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Issei Okuno’s Lecture on Money and Sports (6) – Changes in the Japanese Economy as Seen in the Names of Professional Baseball Teams
Last time, baseball club advisor Kazunari Okuno asked third-year baseball club female manager Yuki Sasaki and new club member Ichiro Suzuki, “How do you think about the regional transition of club activities?” Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, the two of them knew that changes in society would have a major impact on the lives of junior high school students.
Autumn has finally arrived, and the baseball club is putting some effort into practice, but the professional baseball season is coming to an end. After practice, Yuki and Suzuki mingle with Okuno-sensei and have a lively chat.
Yuki: “The Japan Series has finally started again this year.”
Suzuki: “Yakult wins Central League, Orix wins Pacific League”
Yuki: “But most Japanese professional baseball team names are company names.”
Suzuki: “What about Hiroshima?”
Okuno “Hiroshima is a citizen baseball team that does not have a specific parent company. However, the official name is Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Toyo is derived from the former company name of the automobile manufacturer Mazda, “Toyo Kogyo”, and it still has a relationship with Mazda. It’s deep. I’ll explain it in a little more detail later.”
Mr. Okuno is in charge of home economics in class. This year, home economics classes began to include investment education. In investment education, “company” becomes one of the important themes.
The current 12 teams in the Central League are Yakult, DeNA, Hanshin, Giants, Hiroshima, and Chunichi. The Pacific League consists of Orix, Softbank, Seibu, Rakuten, Lotte, and Nippon-Ham.
By the way, in 1951, right after the two-league system was introduced, there were 14 teams.
Central League Yomiuri, Osaka (Hanshin), Nagoya (Chunichi), Shochiku, JNR, Taiyo, Hiroshima Toyo
Pacific League Nishitetsu, Nankai, Mainichi, Toei, Daiei, Hankyu, Kintetsu
In 1990, the peak of the bubble economy,
Central League Yomiuri, Hanshin, Chunichi, Taiyo, Hiroshima Toyo, Yakult
Pacific League Seibu, Daiei, Nippon-Ham, Lotte, Orix, Kintetsu
Yuki: It seems that the companies that run the teams have changed quite a bit since the old days, but what does this mean?
