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season, with several of those to be played against Oh's Hawks. Oh told his pitchers to throw strikes to Cabrera, but most of them ignored his order and threw balls well away from the plate. After the game, Oh stated, "If you're going to break the record, you should do it by more than one. Do it by a lot." In the wake of the most recent incident involving Cabrera, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
listed Oh's single-season home run record as #2 on its list of "The Phoniest Records in Sports."
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2005-present)
Daiei Inc had been under financial pressure to sell its 60% stake in the team over the previous few years, with reports in 2003 suggesting the company would sell the team and the Fukuoka DomeFukuoka Dome
The is a baseball field, located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. Built in 1993, the stadium can accommodate 35,695 spectators and was Japan's first stadium with a retractable roof....
. Daiei attempted to hold on to the team and held discussions with its primary lenders, including UFJ Bank, to see if it could find a way to retain the team, but ultimately the sale went through to Softbank in January 2005.
The Hawks continued their winning ways after the sale of the team to SoftBank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
. Following the sale, the Hawks represented one of the richest teams in Japan, with a player core still intact from the last years of the Daiei era. Particularly strong was the team's starting pitching behind Saitoh, Tsuyoshi Wada
Tsuyoshi Wada
is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.Wada pitched in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2006 World Baseball Classic for the Japanese national team...
, Nagisa Arakaki
Nagisa Arakaki
is a Japanese professional baseball player. He is currently with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Despite having one of the best fastballs and sliders of anyone in the league, Arakaki has battled control problems and injuries throughout his career...
, and Toshiya Sugiuchi
Toshiya Sugiuchi
is a Japanese baseball player. He is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.Sugiuchi was the Eiji Sawamura Award winner in...
. In 2005, the Hawks finished in first place during the regular season, but fell to the eventual Japan Series
Japan Series
, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....
champions, the Chiba Lotte Marines
Chiba Lotte Marines
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...
in the second stage of the Climax Series
Climax Series
The is the current annual playoff system employed by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball . It determines which two teams from the Central League and the Pacific League will compete in the Japan Series for the national championship. Since the creation of the NPB's two-league system in 1950, the...
. In 2006, a dramatic pennant race led to an even more exciting playoff run that ended in the Sapporo Dome at the hands of the eventual Japan Series Champions, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at the Sapporo Dome. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō,...
. Team manager Sadaharu Oh missed most of the 2006 season
2006 Nippon Professional Baseball season
In the Nippon Professional Baseball season ended with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Pacific League defeat the Chunichi Dragons of the Central League in the Japan Series.-Pacific League:* Season Format** Regular Season...
due to stomach cancer.
The Hawks' 2007 season
2007 Nippon Professional Baseball season
The 2007 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 58th season since the NPB was reorganized in .- Climax Series :Climax Series was firstly introduced in this season. It was inspired by the playoff system introduced by Pacific League between 2004 and 2006, in which the top three teams of the...
was plagued by injuries and general ineffectiveness and inconsistency, leading to another 3rd-place finish and first-stage exit in the playoffs at the hands of the Marines. In 2008
2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season
The 2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 59th season since the NPB was reorganized in . The regular season started on March 20 with the Pacific League opener, and on March 28 with the Central League opener. On March 25 and 26, the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics played 2 regular...
, though various injuries still affected the Hawks' bench (especially the bullpen), the club claimed its first Interleague title in June, winning a tiebreaker against the Hanshin Tigers
Hanshin Tigers
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...
. However, injuries caught up with them in the final month of the season, and the Hawks finished in last place with a 54-74-2 record. The finish represented their worst since 1996.
At the end of the 2008 season, Oh announced his retirement, and former Hawk and fan favorite Koji Akiyama
Koji Akiyama
Koji Akiyama is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. He played for the Seibu Lions and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball...
was named as Oh's successor. In 2009
2009 Nippon Professional Baseball season
The 2009 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 60th season since the NPB was reorganized in -Central League First Stage:Chunichi Dragons win the series, 2-1-Central League Second Stage:Yomiuri Giants have one-win advantage...
, the team cracked the playoffs once again on the backs of breakout seasons from surging starting pitcher D.J. Houlton, outfielder Yuya Hasegawa
Yuya Hasegawa
is a Japanese baseball player. He has been with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks since 2007, and plays as Outfielder, wearing number 30. In 2009, he batted .312.-External links:*...
, Rookie of the Year Tadashi Settsu
Tadashi Settsu
is a Japanese baseball player. He has been with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks since 2009, and plays as pitcher, wearing number 50. In 2009, he was voted Most Valuable Rookie...
and another stellar season from ace Sugiuchi. However, the team still was unable to get out of the first stage, as the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
The is a baseball team founded in 2004; it played its first season in the Japanese Pacific League in 2005. It is simply called Rakuten . The team was created to fill the void left by the merger of the Orix Blue Wave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes, after the 2004 season due to financial difficulties,...
ousted the Hawks in a 2-game sweep.
The Hawks finally reclaimed the Pacific League regular season title in 2010
2010 Nippon Professional Baseball season
The 2010 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 61st season since the NPB was reorganized in .-Central League First Stage:Yomiuri Giants win series 2-0-Central League Final Stage:Chunichi Dragons have one-win advantage...
after a seven-year wait. The title came after a see-saw season in which the team recovered several times after extended losing streaks. Starting pitcher Wada, back from injury through much of the previous two seasons, was, along with fellow ace Sugiuchi, at his best. Wada set career highs in wins and games started. The reliable "SBM" relieving trio of Settsu, Brian Falkenborg
Brian Falkenborg
Brian Thomas Falkenborg is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher who is currently pitching for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball....
, and Mahara limited opponent offenses late in games. The bullpen also benefited from the emergence of Keisuke Kattoh and Masahiko Morifuku, with the latter blossoming in the second half of the season.
The Hawks offense was largely composed of role players who seemed to take turns having big games and off days, and it was the team's speed that drove the team as the Hawks led the league in stolen bases in the regular season with 148, well ahead of their nearest challenger, who had 116. Yuichi Honda
Yuichi Honda
is a Japanese baseball player. He has been with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks since 2006, and plays as second baseman, wearing number 46. In 2008, he batted .291. From 2006-09 he was .670 on base plus slugging.-External links:* *...
stole 59 bases while Kawasaki stole 30. However, despite putting forward a strong group, the Hawks failed to make it to the Japan Series
Japan Series
, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....
, losing to the Lotte Marines in six games in the Climax Series despite having a 3-1 series lead.
SoftBank won the Pacific League again in 2011, with a dominating season on all fronts. The offense was bolstered further by the acquisition of former Yokohama BayStars
Yokohama BayStars
The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium....
outfielder Seiichi Uchikawa
Seiichi Uchikawa
Seiichi Uchikawa is a Japanese professional baseball player for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He rose to prominence in 2008 with a league-leading .378 batting average...
, who led the league in batting in 2011. Pitching from Sugiuchi, Wada and an excellent bounce-back season from Houlton also helped propel the team to the best record in NPB. After sweeping the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Pacific League Climax Series, the Hawks took on the Chunichi Dragons
Chunichi Dragons
The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...
to win the Japan Series, a rematch of the 1999 Japan Series. The Dragons pushed SoftBank to the full seven games, but the Hawks shut out the Dragons 3-0 in the seventh game to win their first Japan Series since 2003.
Current Stars
- RF - LF - 3B - RF - 1B - P - P - P - P - CF - P - C - P - 1B - 2B - P - LF - P - SS - P - PFukuoka SoftBank Hawks Era
- P - P - OF - P(a.k.a. C.J. Nitkowski in the MLB) - P - OF, DH - 3B - 2B (Currently with New York Mets MLB) - OF - C (Currently with Hanshin Tigers NPB) - DHHonored numbers
Though not fully official, the Hawks do honor the number 90, which belonged to Yasutake Kageura, a fictional character from Japanese Baseball manga Abu-sanAbu-san
is a baseball manga by Shinji Mizushima that has been serialized in seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original since 1973. It tells the story of fictionall baseball player '. Despite enjoying a long serialization spanning over 30 years, it has received no anime or live-action adaptations. In 1977, it...
, in which he was depicted with the team in the Nankai Hawks era. This is the only squad number honored to a fictional manga character in the NPB.
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh
Sadaharu Oh, or Wang Chenchih , is a retired Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager. He batted and threw left-handed and primarily played first base. Oh, who was born in Sumida, Tokyo the son of a Taiwanese father and a Japanese mother, had originally signed with the powerhouse Yomiuri...
's 89 was originally planned to be retired or honored after his retirement, but Oh made clear his preference to give the number to his successor. Ultimately, however, the man who replaced him as manager of the Hawks, Akiyama, declined to wear the number on the grounds that the honor of bearing it would be too great so shortly after Oh's departure. Instead, Akiyama wore the number 81.
Mascot
Hawks has the largest number of mascots in NPBNPB
NPB can refer to:* NAS Parallel Benchmarks, a set of benchmarks developed by the NASA for measuring the performance of supercomputers* National Printing Bureau of Japan...
, Hawk family. The current family member since 1992 as follows:
- Harry Hawk-a yellow colored hawk with Number 100, Harry supports the team as the main mascot. He is the youngest brother of Homer Hawk, the former main mascot.
- Honey Hawk- a pink colored female hawk, Honey is a girlfriend of Harry, and the cheer leader of Hawks' dancing team, Honeys.
- Harculy Hawk-an orange based hawk with Number 200, Harcury is Harry's teammate as well as his longstanding rival since Hawk University days.
- Honkey Hawk- a middle aged hawk, Honkey is Harry's uncle, and the mayor of Hawks Town. He loves Baseball.
- Helen Hawk- a middle aged female hawk, Helen is Honkey's wife. They have eloped during their high school days.
- Huck Hawk-Harry's nephew. He wears red-lined T shirts and the same color cap.
- Rick Hawk- Harry's nephew and middle of Hawk brothers. Rick wears glasses and blue-lined T shirts and the same color cap.
- Hock Hawk-Harry's nephew and youngest brother of Huck and Rick. He wears a green-lined T shirts and the same color cap.