Chunichi Dragons
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Chunichi Dragons
The Chunichi Dragons (in Kanji: 中日ドラゴンズ; Chunichi-doragonzu) is a popular baseball team based in Nagoya, Japan. The team is in the Central League.
- Founded: 1936
- Formerly known as: Nagoya Club (1936-1943), Sangyo (1944), Chubu Nihon (1946), Chunichi Dragons (1947-1950), Nagoya Dragons (1951-1953), Chunichi Dragons (1954-)
- Home ballpark: Nagoya Dome
- Uniform colors: Blue and White
- Logo design: "Dragons" written in a cursive Latin script in blue
- League championships won (6): 1954, 1974, 1982, 1988, 1999, 2004
- Japan Series championships won (1): 1954
Chunichi Dragons has won in the Central League five times including winning Japan Series in 1954. In 1974, the team won the league title for the first time in 20 years, and this victory stopped the Yomiuri Giants from winning the league for their tenth consecutive year. Their most recent league title was in 1999, and in that year, Dragons set a record by winning 11 consecutive games at the opening of the season. It is said that the Dragons are the most difficult team to score runs against because of the strong throwing arms of outfielders Kosuke Fukudome and Alex Ochoa.In the 2004 season they reached the Japan Series once again.
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Players of note
Current stars
- Kosuke Fukudome
- Domingo Guzman
- Hitoki Iwase
- Kenshin Kawakami
- Alex Ochoa
- Motonobu Tanishige
- Kazuyoshi Tatsunami
- Hirokazu Ibata
- Masahiro Yamamoto
- Masahiro Kawai
Retired numbers
- 10 Tsuguhiro Hattori
- 15 Michio Nishizawa
Films
The Dragons were in the 1992 movie Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck
External links
- Chunichi Dragons official web site (http://www.dragons.co.jp/)