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1949
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Central League
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Hiroshima
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Hiroshima Municipal Stadium
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''Hiroshima'' (広島), ''Carp'' (カープ), ''Koi'' (鯉, Koi )
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'''Hiroshima Carp''' ( 1950 – 1967 )
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1975 , 1979 , 1980 , 1984 , 1986 , 1991
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Japan Series
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1979 , 1980 , 1984
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Home
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The are a professional
Baseball team in
Japan 's
Central League . The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of
Mazda founder
Jujiro Matsuda .
Mazda is the largest single shareholder (34.2%), which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family (about 60%). Because of that, Mazda is not considered as the owner firm. However, the company connection is highlighted in the club name—until 1984, Mazda's official name was .
The
Nippon Professional Baseball league was scheduled to be expanded into two separate leagues in
1949 , and Hiroshima prefecture decided to establish a professional baseball team as part of the reconstruction process from the devastation of the
Atomic Bomb . The team joined the
Central League in December, 1949 as the .
The team's first home field was a small state-funded stadium, and the team's lack of sponsorship made it extremely difficult to gather players. Manager
Hideichi Ishimoto had to personally scout players just to form a starting lineup. The ragtag team ended up in last place from
1950 to
1951 .
The team's lack of funding became an even more serious problem in
1951 , and it was proposed that the team be disbanded, or merge with the
Taiyo Whales team, which was based in
Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi at the time. Hiroshima citizens strongly protested against disbanding the team, and raised the money needed to keep the team through donations.
The Central League had 7 teams in
1952 , making it difficult to form a coherent schedule for each team. Therefore, it was decided that any team that ended the season with a winning percentage below .300 would be disbanded or merged with another team. This agreement was obviously aimed towards the Carp, since the team had been in last place every season. The team won only 37 games in 1952, but ended with a .316 winning percentage to barely save itself from being disbanded. The
Shochiku Robins ended the season in last place with a .288 winning percentage, and was merged with the
Taiyo Whales .
The team's financial plight only worsened in the following years, and the team could only issue one uniform per player in
1953 . Nevertheless, the team continued to play each season, and finally ended the season above the .500 mark in
1960 . The team moved to its current home field,
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium , in July, 1957.
In
1968 , (current
Mazda ) became the team's chief sponsor, and the company name was inserted to become the '''Hiroshima Toyo Carp'''. The team ended the season above 3rd place for the first time the same year, but quickly fell back into last place from
1972 to
1974 .
Red became the new team color in
1973 , and the team's uniforms were completely redone to resemble the current team uniform. The team logo was also changed from a letter "H" to a red "C" in imitation of the
Cincinnati Reds logo.
The team hired its first non-Japanese manager,
Joe Lutz , in
1975 . Lutz ordered the team's cap to be changed to red to symbolize a never-ending fighting spirit. Lutz left the team halfway into the season, but the team won its first ever league championship in 1975 to begin a memorable series of championship berths.
The Carp team became a powerhouse in
1978 , hitting over 200 home runs in one season for the first time in Japanese baseball history.
Koji Yamamoto ,
Sachio Kinugasa ,
Jim Lyttle , and
Adrian Garrett formed the powerful (literally meaning "Red Helmet") lineup, which won two consecutive pennants and Japan Series from
1979 to
1980 . A strong pitching staff led to another Japan Series win in
1984 . Manager
Takeshi Koba retired in
1985 , but the team still won the pennant the following year.
Star player
Koji Yamamoto became manager in
1989 , and the team won yet another pennant in
1991 . However, the team fell into last place in
1993 , and Yamamoto resigned from his position.
The team has not been in serious contention since their last championship in 1991. They remain the only team in the league to have never been above third place since the turn of the century. The
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters won a league championship in
2006 , making the Carp the team the farthest removed from a league championship. They are also the only Japanese team to have never produced a major league baseball player (excluding the recently founded
Rakuten Eagles ). Ace starter
Hiroki Kuroda seems the player most likely to make it to the major leagues.
The major reason for the team's recent demise is the lack of financial support it gets from its sponsors. The team has never signed any
Free Agent s, and is often forced to let go of star players because they can no longer pay their salaries (recent examples include
Tomoaki Kanemoto ,
Akira Etoh ,
Andy Sheets ,
Nathan Minchey , and
Greg LaRocca ). The Hiroshima Carp was the last Japanese team to have a non-Japanese player on its roster (excluding Japanese-Americans). 1965 American League MVP
Zoilo Versalles was the first non-Japanese player to play for the Carp.
Marty Brown became the manager in
2006 , becoming the first non-Japanese manager in 31 years since
Joe Lutz . The team set a new record in April, 2006, scoring only 2 runs for the first 9 games of the season.
The Carp was the first Japanese baseball team to establish a baseball academy outside of Japan. The team was unable to recruit non-Japanese players from the major leagues due to financial constraints, and the academy was established to cheaply send young players to play in Japan. The was created in the
Dominican Republic in
1990 , and
Robinson Checo became the first player imported to Japan from the academy in
1995 . Checo achieved moderate success in Japan, leading to further imports which include
Timoniel Perez and
Alfonso Soriano .
For Hiroshima citizens, the Carp carry a symbolic link to reconstruction.
The team was founded only five years after the
Atomic Bombings Of Hiroshima ,
1945 .
Its home ballpark,
Hiroshima Municipal Stadium , stands opposite the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial (原爆ドーム, ''Genbaku Dōmu'', means "A-Bomb Dome").
This ballpark is closed every memorial day,
August 6 , and the Carp always play in other stadiums, even if they have a home game.
The Carp have simailar uniforms to the
Cincinnati Reds and the
Philadelphia Phillies , both of which play in
Major League Baseball .
Also, their mascot, "Slyly", is similar to the
Phillie Phanatic , the mascot of the
Philadelphia Phillies .
There is the 1st Japanese baseball dog called "Micky". He brings new balls to the umpire during the game.
The Carp's championship drought dates back to
1991 .
The Carp has also been dubbed "" ("spoiled carp") by fans and the media, a moniker which arises during losing streaks.
