Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
| Rakuten Eagles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| League |
Nippon Professional Baseball (2005–present)
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| Ballpark |
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| Year established | 2005 | ||||
| Nickname(s) |
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| Pacific League pennants | 1 (2013) | ||||
| Japan Series championships | 1 (2013) | ||||
| Colors |
Red, Gold | ||||
| Retired numbers | 10 | ||||
| Ownership | Rakuten Inc. | ||||
| Manager | Masataka Nashida | ||||
| Uniforms | |||||
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The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (東北楽天ゴールデンイーグルス Tōhoku Rakuten Gōruden Īgurusu) is a baseball team based in Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, which plays in the Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League since 2005. They were Japan Series champions in 2013 after defeating the Yomiuri Giants.
The team was created to fill the void left by the merger of the Orix BlueWave and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, after the 2004 season due to financial difficulties, leaving the Pacific League with five teams, causing the biggest crisis in the traditional two-league structure in NPB and finally caused the historical-first baseball player strike in Japan. The team is owned by the Internet shopping company Rakuten.[1]
The team's manager was Katsuya Nomura, the oldest manager in NPB history, but he was replaced after the 2009 season by Marty Brown, the former manager of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Brown was in turn replaced by Senichi Hoshino after a last place finish in 2010. Masataka Nashida has been the team's manager since 2016.
The team's stadium was heavily damaged by floods during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11.[2]
Players of note
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles roster | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First squad | Second squad | ||||||
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Pitchers
Catchers
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Infielders
Outfielders
Manager |
Pitchers
Catchers
|
Infielders
Outfielders
Updated April 25, 2015 | ||||
Former managers
Former players
-
Luis Lopez - Ryan Glynn
- Eric Valent
- Cedrick Bowers
- Kevin Hodges
- Gary Rath
- Andy Tracy
-
Aaron Myette - Matt Skrmetta
- Damon Minor
-
Katsunori Nomura - Tetsuya Iida
- Takeshi Nakamura
- Tadaharu Sakai
- Hideo Koike
- Koichi Oshima
- Kevin Witt
- Adam Bass
- Toyohiko Yoshida
- Koichi Sekikawa
- Kazuo Fukumori
- Takeshi Yamasaki
- Norihiro Nakamura
- Masahiro Tanaka
- Takashi Saito
-
Lin Ying-Chieh -
Domingo Guzmán -
Travis Blackley
Retired numbers
- 10 – This number is worn by both team mascots, Clutch and Clutchina, and is considered the number of the fan, the 'tenth man' on the field. It is the first retired number in NPB involving a fan, inspired by some teams in other sports (such as football, which retires "12" for the "12th man", or basketball, which retires "6" for the "6th man"). It should be noted that there are ten starting players in the Pacific League as the league uses the designated hitter. The Chiba Lotte Marines has the #26 retired in similar fashion (MLB's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim has retired #26, in similar fashion, for the original owner Gene Autry).
MLB players
Active:
- Hisashi Iwakuma (2012-)
- Masahiro Tanaka (2014-)
Retired:
- Kazuo Fukumori (2008)
Honours and records
2013 honours
Rakuten (楽天) were victorious in the 2013 Japan Series after defeating the Yomiuri Giants .
Records
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | ||||||||||
| Year | Manager | Games | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. | GB | BA | ERA | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Yasushi Tao | 136 | 38 | 97 | 1 | .281 | 51.5 | .255 | 5.67 | 6 |
| 2006 | Katsuya Nomura | 136 | 47 | 85 | 4 | .356 | 33.0 | .258 | 4.30 | 6 |
| 2007 | Katsuya Nomura | 144 | 67 | 75 | 2 | .472 | 13.5 | .262 | 4.31 | 4 |
| 2008 | Katsuya Nomura | 144 | 65 | 76 | 3 | .461 | 11.5 | .272 | 3.89 | 5 |
| 2009 | Katsuya Nomura | 144 | 77 | 66 | 1 | .538 | 5.5 | .267 | 4.01 | 2 |
| 2010 | Marty Brown | 144 | 62 | 79 | 3 | .440 | 15.0 | .265 | 3.98 | 6 |
| 2011 | Senichi Hoshino | 144 | 66 | 71 | 7 | .482 | 22.5 | .245 | 2.85 | 5 |
| 2012 | Senichi Hoshino | 144 | 67 | 67 | 10 | .500 | 7.5 | .252 | 2.99 | 4 |
| 2013 | Senichi Hoshino | 144 | 82 | 59 | 3 | .582 | - | .267 | 3.51 | 1 |
| 2014 | Senichi Hoshino | 144 | 64 | 80 | 0 | .444 | 17.0 | .255 | 3.97 | 6 |
| 2015 | Hiromoto Okubo | 143 | 57 | 83 | 3 | .407 | 33.5 | .241 | 3.82 | 6 |
| 2016 | Masataka Nashida | 143 | 62 | 78 | 3 | .443 | 25.0 | .257 | 4.11 | 5 |
| Total | -- | 1567 | 754 | 916 | 40 | .452 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Golden Eagles Fan Club honorary members
- Shirō Asano
- Great Sasuke
- Takanori Hatakeyama
- Hiroshi Ikushima
- Junichi Inagaki
- Hiroya Masuda
- Shingo Mimura
- Masatoshi Nakamura
- Toshiyuki Nishida
- Itsurō Ōizumi
- Kōhei Ōtomo
- Sanpei
- Hiroshi Saitō
- Eisaku Satō
- Masao Sen
- Mayo Suzukaze
- Yoshitake Tanaka
- Sukeshiro Terata
- Kōichi Yamadera
See also
- "The Manpower!!!" (THE マンパワー!!!) – the first Golden Eagles' official cheer song, recorded and released as a single by J-pop idol group Morning Musume.
- "Koero! Rakuten Eagles" (越えろ!楽天イーグルス) – the fourth Golden Eagles' official cheer song, recorded by J-pop idol group Cute.
Gallery
Clutch, the Eagles' male mascot
Clutchina, the Eagles' female mascot and Clutch's sister
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. |
References
- ↑ Rakuten Golden Eagles (Sendai) Team Information. JapanBall.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-19.
- ↑ Japan Pro Baseball and the Earthquake and Tsunami
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