Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB)

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is the top tier of baseball played in Japan. The NPB began in the 1930s decades after the game was first introduced in the country. The NPB has twelve teams, with six belonging to each of the two leagues. NPB is the highest level of baseball in the country, but youth teams, university teams, and minor league teams are also popular. The NPB is somewhat similar to North America's Major League Baseball (MLB), but has its own unique culture and style.

History

Baseball was invented in the United States in the 1800s. One of two American school teachers, either Horace Wilson or Leroy Lansing Janes, introduced the game to Japan in the early 1870s, after the country opened itself to Western influences and began the Meiji Restoration. Japanese engineer Hiroshi Hiraoka also learned the game while visiting the United States, and he helped popularize it in Japan around the same time. Hiraoka helped create the country’s first organized baseball team, the Shimbashi Athletic Club, in 1878. Baseball quickly became a popular sport in the country, with teams popping up in various parts of Japan, specifically at colleges and universities. The university team the Ichiban Chugak defeated an American baseball team from the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club in 1896.

In 1905, a baseball team from Waseda University in Japan became the first Japanese team to travel to the United States to compete. The Waseda University athletes learned a great deal about the game through their experience, and when they returned to Japan they had a significantly better team. Another college team, Keio University, also decided to visit the United States. That team had a similar experience, and when Keio returned to Japan the team and Waseda became rivals. They were two of the best teams in the country, and their rivalry become very popular and encouraged more Japanese people to become interested in the game.

In the early 1930s, American baseball influenced the game in Japan yet again. The 1934 Major League All-Stars—including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Lefty Gomez—toured Japan and played against some of the country’s best players. Japanese players continued to hone their skills. A team that had continued to tour and practice in other countries changed its name to the Yomiuri Tokyo Giants and became the first professional baseball team in the country’s history.

By 1937, the country had enough professional baseball teams to hold a regular season of games. The teams that made up the league would eventually create the NPB. However, the rise in baseball's popularity was overshadowed by war and increasing nationalism in Japan. With its invasion of China in 1937 and attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japan plunged into World War II (1939-1945). By the time Japan surrendered in 1945, millions of Japanese had lost their lives, and the country's biggest cities lay in ruins. The teams had to stop playing because of the war, but they resumed play in 1946. Fewer teams competed in the first few years after the war. However, in 1950 the league, which would become the NPB, split into two leagues. In 1965 the NPB introduced the amateur draft to bring more talent in and to help spread the talent around to different teams. During 2020, the NPB had to delay the start of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overview

NPB is the top tier of baseball in Japan. The league has a total of twelve teams, which are divided among the Central and the Pacific Leagues. The Central League includes the Yomiuri Giants, which play in the Tokyo Dome in central Tokyo. The team is the oldest in the league and was started in 1934. Throughout the history of professional baseball in Japan, the Giants have consistently been one of the best teams. They draw in many free agents and their games are the most likely to be aired on television. The second-most-popular team in the NPB is the Hanshin Tigers, which has also been playing since 1935. The Tigers play at the Hanshin Koshien Stadium, and this team also draws in a number of talented free agents. The Yokohama Dena Baystars are also in the Central League. The team, which was created in 1949, plays in the Yokohama Stadium. The Hiroshima Toyo Carp, the Chunichi Dragons, and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows are also Central League teams. The Central League has traditionally been the more popular league, in part because it has two of the most popular teams.

The Pacific League also includes six teams. The oldest team in the Pacific League is the ORIX Buffaloes. This team was established in 1936 and plays at the Kyocera Dome Osaka. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, which was created in 1938, plays at the Fukuoka PayPay Dome. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters was founded in 1945, when teams prepared to resume play after World War II. It calls the Sapporo Dome home. The Chiba Lotte Marines was created a few years later in 1949. The team plays at the ZOZO Marine Stadium. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles is a newer team that was established in 2004.

Teams from each league play other teams from the same league for most of the season. Then the top team from each league plays in a championship game. The baseball season in Japan usually runs from April to October. The teams play most days of the week, usually with Monday off, throughout the season. The best players in the league usually take part in multiple All-Stars games during the season, too.

Baseball has been part of Japanese culture for nearly as long as it has been part of American culture, so many conventions of Japanese baseball are different from American baseball. One difference is that professional teams in Japan are not associated with the cities in which they play. Instead they are associated with companies that provide sponsorship. For example, the Yomiuri Giants are associated with the newspaper company Yomiuri. The baseball parks in Japan are smaller than the stadiums in the United States. Japanese strategy in the game is also somewhat different, as players focus in the early part of the game mostly on being the first team to score. Also, sounds are played at NPB games to warn fans of foul balls.

Bibliography

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