Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Infobox baseball team
Name=Tokyo Yakult Swallows
League=Central League
Location=Tokyo
Logo=
Founded=1950
FormerNames=Kokutetsu Swallows (1950-1965), Sankei Swallows (1965), Sankei Atoms (1966-1968), Atoms (1969), Yakult Atoms (1970-1973), Yakult Swallows (1974-2005)
Stadium=Meiji-Jingu Stadium
Colors=White, Red and Navy
LogoDesign="Tokyo Yakult Swallows" written in red and navy
Nickname="Yakult" (ヤクルト), "Swallows" (スワローズ), "Tsubame" (燕, meaning swallows)
LeagueChamps=1978, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001
SeriesName=Japan Series
SeriesChamps=1978, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001
h_title=Home
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h_pattern_la=_drkredhoop
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h_rightarm=FFFFFF
h_pattern_ra=_drkredhoop
h_pants=FFFFFF
h_pattern_pants=
h_socks=101042
a_c

a_leftarm=101042
a_pattern_la=_drkredhoop
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nihongo|The Tokyo Yakult Swallows|東京ヤクルトスワローズ|Tōkyō Yakuruto Suwarōzu| are a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League.

The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, the Yakult Corporation. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways (known as Kokutetsu (国鉄) in Japanese) and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper Sankei Shimbun from 1965 to 1968 and called the Sankei Atoms. Yakult purchased the team in 1970 and restored its original Swallows name in 1974. Then it was renamed the "Tokyo Yakult Swallows" in 2006.

Famous players of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows past and present include Masaichi Kaneda, Kazushige Nagashima, Johnny Ray, Dave Roberts, Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Hiromi Matsuoka, Charlie Manuel, Bob Horner, Jack Howell, Tom O'Malley, Terry Bross, Joe Pepitone, Masato Yoshii, Kazuhisa Ishii, Shingo Takatsu, Atsuya Furuta, Leon Lee (father of Derrek Lee), Doug DeCinces, Masato Yoshii, Rex Hudler, Larry Parrish, Bill Madlock, Takehiro Ikeyama, Aaron Guiel, Masato Yoshii and Akinori Iwamura.

Current roster

External links

*ja icon [http://www.yakult-swallows.co.jp/ Tokyo Yakult Swallows official web site] [http://tokyoyakultswallows.wordpress.com/ English blog covering the Tokyo Yakult Swallows]