Japanese Baseball Game

So this weekend I was finally able to go to my first Japanese Baseball game.

A couple of weeks ago in one of my classes I had mentioned wanting to go, and of course one week later my student Hideki had bought tickets and already planned the entire day (Japanese people are great planners). So Sunday I headed out for Koshien Stadium stadium.

If anyone is interesting in getting some more detail about the Stadium, or Japanese Baseball check out this link http://www2.gol.com/users/michaelo/Koshien.html.

Otherwise here is a brief overview. Baseball was actually introduced to Japan before WW2. Somewhere in the later 1800's I believe. The stadium I went to Koshien was built in the 1930's. It was designed after Polo grounds. The famous old Yankees and Mets baseball stadium. Babe Ruth actually came to Japan and played at Koshien stadium back in the 30's. The stadium reminded me alot of Wrigley Field though. It had Ivy all around the outside and inside walls.

The Hanshin Tigers is the team I went to see. Hanshin is actually a Japanese company. In Japanese Baseball the team is named after the company. So it would be like the Ford Tigers, or the Walmart Red Sox. Kind of lame, but anyway... The Tigers are in the Central League. Japan has two leagues the Central and Pacific. The Central league has no DH, the Pacific does. Each leauge has 6 teams. In the Central league is the Hanshin Tigers, and the Yominuri(Tokyo) Giants. I've mentioned here before that Tokyo and Osaka as cities are huge rivals. Well it carries over into baseball as well. The Giants are the Yankees of Japanese baseball for sure. They have the biggest payroll, the best record of championships, and they play in the biggest city. What does the make the Tigers? Most people compare them to the Red Sox. They are the lovable losers, who usually don't win that many games. But they still have ton's of fans all over the country.

So as I walk in I can already hear the chants from the Japanese fanatical fans. All I can say is Japanese baseball is what American college baseball should be like. It really feels like a American college Football or Basketball game inside. They have bands, cheering sections, and these people could put the Aggies to shame with their devotion to their team.

While looking at these pictures keep in mind this is a team that is in last place, and ends up losing the game 14-2. Yet in the 9th inning they were still cheering.

A view of inside the park.


Outside the park. The green part is ivy underneath, but they are doing repairs s it wasn't visible from the outside.



Me and my student Mami outside the stadium. Of course, the peace sign.

My Student Hideki, had this HUGE camera lens. Well he actually let me put my SIM card inside and take some pictures with it. So these are the close ups....

The team we were playing. None other than the Chiba Mariners. Lead by the Japanese Baseball icon himself, Bobby Valentine.

A close up of the Chiba fans section. Yes just like a college football game there was a visitors section, only made up of Chiba fans.






This is the Chiba section. You can tell by the black to yellow contrast.


Instead of old men walking around selling beer out of a can. They have beer girls with Keg Backpacks.

A view of the Ivy.


Score board. You can see that Chiba came out firing and scored 7 runs in the first two innings.
Me and Hideki...

Looking at the score board you can see its the 9th inning and we are down by 12. Yet this guy is still leading cheers. He isn't a cheerleader or anything, just a volunteer fan.


Hot Dogs. This things tasted pretty gross. It had lettuce and what I think was mayonnaise. Anyway it was worth eating a dog at a baseball game. Just doesn't feel like Summer has started until I do that.



These are the Chiba fans doing some chant while their team is up to bat. You are only allowed to cheer when your team is batting.



Instead of the 7th inning stretch, they blow up these balloons and then let them fly into the air. Notice how Mami's balloon (the huge red one right next to me) hits the guy holding the flag right in front of us.



The rest of the video's are just random chants going on during the game.