The following article was written by H-TEN graphics man and Hanshin fan extraordinaire, Zorny. Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter!
(1) We hate the Yomiuri Giants
This is the greatest rivalry in Japan, comparable to Yankees – Red Sox rivalry in North America. Yomiuri is the most accomplished team in the nation while the Tigers have won it all just once (in 1985) with their first Japan Series title. That doesn’t mean that we had bad teams back in the days. It’s just that the Giants had better ones.
(2) We have a history of beating ourselves.
Three biggest instances of this are:
1973 – Team needed to win just one of last two games on the year to clinch the pennant. The second of these was against the Yomiuri Giants at home, and the team lost 0-9. A little on-field riot ensued.
1992 – Amidst 16 seasons (1987-2002) of finishing in the bottom half of the standings, this one season actually saw the team fighting for the pennant until the season’s final few games. They lost three crucial matches against the Yakult Swallows, bowing out of the pennant race.
2008 – The team had as large as a 13-game lead on the Giants in July, but it slowly dwindled away until once again, they found themselves looking up at another team in the standings come season’s end.
(3) Buy a jersey, bats, balloons before heading into the stadium
It’s always good when you feel that you’re part of something, especially when it comes to sports. The crowd, the craziness, the chants. There’s nothing like Koshien Stadium. Wanna be part of the best baseball experience in Japan? Gear up!
(4) Avoid acquiring gaijin jerseys
…unless they have already stayed at least a year with the organization. The Tigers are known for not handling foreigners well, so think twice before buying a jersey from a brand new import acquisition. They might get rid of the guy in 6 months and that will just leave you frustrated with your obsolete purchase. Choose T-shirts instead. T-shirts are cool.
(5) Go to H-TEN for player and cheer song info.
Tigers fans are known for being way more fanatic/rowdy than any other fan base in Japan and as is the case in the rest of Asia, Japanese baseball teams have cheering songs for every player. Want to be as rowdy as an ouendan member and support the team at any cost? Learn the players and how to sing their songs.
(6) Go to Koshien Stadium Museum before the game if you can.
It’s a great place to get to know the history of the team and the stadium, which you should know by now, was first built with the sole purpose of being a venue for the national high school baseball tournament.
(7) No player is as good as the media leads you to believe.
Be careful about what the media says about certain players. They’re probably not telling you all you need to know. It’s not like we’re trying to downplay the players, but in the Kansai area, the media tends to overrate mediocre guys, putting them on a pedestal and really making the fan base believe that we should be grateful for being able to witness such display of greatness. In reality, we can see their true value for ourselves on the field.
(8) “The team is cursed!” Don’t fall for that!
You probably heard about that somewhere out there that the Hanshin Tigers somehow are suffering from an evil curse since their last Nippon Series win which is not entirely correct. I think all of us fell for that at some point but as T-Ray breaks it down in this article, there’s a wrong narrative going on for ages and it’s time for you to know what actually happened behind the myth of the Curse of the Colonel once and for all!
(9) There have been 4 “Mr. Tigers.”
Players who were said to embody the very spirit of the Tigers throughout their careers, who were absolutely beloved by the fans, were dubbed “Mr. Tigers.” They were:
a) Fumio Fujimura – as the original, some argue he is the one and only.
b) Minoru Murayama – the lone pitcher of the bunch.
c) Koichi Tabuchi – actually was given the title in retrospect, and is the only one of the group to have been traded out of the organization.
d) Masayuki Kakefu – most recent, and also most recently employed by the team (farm manager 2016-17).
(10) The Central is the National and the Pacific is the American.
If you don’t understand the analogy, we’ll explain.
Just like the National League in the MLB, the Central League has the same system, which means that our pitchers swing the bat once it comes their time in the batting order. No DH here… at least for now. (The Pacific League uses the DH rule.) The Central League consists of the Yomiuri Giants, Yokohama DeNA BayStars, Chunichi Dragons, Yakult Swallows, Hiroshima Carp and us.
