Hiroshima Toyo Carp

Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Team logo Cap insignia
League	Nippon Professional Baseball (1950–present) Central League (1950–present)
Ballpark	Mazda Stadium (2009–present)
Year established	1950
Nickname(s)	Koi (鯉^?, koi)
Central League pennants	6 (1975, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1991)
Japan Series championships	3 (1979, 1980, 1984)
Former name(s)	Hiroshima Carp (1950–1967) Hiroshima Toyo Carp (1968–present)
Former ballparks	Hiroshima Municipal Stadium (1950–1957) Hiroshima Municipal Stadium (1957–2008)
Colors	Red, White
Retired numbers	3, 8
Ownership	Matsuda family
Manager	Koichi Ogata

(video) Number 18, Kenta Maeda, pitching a ball.

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp (広島東洋カープ Hiroshima Tōyō Kāpu) is a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by Hajime Matsuda (松田元 Matsuda Hajime), who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda. Mazda is the largest single shareholder (34.2%), which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family (about 60%). Because of that, Mazda is not considered as the owner firm. However, the company connection is highlighted in the club name—until 1984, Mazda's official name was Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. (東洋工業株式会社 Tōyō Kōgyō Kabushiki Gaisha).

History

Early years

The Nippon Professional Baseball league was scheduled to be expanded into two separate leagues in 1949, and Hiroshima prefecture decided to establish a professional baseball team as part of the reconstruction process from the devastation of the atomic bomb. The team joined the Central League in December 1949 as the Hiroshima Carp.

The team's first home field was a prefecture-funded stadium, and the team's lack of sponsorship made it extremely difficult to gather players. Manager Hideichi Ishimoto had to personally scout players just to form a starting lineup. The ragtag team ended up in last place from 1950 to 1951.

The team's lack of funding became an even more serious problem in 1951, and it was proposed that the team be disbanded, or merge with the Taiyo Whales team, which was based in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi at the time. Hiroshima citizens strongly protested against disbanding the team, and raised the money needed to keep the team through donations.

The Central League had 7 teams in 1952, making it difficult to form a coherent schedule for each team. Therefore, it was decided that any team that ended the season with a winning percentage below .300 would be disbanded or merged with another team. This agreement was obviously aimed towards the Carp, since the team had been in last place every season. The team won only 37 games in 1952, but ended with a .316 winning percentage to barely save itself from being disbanded. The Shochiku Robins ended the season in last place with a .288 winning percentage, and was merged with the Taiyo Whales.

The team's financial plight only worsened in the following years, and the team could only issue one uniform per player in 1953. Nevertheless, the team continued to play each season, and finally ended the season above the .500 mark in 1960. The team moved to Hiroshima Municipal Stadium in July 1957.

In 1968, Toyo Kogyo (current Mazda) became the team's chief sponsor, and the company name was inserted to become the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. The team ended the season above 3rd place for the first time the same year, but quickly fell back into last place from 1972 to 1974.

"Akaheru" golden age

A memorial plaque listing the team's championships located next to Hiroshima Municipal Stadium.

Red became the new team color in 1973, and the team's uniforms were completely redone to resemble the current team uniform. The team logo was also changed from a letter "H" to a red "C" in imitation of the Cincinnati Reds logo.

The team hired its first non-Japanese manager, Joe Lutz, in 1975. Lutz ordered the team's cap to be changed to red to symbolize a never-ending fighting spirit. Due to an umpiring dispute, Lutz left the team halfway into the season. However, the team won its first ever league championship in 1975 to begin a memorable series of championship berths.

The Carp team became a powerhouse in 1978, hitting over 200 home runs in one season for the first time in Japanese baseball history. Koji Yamamoto, Sachio Kinugasa, Jim Lyttle and Adrian Garrett formed the powerful Akaheru (literally meaning "Red Helmet") lineup, which won two consecutive pennants and Japan Series from 1979 to 1980. A strong pitching staff led to another Japan Series win in 1984. Manager Takeshi Koba retired in 1985, but the team still won the pennant the following year.

Star player Koji Yamamoto became manager in 1989, and the team won yet another pennant in 1991. However, the team fell into last place in 1993, and Yamamoto resigned from his position.

Dark years

The team has not been in serious contention since their last championship in 1991. They remain the only team in the league to have never been above third place since the year 2000. The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters won a league championship in 2006, making the Carp the team the farthest removed from a league championship. To make matters worse, the Chunichi Dragons won a Japan Series championship in 2007, making the Carp the team furthest removed from a Japan Series championship as well. They were the last Japanese team to send a player to Major League Baseball when ace starter Hiroki Kuroda joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007.

View from Hiroshima Municipal Stadium on March 14, 2004.

One of the major reasons for the team's recent demise is the lack of financial support it receives from its sponsors. The team has never signed any free agents, and is often forced to let go of star players because they can no longer pay their salaries (recent examples include Tomoaki Kanemoto, Akira Etoh, Andy Sheets, Nate Minchey, John Bale, Greg LaRocca and Takahiro Arai). The Hiroshima Carp was the last Japanese team to have a non-Japanese player on its roster (excluding Japanese-Americans). Zoilo Versalles, the 1965 American League MVP, was the first non-Japanese player to play for the Carp.

Marty Brown became the manager in 2006, becoming the first non-Japanese manager in 31 years since Joe Lutz. The team set a new record in April, 2006, scoring only 2 runs for the first 9 games of the season. Through still not finishing above third, the team concentrated on developing potential young players. In 2008, even though they were expected to finish last place as both the ace Hiroki Kuroda and slugger Takahiro Arai were gone by free agency, their chance entering of playoffs was not eliminated until the very end of the season (when only 3 games remained), and they finished fourth, closely following Chunichi Dragons.

Since the 2009 season, their home ground has been the New Hiroshima Municipal Stadium.

Uniforms

The former uniforms of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp are similar to the Major League Baseball team the Cincinnati Reds.

Mascots and characters

• The team mascot "Slyly" bears resemblance to the Phillie Phanatic of the Philadelphia Phillies. Both Slyly and the Phillie Phanatic were designed by Harrison/Erickson,Inc.

• The first Japanese baseball dog "Micky" was employed in 2006. Micky brings new balls to the umpire from the dugout during the game.
• Until 2015, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium was closed every year on August 6 in memorial of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The team always played in other stadiums, even if a home game was scheduled for that day. The team played their first August 6 home game at the new Hiroshima Municipal Stadium in 2015. During the game all Carp players wore the uniform number 86 in remembrance of the somber event 70 years prior.

Carp Academy

The Carp was the first Japanese baseball team to establish a baseball academy outside Japan. The team was unable to recruit non-Japanese players from the major leagues due to financial constraints, and the academy was established to cheaply send young players to play in Japan. The Carp Baseball Academy was created in the Dominican Republic in 1990, and Robinson Checo became the first player imported to Japan from the academy in 1995. Checo achieved moderate success in Japan, leading to further imports which include Timo Pérez and Alfonso Soriano.

Players of note

Current manager

• 79 Koichi Ogata (緒方　孝市)

Current players

(4/13/2015)

• 00 Naoki Nakahigashi (中東 直己) - OF
•  0 Takashi Uemoto (上本　崇司) - IF
•  2 Akihiro Higashide (東出 輝裕) - IF
•  4 Tetsuya Kokubo(小窪 哲也) - IF
•  5 Kenta Kurihara (栗原 健太) - IF
•  6 Eishin Soyogi (梵 英心) - IF
•  7 Shota Dobayashi (堂林 翔太) - IF
•  9 Yoshihiro Maru (丸 佳浩) - OF
• 10 Takahiro Iwamoto (岩本 貴裕) - OF
• 11 Yuya Fukui (福井 優也) - P
• 12 Aren Kuri (九里　亜蓮) - P
• 13 Jesús Guzmán (へスス・グズマン) -IF
• 14 Daichi Ohsera (大瀬良　大地) - P
• 15 Hiroki Kuroda (黒田 博樹) - P
• 16 Takeru Imamura (今村 猛) - P
• 19 Yusuke Nomura (野村 祐輔) - P
• 20 Katsuhiro Nagakawa (永川 勝浩) - P
• 21 Junpei Shinoda (篠田 純平) - P
• 22 Kyohei Nakamura (中村 恭平) - P
• 23 Kazuki Yabuta (薮田 和樹) - P
• 24 Takaya Kawauchi (河内 貴哉) - P
• 25 Hiroki Takahashi (高橋　大樹) - OF
• 26 Jun Hirose (廣瀬 純) - OF
• 27 Tsubasa Aizawa (會澤 翼) - C
• 28 Takahiro Arai (新井 貴浩) - IF
• 29 Hirotaka Egusa (江草 仁貴) - P
• 30 Ryuji Ichioka (一岡 竜司) - P
• 31 Yoshiyuki Ishihara (石原 慶幸) - C
• 32 Yuta Shirahama (白濱 裕太) - C
• 33 Ryosuke Kikuchi (菊池 涼介) - IF
• 34 Ren Nakata (中田 廉) - P
• 35 Ko Shimozuru (下水流　昂) - OF
• 36 Atsuya Horie (塹江 敦哉) - P
• 37 Takayoshi Noma (野間 峻祥) - OF
• 38 Masato Akamatsu (赤松 真人) - OF
• 39 Tetsuya Iida (飯田 哲矢) - P
• 40 Yoshikazu Kura (倉 義和) - C
• 41 Koya Fujii (藤井 皓哉) - P
• 42 Kris Johnson (クリス・ジョンソン) - P
• 43 Shohei Habu (土生 翔平) - OF
• 44 Ryuhei Matsuyama (松山 竜平) - OF
• 45 Tatsuki Kuwahara (桒原 樹) - IF
• 46 Yuki Iwami (岩見 優輝) - P
• 47 Jumpei Ono (小野 淳平) - P
• 48 Keita Nishihara (西原 圭大)- P
• 49 Sohichiro Amaya (天谷 宗一郎) - OF
• 50 Masamitsu Suzuki (鈴木 将光) - OF
• 51 Seiya Suzuki (鈴木　誠也) - IF
• 52 Hayato Shoji (庄司 隼人) - IF
• 53 Takaya Toda (戸田 隆矢) - P
• 54 Hisashi Takeuchi (武内 久士) - P
• 55 Brad Eldred (ブラッド・エルドレッド) - IF
• 56 Shota Nakazaki (中崎 翔太) - P
• 57 Nate Schierholtz (ネイト・シャーホルツ) - OF
• 58 Mike Zagurski (マイク・ザガースキー) - P
• 59 Yuki Mima (美間　優槻) - IF
• 60 Tomohiro Abe (安部 友裕) - IF
• 61 Yoshitaka Isomura (磯村 嘉孝) - C
• 62 Keisuke Imai (今井 啓介) - P
• 63 Kosuke Tanaka (田中　広輔) - IF
• 64 Daisuke Tada (多田 大輔) - C
• 66 Shogo Kimura (木村 昇吾) - IF
• 67 Yuta Nakamura (中村　祐太) - P
• 68 Ryosuke Ikenouchi (池ノ内 亮介) - P
• 69 Rainel Rosario (ライネル・ロサリオ) - OF
• 70 Deunte Heath (デゥアンテ・ヒース) - P
• 98 Shoma Sato (佐藤 祥万) - P ·
• 99 Ken Nakamura (中村 憲) - OF
• 120 Yuichi Hisamoto (久本 祐一) - P
• 121 Kodai Matsuura (松浦 耕大) - C ·
• 123 Satoshi Kimura (木村 聡司) - IF ·
• 124 Sora Tsuji (辻 空) - P
• 126 Kosuke Nakamura (中村 亘佑) - C
• 130 Tsukasa Morishita (森下 宗) - OF
• 144 Danilo de Jesús (ダニーロ・デ・ヘスス) - P

Former players

• Gail Hopkins (1975–1976)

• Richie Scheinblum (1975–1976)

• Adrian Garrett (1977–1979)

• Yutaka Enatsu (1978–1980)

• Jim Lyttle (1977–1982)

• Mike Dupree (1980)

• Koji Yamamoto (1969–1986), (1989–1993, 2001–2005 (as manager))

• Sachio Kinugasa (1965–1987)

• Rick Lancellotti (1987–1988)

• Randy Johnson (1987–1988)

• Tsunemi Tsuda (1982–1991)

• Rod Allen (1989–1991)

• Ty Van Burkleo (1991)

• Manabu Kitabeppu (1976–1994)

• Marty Brown (1992–1994), (2006–2009 (as manager))

• Luis Medina (1993–1995)

• Takehiko Kobayakawa (1984–1996)

• Robinson Checo (1995–1996)

• Alfonso Soriano (1997)

• Yutaka Ohno (1977–1998)

• Alejandro Diaz (1998)

• Timo Pérez (1996–1999)

• Rick DeHart (1999)

• Nate Minchey (1998–2000)

• Jeff Ball (2000)

• Eric Ludwick (2000–2001)

• Tomoaki Kanemoto (1992–2002)

• Luis Lopez (1996–1997, 2000–2002)

• Eddy Díaz (1999–2002)

• Erik Schullstrom (2001–2002)

• Ramón Ramírez (2002)

• Alan Newman (2003)

• Jimmy Hurst (2003)

• Andy Sheets (2003–2004)

• Chris Brock (2003–2004)

• Mark Watson (2004)

• Kenjiro Nomura (1989–2005)

• Greg LaRocca (2004–2005)

• John Bale (2004–2006)

• Mike Romano (2005–2006)

• Shinji Sasaoka (1990–2007)

• Hiroki Kuroda (1997–2007)

• Takahiro Arai (1999–2007)

• Sean Douglass (2006–2007)

• Jared Fernández (2007)

• Esmailin Caridad (2007)

• Víctor Marté (2006-2008)

• Alex Ochoa (2007–2008)

• Jim Brower (2008)

• Koichi Ogata (1987–2009)

• Ben Kozlowski (2008–2009)

• Colby Lewis (2008–2009)

• Scott Seabol (2008–2009)

• Scott Dohmann (2009)

• Scott McClain (2009)

• Andy Phillips (2009)

• Shigenobu Shima (1995-2011)

• Brian Barden (2011-2012)

• Takuro Ishii (2009-2012)

• Takahiro Aoki (2007-2013)

• Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara (1993-1994, 1996-2004, 2011–2013)

• Tomonori Maeda (1990–2013)

MLB players

Active:

• Hiroki Kuroda (2008–2014)
• Colby Lewis (2002–2004, 2006–2007, 2010–)

Retired:

• Ken Takahashi (2009)
• Alfonso Soriano (1999-2014)

Retired numbers

•  3 Sachio Kinugasa (1975–1987), (#28:1965–1974)
•  8 Koji Yamamoto (1971–1986, 2001–2005), (#27:1969–1970), (#88:1989–1993 as manager)

Honored numbers

•  1 Tomonori Maeda (1990–2013)
•  7 Kenjiro Nomura (1989–2005) - Shota Dobayashi (2013-)
•  20 Manabu Kitabeppu (1976–1994) - Katsuhiro Nagakawa (2003–)

External links

• (Japanese) Hiroshima Carp official web site
• (Japanese) japanesebaseball.com Carp page
• (Japanese) Carp train (operated by Hiroden)