For current information on this topic, see 2009 Orix Buffaloes season.

Orix Buffaloes
League	Pacific League
Location	Osaka, Kobe
Ballpark	Kyocera Dome Osaka and Skymark Stadium
Year Founded	2004 (merger) 1936 (Orix BlueWave) 1950 (Kintetsu Buffaloes)
Nickname(s)	Orix (オリックス), Buffaloes (バファローズ), Bs
League championships	Hankyu/Orix: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1995, 1996 Kintetsu: 1979, 1980, 1989, 2001
Japan Series championships	Hankyu/Orix: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1996
Former name(s)	Orix BlueWave: Hankyu Professional Baseball Club (1936–1946), Hankyu Bears (1947), Hankyu Braves (1947–1988), Orix Braves (1989–1990), Orix BlueWave (1991–2004) Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes: Kintetsu Pearls (1950-1958), Kintetsu Buffalo (1959-1961), Kintetsu Buffaloes (1962-1998), Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes (1999-2004)
Colors	White, yellow and dark blue
Logo Design	"Buffaloes" written in yellow and blue
Uniforms
Home	Away

The Orix Buffaloes (オリックス・バファローズ, Orikkusu Bafarōzu^?) are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka and Kobe, Japan. They play in the Pacific League. The team is owned by the Orix Group, a leading diversified financial services company based in Tokyo.

The team was formed after the 2004 NPB season by the merger of the Orix BlueWave and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. The merged team began play in the 2005 NPB season, splitting its home games between the Skymark Stadium, the former home of the BlueWave, in Kobe and the Kyocera Dome Osaka, that of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, in Osaka.

Contents 1 Franchise history 1.1 Hankyu/Orix, 1936-2004 1.2 Kintetsu, 1950-2004 1.3 2005 to present 2 Current roster 3 Baseball Hall of Famers 3.1 Former players and managers 4 Retired numbers 5 Mascots 6 External links

[edit] Franchise history

[edit] Hankyu/Orix, 1936-2004

In 1936, the club was formed by Hanshin Kyuko Railway Company (阪神急行電鉄株式会社^?, Present: Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc.) as the fifth oldest in Japan.

[edit] Kintetsu, 1950-2004

The Kintetsu Buffalo were the first Japanese team to sign an American player. They signed former major league pitcher Glenn Mickens and catcher Ron Bottler for the 1959 season. Mickens had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953 and Bottler had been a career minor league catcher in the United States.

[edit] 2005 to present

This section requires expansion.

[edit] Current roster

Orix Buffaloes roster v • d • e
Active roster				Inactive roster		Coaches and others
Starters 14 Mamoru Kishida 65 Kazuki Kondō 20 Shōgo Yamamoto Bullpen 15 Daisuke Katō 11 Hidetaka Kawagoe 43 Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara 17 Ryota Kozuki 63 Yūki Nishi 35 Masanobu Ōkubo 13 Akio Shimizu 12 Ryan Vogelsong Closer 19 Chihiro Kaneko		Catchers 27 Takeshi Hidaka 44 Fumihiro Suzuki 37 Toshiya Tsuji Infielders  4 Masahiro Abe 24 Mitsutaka Gotō 54 Ikki 23 Hirotoshi Kitagawa  0 Makoto Moriyama 00 Kōji Yamasaki Outfielders 25 Yūichiro Mukae  6 Naoyuki Ōmura 41 Hiroyuki Oze 52 Tomotaka Sakaguchi 36 Shinji Shimoyama Designated hitters 55 Takahiro Okada		Pitchers 16 Yoshihisa Hirano 28 Satoshi Komatsu 34 Kazuya Motoyanagi 33 Yasunari Takagi Catchers 67 Tetsuya Yokoyama Infielders 42 Alex Cabrera  3 José Fernández 30 Greg LaRocca 58 Masahiro Nagata 10 Keiji Ōbiki 31 Makoto Shiozaki Outfielders 53 Ryōta Aikawa 66 Shintarō Yoshida Designated hitters  8 Tuffy Rhodes		Manager 81 Daijirō Ōishi Coaches 80 Takahiro Akagawa (conditioning) 87 Motoyuki Akahori (pitching) 83 Toshifumi Baba (IF defense/3rd base) 70 Eiji Kiyokawa (pitching chief) 74 Hideaki Matsuyama (OF defense/1st base) 82 Takashi Miwa (bullpen) 90 Eiji Mizuguchi (hitting) 96 Taira Sumitomo (head) 78 Osamu Yonemura (training)

[edit] Baseball Hall of Famers

Elected mainly for Hankyu Braves service

• Takao Kajimoto, P, 1954-1973 (inducted 2007)
• Yutaka Fukumoto, CF, 1969-1988 (inducted 2002)

Elected for service with other teams, as well as Hankyu and Orix

• Hisashi Yamada, P, 1969-1988 (inducted 2006)
• Hiromitsu Kadota, DH, 1989-1990 (inducted 2006)
• Akira Ōgi, MGR 1988-1992†, 1994-2001, 2005 (inducted 2004)
• Toshiharu Ueda, MGR, 1974-1978, 1981-1990 (inducted 2003)
• Tetsuya Yoneda, P, 1956-1975 (inducted 2000)
• Futoshi Nakanishi, Head coach / Hitting coach, 1985-1990†, 1995-1997 (inducted 1999)

†For Kintetsu Buffaloes Elected mainly for Kintetsu Buffaloes service

• Keishi Suzuki, P, 1966-1985 (inducted 2002)
• Yukio Nishimoto, MGR 1974-1981 (inducted 1988)

[edit] Former players and managers

as Orix Buffaloes

• Akira Ogi (仰木 彬) - manager, deceased
• Norihiro Nakamura (中村 紀洋) - IF
• Yoshitomo Tani (谷 佳知) - OF
• Karim García - OF
• Cliff Brumbaugh - RF
• Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原 和博) - 1B or 3B

as Orix BlueWave

• Akira Ogi (仰木 彬) - manager
• Gregory DeWayne Boomer Wells(Greg Wells) - as known as "Boomer", IF
• Shigetoshi Hasegawa (長谷川 滋利) - P
• Hiromitsu Kadota - OF
• Dae-Sung Koo - P
• Takahito Nomura (野村 空生) - P
• Kazuhiro Sato (佐藤 和弘) - as known as "Punch" Sato (パンチ佐藤), OF
• 51 Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗, イチロー) - OF
• So Taguchi (田口 壮) - OF

as Kintestu Buffaloes

• Norihiro Nakamura (中村 紀洋) - IF
• Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄) - P
• Charlie Manuel - OF

as Hankyu (and Orix) Braves

• Roberto Barbon - IF
• Tetsuya Yoneda (米田 哲也) - P
• Yutaka Fukumoto (福本 豊) - OF
• Hisashi Yamada (山田 久志) - P
• Hideji Kato (加藤 英司) - 1B
• Animal Resry - P
• Hiromi Matsunaga (松永 浩美) - 3B
• Roberto Marcano - IF

[edit] Retired numbers

• none

[edit] Mascots

Neppie #111, a young boy Ripsea #222, a young girl

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Orix Buffaloes

v • d • e Nippon Professional Baseball (2010)
Central League	Pacific League
Chunichi Dragons	Chiba Lotte Marines
Hanshin Tigers	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Orix Buffaloes
Yokohama BayStars	Saitama Seibu Lions
Yomiuri Giants	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Postseason: Japan Series · Asia Series · Climax Series
All-Star Game · World Baseball Classic · Baseball awards · Hall of Fame · JPBPA · Players · Seasons · Western League · Eastern League · Japanese Professional Baseball

v • d • e Orix Buffaloes The Franchise ORIX • History • Seasons • Records • Players • Managers • Broadcasters Ballparks Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium • Skymark Stadium • Kyocera Dome Osaka Japan Series Championships (4) 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1996 Pacific League Championships (12) 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1971 • 1972 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1984 • 1995 • 1996 • Seasons 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009