Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (March 2007)

For current information on this topic, see 2009 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks season.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
League	Pacific League
Location	Fukuoka
Ballpark	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome
Year Founded	1938
Nickname(s)	SoftBank (ソフトバンク), Hawks (ホークス), Taka (鷹, hawk), SB
League championships	1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1973, 1999, 2000, 2003
Japan Series championships	1959, 1964, 1999, 2003
Former name(s)	Nankai (1938-1944), Kinki Nihon (1944), Kinki Great Ring (1946-1947), Nankai Hawks (1947-1988), Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1989-2004)
Colors	Yellow and black
Uniforms
Home	Away

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (福岡ソフトバンクホークス, Fukuoka Sofutobanku Hōkusu^?) are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by SoftBank Corporation.

It was formerly known as Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters was moved to Fukuoka. The Daiei Hawks won the Pacific League championship in 1999, 2000 and 2003 and won the Japan Series in 1999 and 2003.

History

Under the Ownership of Nankai Electric Railway Company

Nankai (1938 to mid-1944)
Kinki Nihon (mid-1944 to 1944)
Kinki Great Ring (1946 to mid-1947)

The name of the franchise started from Nankai when they joined the league, originated from the name of the owning company, Nankai Electric Railway Co.. Since then, there are several changes in the team's name, sometimes by the pressure from the atmosphere of nationalism during the second world war and sometimes by the team's own will. However, the team had still belonged to Nankai Electric Railway Co. during that period. And finally the name of the team settled down to the Nankai Hawks in the middle of the 1947 season.

Nankai Hawks (mid-1947 to 1988)

The Nankai Hawks (南海ホークス^?) were one of the most successful franchises in the first two decades of the history of the Pacific League with 2 Japan Series championships, and 10 Pacific League pennants.

But they fell on hard times and finished no better than the 4th place out of 6 teams in the league every year from 1978 to 1988. During that period, the team had constantly lost its fan base and attendance and the profit turned into huge deficits, even after the advertising effect of the franchise was considered. The board of directors and the union consistently put pressure on Den Kawakatsu, then-president of the Nankai Electric Railway Co. and owner of the team, to sell the team , which he refused to do.

However, Mr. Kawakatsu, the biggest supporter of the team in the Nankai Electric Railway, 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, Chusuke Kizuka, Kohei Sugiyama are considered as the franchise players of 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 remained to be a mediocre team in the Pacific League, and continued to be at the bottom half of the league until 1997.

However, when new faces were brought in through the draft, the fortunes of the Hawks started to look up. Future stars that were drafted included current Seattle Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima, infielders Hiroki Kokubo, Tadahito Iguchi, Nobuhiko Matsunaka, an outfielder Hiroshi Shibahara, pitchers Kazumi Saitoh, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Tsuyoshi Wada, Nagisa Arakaki and Takahiro Mahara. They begun to rebound after that and re-established themselves as one of the premier Pacific League teams in the late 1990s.

Even with shaky financial ground looming up until Daiei's sale of the team in 2004, the Hawks were competitive every year from 1999 on, winning the Japan Series against the Chunichi Dragons in 1999, making a Japan Series against the Hideki Matsui-led Yomiuri Giants in 2000, and winning a second Japan Series title as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2003 against the Hanshin Tigers.

In 2001, American Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, playing for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, hit 55 home runs with several games left, equalling Hawks' manager Sadaharu Oh's single-season home run record. The Buffaloes played the Oh-managed Fukuoka Hawks on a late weekend series in Fukuoka. Rhodes was intentionally walked during each at-bat. Hawks catcher Kenji Johjima could be seen 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.^[1][2]

In 2002, Venezuelan Alex Cabrera hit 55 home runs with five games left in the season and his team played 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."^[3] 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."^[4]

This section requires expansion.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2005-)

The Hawks continued their winning ways even after the sale of the team to SoftBank. One of the richest teams in Japan, the Hawks core is still intact from the last years of the Daiei era, especially the starting pitching of Saitoh, Tsuyoshi Wada, Nagisa Arakaki, and Toshiya Sugiuchi. In 2005, the Hawks fell to the eventual Japan Series champions, the Chiba Lotte Marines in the playoffs despite a second-place finish. In 2006, a dramatic pennant race led to an even more exciting playoff run that ended in Sapporo Dome to the hands of the eventual Japan Series Champions, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. Team manager Sadaharu Oh missed most of the season due to stomach cancer.

The 2007 season saw injuries, ineffectiveness, and inconsistency leading to another 3rd-place finish, and another first-stage exit at the hands of the Marines. In 2008, though various injuries still affected the Hawks' bench (especially the bullpen), they would claim their first Interleague title in June, winning a tiebreaker against Hanshin Tigers. However, their injuries caught up with them in the final month of the season, and the Hawks finished in last place, 54-74-2, their worst season 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 Yuya Hasegawa and Rookie of the Year Tadashi Settsu, and another stellar season from ace Toshiya 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.

This section requires expansion.

News

2003

Daiei Inc of Japan had a 60% ownership stake in the team. Daiei Inc., under financial pressure, agreed to sell the team as well as the Fukuoka Dome and the Sea Hawk Hotel.

2004

In August, Daiei's was in discussion with its primary lenders, including UFJ Bank, to avoid having to sell the Daiei Hawks.

Players of Note

Current Manager

• 81 Koji Akiyama

Current Stars

• 18 Nagisa Arakaki - P
• 34 Justin Germano - P
• 54 D.J. Houlton - P
• 52 Munenori Kawasaki - SS
•  9 Hiroki Kokubo - 3B
• 00 Kameron Loe - P
• 14 Takahiro Mahara - P
•  3 Nobuhiko Matsunaka - 1B
• 28 Kenji Otonari - P
• 66 Kazumi Saitoh - P
•  1 Hiroshi Shibahara - RF
• 47 Toshiya Sugiuchi - P
•  6 Hitoshi Tamura - LF
• 21 Tsuyoshi Wada - P

Former Players

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Era

• Naoyuki Ohmura - OF
• Rick Guttormson - P
• Christopher Nitkowski(a.k.a. C.J. Nitkowski in the MLB) - P
• Brian Buchanan - OF, DH
• Tony Batista - 3B
• Jolbert Cabrera - 2B (Currently with Cincinnati Reds MLB)
• Adam Hyzdu - IF
• Kenji Johjima - C (Currently with Seattle Mariners MLB)
• Julio Zuleta - DH

Fukuoka Daiei Hawks Era

• Koji Akiyama
• Morgan Burkhart
• Rich Gossage (MLB Hall of Famer)
• Lindsay Gulin
• Chris Haney
• Melvin Nieves
• Tadahito Iguchi
• Kimiyasu Kudoh
• Kevin Mitchell
• Brady Raggio
• Kevin Reimer
• Bobby Thigpen (Former single season saves holder)
• Ryan Thompson
• Willie Upshaw

Nankai Hawks Era

• Tony Bernazard
• Don Blasingame
• Don Buford
• Yoshiyuki Iwamoto
• Carlos May
• Katsuya Nomura
• Joe Stanka
• Tadashi Sugiura

Retired numbers

• none

Honored numbers

• 2 Kenji Johjima
• 15 Masao Fujii
• 90 Yasutake Kageura

Through not officially, Hawks honoured 90, which belongs to Yasutake Kageura, a fictional character from Japanese Baseball manga Abu-san (which he was in the team since Nankai Hawks era). This is the only squad number honored to a fictional manga character in NPB.

Sadaharu Oh's 89 was originally planned to be retired or honoured after his retirement, but Oh would like to give the number to the successor, but his successor, Akiyama, declined Oh's request because it is too honorable to bear Oh's number, especially right after Oh's retirement. The number's fate is currently unknown. Instead, Akiyama decided to take #81.

Mascot

Hawks has the largest number of mascots in NPB, 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.

2007

J-Pop group AAA (band) released [[いざゆけ若鷹軍団2007 (Izayuke Wakataka Gundan 2007) as a single.

Notes

External links

• (Japanese) Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks official web site