Figure 1. A Tigers game at Hanshin Kōshien Stadium in 2014. From Wikimedia Creative Commons.
Figure 2. Front-page headline declaring that manager Fujita’s dismissal has been decided. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, September 4, 1996, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 3. Front-page article tracking five probable candidates in the “Hanshin manager race” (all of whom were former Hanshin players), with the headline announcing that two have been eliminated from contention. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, September 10, 1996, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 4. The Hanshin Tigers season final finish in the Central League standings, 1950–2017.
Figure 5. Hanshin Tigers pregame warm-ups, Kōshien Stadium, July 1999. Photograph by author.
Figure 6. Hanshin spectators releasing the “condom” balloons in the seventh inning break, Kōshien Stadium. Photograph by author.
Figure 7. The 1996 regular season schedule for the Hanshin Tigers. Based on Hanshin Taigāsu (1996:122).
Figure 8. Relative movements of the six teams in the Central League during the 140-game 2001 regular season. Hanshin was in contention for the first 20 games but fell off the pace quickly and finished 22 games below .500.
Calculated from data at www.japanesebaseball.com, accessed October 13, 2014.
Calculated from data at www.japanesebaseball.com, accessed October 13, 2014.
Figure 9. Team photo of the 1996 Hanshin Tigers players and coaching staff. “Fresh. Fight. For the Team” was the motto selected by manager Fujita for that season. Credit: Hanshin Tigers Baseball Club.
Figure 10. Front-page article announcing Mike Greenwell’s sudden departure. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, May 15, 1997, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 11. Hanshin players tossing manager Yoshida in the air while celebrating their 1985 Japan Series championship. Credit: Yomiuri Shimbun.
Figure 12. Front page article covering the expanding product endorsements of the recently appointed Hanshin manager, Nomura Katsuya. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, January 20, 1999, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 13. Front-page article depicting the new manager, Okada Akinobu (right), shaking hands with Hoshino Sen’ichi (left), who had just resigned because of illness. Hanshin owner Kuma Shunjirō is at center. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, October 29, 2003, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 14. Organizational chart of the Hanshin Tigers front office, 1999. Based on author interviews with front office staff.
Figure 15. Fans in the bleachers and the yellow-jacketed cheerleaders of the Private Alliance of Fan Clubs, 1997. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 16. Flyer distributed to spectators at Kōshien Stadium in 2003, explaining hand signals used by Private Alliance cheerleaders to communicate with each other and to call for certain spectator cheers.
Figure 17. A Tiger fan anxiously watches the evening televised game, his megaphone in one hand, a can of beer in the other. Front cover of Ōtani (2003). Credit: Shinchōsha.
Figure 18. The press box in the stands behind home plate at Kōshien Stadium, 1999. Photograph by author.
Figure 19. “Fountains” of competing sports dailies gushing up in front of a train platform kiosk, Umeda Station, Osaka, 1999. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 20. Front-page article featuring Shinjō’s bases-loaded home run during an exhibition game victory. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, March 14, 1998, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 20. Front-page article featuring Shinjō’s bases-loaded home run during an exhibition game victory. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, March 14, 1998, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 22. Cover of the first edition of The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, by Robert Whiting. Published by Dodd Mead and Company, 1977. Permission to reproduce provided by Robert Whiting.
Figure 23. A satirical image, “Today’s Elite Student,” from Osaka Manga Shimbun, March 15, 1909. The artist criticized these elite youths as depraved by filling the eyes with images of bathing women and a coin, draping a half-dressed woman over his forehead, stuffing his ears with a party drum and gift box, and giving him a sniveling nose for obsequity and a double tongue for duplicity. From Osaka Manga Shimbun.
Figure 24. An Asahi Newspaper photograph of crowds spilling onto the field during the National Middle School Baseball Tournament at Naruo Athletic Field, August 1918.
Figure 25. An aerial photograph of Kōshien Stadium in 1931, taken by an Asahi Newspaper photographer. Comparing this to figure 1, it is remarkable how much the stadium in 2014 retained of its original shape and design. Note, however, that the center field wall in 1931 was not arc shaped but ran straight across from left field to right field. The “Alps” sections had been added to the right and left infield in 1929.
Figure 26 Front-page article about a melee between Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants players in a game that Hanshin won by coming from behind. Nikkan Sports, Osaka edition, August 3, 1998, 1. Credit: Nikkan Sports Newspaper.
Figure 27. Population inflow and outflow in the Greater Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya areas, 1955–2016. The zero line marks the break between net inflow (above) and net outflow (below) per year. Data from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (2017).