Tokyo Big6 Baseball League

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League (東京六大学野球連盟,"Tōkyō roku daigaku yakyū renmei") is an intercollegiate baseball league that features six prominent universities in the Tokyo area. Before the establishment and subsequent growth of Nippon Professional Baseball, the Big6 League was widely considered the highest level of baseball in Japan.

Members

Hosei University

*Established: 1915
*All-Time Record: 1029-730-97
*League Championships: 42
*Last Championship: Spring 2006

Keio University

*Established: 1892
*All-Time Record: 1019-734-78
*League Championships: 31
*Last Championship: Autumn 2004

Meiji University

*Established: 1910
*All-Time Record: 1042-724-77
*League Championships: 31
*Last Championship: Spring 2004

=Rikkio University=

*Established: 1909
*All-Time Record: 784-972-86
*League Championships: 12
*Last Championship: Autumn 1999

University of Tokyo

*Established: 1917
*All-Time Record: 240-1390-51
*League Championships: None
*Last Championship: N/A

Waseda University

*Established: 1901
*All-Time Record: 1091-655-76
*League Championships: 39
*Last Championship: Spring 2007

History

The Tokyo Big6 Baseball League was established in 1925. It is also the origin of the Tokyo 6 Universities (nihongo2|東京六大学, "Tōkyō roku daigaku") nickname that is given to the same six universities.

Games

All games are played at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Kasumigaseki District, Shinjuku City in Downtown Tokyo. Games are known to be rowdy and celebratory, with male cheerleaders (応援団, "Ōendan"), cheerleaders and bands working themselves and the crowd into a frenzy.

chedule and Rules

The six teams play short eight weekend seasons in the spring and autumn of a given year. A team plays a short series against each of the five other teams in the league. The series format is similar to a three game playoff, where the first to two wins is given a series victory. Home field is alternated, as all games are played at Jingu Stadium. Should a team sweep the first two games, no further games are played.

The champion of the league is determined by the team with the most series victories. The champion team is given the Emperor's Cup. This is exceptional in that the other Emperor's cups are given to national champions in other sports such as Emperor's Cup of Football. The spring champion is allowed to participate in the All Japan University Baseball Championship Series while the fall champion is allowed to compete in the Meiji Jingu Stadium Tournament.

The league uses rules that are similar to the National and Central Leagues. The designated hitter rule is not used and the pitcher is required to bat. Also, unlike American university leagues, non-wood bats are banned.

Records

Hosei University has won the league the most times with 42 league championships. Waseda University follows with 39 championships, despite sporting the best record in the league's history. Keio University and Meiji University follow with 31 league championships each. Rikkio trails with 12, while Tokyo University has never won a Big6 Championship.

Rivalry

Waseda vs. Keio: "Sōkeisen"

The series between Waseda and Keio, nihongo|"Sōkeisen"|早慶戦 [It is often reversed, 慶早戦, "Keisōsen", by the student body at Keio University.] , attracts the most attention and is greatly enjoyed by the students, not least because it causes classes at both universities to be canceled [A victory no longer guarantees the cancellation of classes at Waseda University.] . The game is still broadcasted on NHK and it is the only series played during the last week of the season. [www.japannewsreview.com/sports/20070603page_id=51 ]

The Sōkeisen actually predates the establishment of the Tokyo Big6 League by over 20 years, beginning in 1903. The games often caused much tension between the two student bodies, often spilling out of the stadium and leading to the cancellation of games.

The addition of Meiji (1914), Hosei (1917) and Rikkio [Though the university officially uses the name "Rikkyo" University, "Rikkio" remains on the team's jerseys. This article uses "Rikkio" accordingly.] (1921) would do little to remedy the rivalry. This state would continue until the addition of Tokyo Imperial University and the official establishment of the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League.

The name is a combination of the two university's names first kanji characters and the character for battle or match, nihongo|"sen"|戦. "Sō", is the alternate reading of nihongo|"Wa"|早 in nihongo|"Waseda"|早稲田 (also from the short name, nihongo|"Sōdai"|早大), while nihongo|"Kei"|慶 is the first character of nihongo|"Keio"|慶応.

Notable Alumni

Hosei Alumni

* Koichi Tabuchi (Hanshin Tigers → Seibu Lions)
* Koji Yamamoto (Hiroshima Toyo Carp)

Keio Alumni

* Yoshinobu Takahashi (Yomiuri Giants)

Meiji Alumni

* Senichi Hoshino (Chunichi Dragons)

Rikkio Alumni

* Shigeo Nagashima (Yomiuri Giants)
* Kazuhito Tadano (Cleveland Indians → Oakland Athletics)

Tokyo Alumni

Waseda Alumni

* Norichika Aoki (Tokyo Yakult Swallows)
* Shugo Fujii (Tokyo Yakult Swallows)
* Shinichi Takeuchi (Tokyo Yakult Swallows)
* Hiroyasu Tanaka (Tokyo Yakult Swallows)
* Takashi Toritani (Hanshin Tigers)
* Tsuyoshi Wada (Fukuoka Daiei Hawks → Fukuoka Softbank Hawks)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.big6.gr.jp Official Site of the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League (Japanese)]