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The are a popular Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Nishinomiya , Hyogo Prefecture , Japan , which are in the Central League . The Hanshin Electric Railway owns the Tigers directly. It is the sister team of the Major League baseball team Detroit Tigers and in Steven King and Stewart O'Nan's 2004 book "Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season", the Tigers are often portrayed as the Japan Red Sox. :Founded: 1936 :Formerly known as: Ōsaka Tigers ( 1936 – 1940 ), Hanshin ( 1940 – 1946 ), Ōsaka Tigers ( 1947 – 1960 ), Hanshin Tigers ( 1961 – ) :Home ballpark: Kōshien Stadium :Uniform colors: White, black and yellow :Logo design: A tiger's head on a red disk outlined in black, on the outline, it reads "Hanshin Tigers" :Nickname: ''Hanshin'' (阪神), ''Tigers'' (タイガース), ''Tora'' (虎, meaning to Tiger ) :League championships won (5): 1962 , 1964 , 1985 , 2003 , 2005 :''' HISTORY OF THE HANSHIN TIGERS The Hanshin Tigers, one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, were founded in 1935 with the team being formed in 1936 . The team was first called the Ōsaka Tigers. In 1940 , amid anti-foreign sentiment, the Tigers changed the name to Hanshin and in 1947 changed the name back to Ōsaka Tigers. The current team name was assumed in 1961 . The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two league system in 1950 . Since the league was split into the Central League and the Pacific League , the Tigers have won the Central League pennant five times ( 1962 , 1964 , 1985 , 2003 , 2005 ) and the Japan Series once ( 1985 ). When the 2004 Major League Baseball season opened in Japan, the Tigers played an exhibition game against the New York Yankees at the Tokyo Dome on March 29 . The Tigers won 11–7. The home field, Kōshien Stadium, is used by high school baseball teams from all over Japan for play in the National Championship Tournaments in spring and summer. Famous players in Hanshin Tigers history include Randy Bass , Masayuki Kakefu , Minoru Murayama , Jeff Williams , and many others. CURSE OF THE COLONEL As with many other underachieving baseball teams, a Curse is believed to lurk over the Tigers. After their 1985 Japan Series win, fans celebrated by having people who looked like Tigers players jump into the Dotonbori Canal . According to legend, because none of the fans resembled First Base man Randy Bass, fans grabbed a life-sized statue of Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot Colonel Sanders and threw it into the river (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese). The statue was never recovered. The Tigers are therefore doomed to never win again until the Colonel is rescued from the river. In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with one of the worst records in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from rabid Tigers fans. TRIVIA The home field of the Tigers, Hanshin Koshien Stadium , is one of three major natural grass baseball stadiums in Japan. The others are the Hiroshima Municipal Ballpark (Hiroshima Carp), the Yokohama Stadium (Yokohama Baystars), and Skymark Stadium in Kobe (part-time home of the newly-merged Orix Buffalos). Of the three, only Yokohama has grass on the infield as well as in the outfield. There are numerous smaller grass-field ballparks around the country; Japanese baseball teams frequently play games in small cities so that local fans can see more of their heros. Koshien Stadium is by far the oldest ballpark in Japan; built in 1924, the stadium was once visited by the immortal Babe Ruth on a tour of Major League stars in 1934. There is a monument comemmorating this visit at the front gates of the park. Koshien is revered as a "sacred" ballpark, and players traditionally bow before entering and before leaving its hallowed field. The losing team in any high school baseball game played the ballpark is allowed to scoop up handfuls of Koshien infield dirt, stuffing holy clay clods into tiny plastic bags as hordes of Japanese papparazzi snap photos at armslengths. Tiger fans are known as perhaps the most fanatical and dedicated fans in all of Japanese professional baseball. They often outnumber the home team fans at Tiger "away" games. Tiger fans also have a reputation for rough behavior and a willingness to brawl with other fans or with each other, although long fights are rare. They have been known to attack the Tiger's team bus after losses. A famous Tiger fan tradition is the release, by the fans, of hundreds of air-filled balloons immediately following the 7th inning stretch and the singing of the Tiger's fight song. This tradition is carried-out at all home and away games, except at games against the Tokyo Giants in the Tokyo Dome due to the Giant's notoriously heavy-handed rules for behavior by visiting fans. The fight song of the Tigers "Rokko Oroshi" (The Wind of Mount Rokko) is a popular song in the Kansai area. It can even be found at karaoke boxes.
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