Ten years ago this month, Japanese baseball went into its deepest and most memorable crisis. In case you were not in Japan then — or have forgotten — here is a brief review of what happened.
The news broke on a Sunday morning, June 13, 2004, and I heard it on the radio while making breakfast. Two Pacific League teams, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, and the Orix BlueWave based in Kobe, were going to merge. There had been rumors earlier that year about possible contraction in the Japan pro baseball ranks but, still, this came as a shock
At first, there was confusion. All that was known was the two clubs had agreed to become one, but what would this do to the structure of Japanese baseball and its two-league, 12-team set-up? Would it go on with 11 teams? No one seemed to know.
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