Yamato Baseball Club

Yamato Baseball Club
Information
LeagueJapanese Baseball League
BallparkKorakuen Stadium
Established1937
Folded1944
Former name(s)Korakuen Eagles (1937–1939)
Kurowashi (1940–1941)
ColorsLight blue and yellow
OwnershipDai-Nippon Beer (1939–1941)
Yamato Ironworks (1942–1943)
ManagerShigeo Mori (1938–1939)
Kazutaka Terauchi (1940–1942)
Hisanori Karita (1942–1943)
Toshio Kojima (1943)
Harris McGalliard and Tadashi Kameda of the Eagles in 1937 or 1938.

The Yamato Baseball Club was a Japanese baseball team in the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). Based in Tokyo, the franchise was founded as the Korakuen Eagles before the 1937 season and was dissolved before the 1944 season.

Franchise history

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Korakuen Eagles

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In 1937, catcher Harris McGalliard (better known as Bucky Harris), won the JBL Most Valuable Player Award[1] with a batting average of .285 and 25 RBI (in 39 games).

Kurowashi

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The team was owned by Ryutaro Takahashi of Dai-Nippon Beer from 1939 to 1941. For the 1940 and 1941 seasons, the team changed its name to Kurowashi (Black Eagles in Japanese; in October 1940, responding to rising hostility toward the West due to World War II, the league outlawed the use of English words in Japanese baseball).[citation needed]

Tadashi Kameda pitched two no-hitters for Kurowashi, on March 18, 1940, against the Lion Baseball Club, and on April 14, 1941, against the Osaka Tigers.[2]

Yamato

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Kenkichi Saeki, president of Yamato Ironworks, purchased the team in 1942. As a result, the team changed its name to the Yamato Baseball Club.[citation needed]

Dissolution

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During its nine seasons of existence (including split fall and spring campaigns in 1937–1938), the franchise only had two winning campaigns and never finished higher than third in the JBL standings. (They usually finished in the second division.) As a result, the team was dissolved before the 1944 season (along with another JBL team, the Nishitetsu Baseball Club).

Team statistics

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Year Team name Games Wins Losses Ties Win/Loss Percentage Standings Games behind
1937 Eagles 105 12 44 0 .214 8/8 30
28 19 2 .596 3/8 10.5
1938 75 18 15 2 .545 4/9 10
15 20 5 .429 7/9 13
1939 96 29 65 2 .309 9/9 38
1940 Kurowashi 104 46 54 4 .460 6/8 28
1941 85 28 56 1 .333 7/8 34
1942 Yamato 105 27 68 10 .284 8/8 43.5
1943 84 35 43 6 .449 6/8 17.5
Overall record 654 238 384 34 .388  

References

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  1. ^ Johnson, Daniel E. (2006). Japanese Baseball: A Statistical Handbook. McFarland. p. 18. ISBN 978-0786428410.
  2. ^ Lammers, Dirk."Kameda tosses first of 2 JBL no-nos, 79 years ago today," NoNoHitters.com. Retrieved Aug. 22, 2020.