Orix BlueWave

Infobox baseball team
Name =nihongo|Orix BlueWave|オリックスブルーウェーブ|Orikkusu burūwēbu
League =Pacific League
Location =Kobe
Founded =1936
LeagueChamps =1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1995, 1996
Series =Japan Series
SeriesChamps =1975, 1976, 1977, 1996
FormerNames =nihongo|Osaka Hankyu Baseball Club|大阪阪急野球協会|Ōsaka hankyū yakyū kyōkai, nihongo|Hankyu Braves|阪急ブレーブス|Hankyū burēbusuThe nihongo|Orix BlueWave|オリックスブルーウェーブ|Orikkusu burūwēbu was a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Kobe, Japan, which played in the Pacific League and was owned by the Orix Group, a Tokyo financial services company. Kobe is the hometown of the owner of the group and club, and was a reason that Orix BlueWave franchised in Kobe. Another reason was its former incarnation, nihongo|Hankyu Braves|阪急ブレーブス|Hankyū burēbusu, had franchised in Nishinomiya, a neighboring town of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture.

After the 2004 season, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes were acquired by Orix Group and were merged with the BlueWave to form the Orix Buffaloes.

The Hankyu Braves

Orix BlueWave was founded in 1936 as nihongo|Osaka Hankyu Baseball Club|大阪阪急野球協会|Ōsaka hankyū yakyū kyōkai under the ownership of a Japanese railway company Hankyu Electric Railways ("Hankyu Dentetsu"), which was one of the oldest Japanese professional baseball team. Later the team was nicknamed Hankyu Braves.

The Hankyu Braves was thought to be one of the strongest teams not only in the Pacific League but in all of Japan. Between 1967 and 1972 seasons, the Hankyu Braves won the Pacific League five times, but lost the Japan Series against the Tokyo Giants. The manager Yukio Nishimoto was known as "the great manager in tragedy" because of those losses. But the Hankyu Braves have won Japan Series three times in a row from 1975, against Tokyo Giants in 1976 and 1977, under the management of Toshiharu Ueda. At that time many good players in Japanese Baseball history played for the Hankyu Braves.

In the 1980s, the team was still known as strong but lost the pennant to the Seibu Lions except in 1984 season. On October 19, 1988, it is quoted that Hankyu Electric Railways sold the franchise to the lease company Orient Lease (since 1989, known as Orix Group). It was the day known as "the longest day of the Pacific League" because it was also the day when Kintetsu Buffaloes played the legendary double-header for Pacific Leagues's pennant (but they couldn't have got the pennant because of a draw game). That deal had been done with two assurances: the team name would remain "Braves" and the franchise would stay in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture. This was a surprise to everyone, because it was much rarer in those days in Japan for the ownership of a professional baseball team to change, not to mention for a large company to sell one of its branches; Hankyu Electric Railways was thought of as one of the big companies that would never need to do such a thing.

The BlueWave

During the first two years of new ownership, the team was known as the Orix Braves in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo. In 1991, the team became the Orix BlueWave, located in Kobe. Longtime fans were shocked by these changes. However, since Nishinomiya and Kobe are close to one another, and the new home field of the team was better than the previous field, most fans became content with the move, with some nostalgia for the "Braves" name. The team was sometimes called nihongo|"Aonami"|青波| by fans and the baseball media, which means "Blue Wave" in Japanese.

In 1995 and 1996 the Orix BlueWave won the Pacific League pennant. In 1996, they also won the Japan Series.

Famous players

Famous players who have played for Orix BlueWave include Ichiro Suzuki and Shigetoshi Hasegawa (both of whom have played for the Seattle Mariners of the American League), as well as Daryl Spencer, Troy Neel, and So Taguchi.Other remarkable players are: Tetsuya Yoneda (350 game winner), Takao Kajimoto, Roberto "Chico" Barbon, Tokuji (Atsushi) Nagaike, Mitsuhiro Adachi (Underhanded big-game pitcher who defeated the Tokyo Giants), Yutaka Fukumoto, Hisashi Yamada (the winningest underhanded pitcher), Hideji Kato, Yutaro Imai (once pitched a perfect game), Roberto "Bobby" Marcano, Yoshinori Sato, Gregory DeWayne "Boomer" Wales (the first ex-Japanese triple crown hitter in NPB history), Masafumi Yamamori, Nobuyuki Hoshino and Yasuo Fujii.