Kintetsu Buffaloes
Encyclopedia
The was a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, which were in the Pacific League
Pacific League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series...

. The team was owned by Kinki Nippon Railway Co. (later: Kintetsu
Kintetsu
, named Kinki Nippon Railway Co., Ltd. in English until June 27, 2003, is a Japanese rail transit corporation commonly known as . It is the largest non-JR railway in Japan. Its complex network of lines connects Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Tsu and Ise...

 Corp.) and later sold to the Orix Group, the owner of the Orix BlueWave baseball team, in 2004. The new owner then announced that they would merged the two teams into one team called the Orix Buffaloes
Orix Buffaloes
The 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....

 before the start of the 2004-2005 NPB season.

The team was founded in 1950 and was known by various names: the Kintetsu Pearls (1950-1958), Kintetsu Buffalo (1959-1961), Kintetsu Buffaloes (1962-1998), Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes (1999-2004), and Orix Buffaloes (2005-now).

The team played in Fujiidera Stadium
Fujiidera Stadium
was a multi-use stadium in Fujiidera, Osaka, Japan. It was used mostly for baseball and was the home of the Kintetsu Buffaloes prior to the Osaka Dome opening in 1997. The stadium holds 32,000 people. The stadium was built in 1928, and closed in 2005...

, and later in Osaka Dome
Osaka Dome
Osaka Dome is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Japan. Beginning in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the merger between the Orix Blue Wave and Kintetsu Buffaloes. Prior to the Osaka...

. Its batting lineup is known as Itemae Dasen (いてまえ打線).
Uniform colors: Red, navy blue and white
Nickname: Kintetsu (近鉄), Buffaloes (バファローズ), Mougyu (猛牛) means violent buffalo, Ushi (牛,丑) means cow.
Logo design: A stylized buffalo's head with angry-looking red eyes which is designed by Okamoto Taro
Okamoto Taro
was a Japanese artist noted for his abstract and avant-garde paintings and sculpture.- Biography :He studied at Panthéon-Sorbonne in the 1930s, and created many great works of art after World War II...

; or "Buffaloes" in red script, outlined with white.
League championships won (4): 1979, 1980, 1989, 2001
Japan Series
Japan Series
, or is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a seven-game series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League....

 championships won
(0):

Japanese

  • Hisashi Iwakuma
    Hisashi Iwakuma
    is a Japanese professional baseball player. He is currently the starting pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.As the Eagles' reigning staff ace, Iwakuma won the Eiji Sawamura Award in and played in the 2004 Athens Olympics as well as the 2009 World Baseball Classic for the Japanese...

     (岩隈 久志)
  • Yoshiaki Kanemura (金村 義明)
  • Norihiro Nakamura
    Norihiro Nakamura
    is a Japanese professional baseball third baseman who plays for the Yokohama BayStars.-Career:He was born in Osaka, Japan, and spent almost all of his professional career in Japan with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. Drafted in , Nakamura began to emerge as one the leading power hitters in Nippon...

     (中村 紀洋)
  • Hideo Nomo
    Hideo Nomo
    is a former right-handed pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball from Japan. He achieved early success in Japan, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from to...

     (野茂 英雄)
  • Koji Ota
    Koji Ota
    is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and belongs to Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. as a commentator in baseball live on radio and TV...

     (太田 幸司)
  • Akinori Otsuka
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     (大塚 晶則)
  • Keishi Suzuki (鈴木 啓示)
  • Masato Yoshii
    Masato Yoshii
    is a retired Japanese baseball player who is currently a pitching coach for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in the Japanese Pacific League. He pitched in the Major Leagues from to .-Biography:...

     (吉井 理人)

Foreign players

  • Andy Abad
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  • Kyle Abbott
    Kyle Abbott
    Lawrence Kyle Abbott is a former professional baseball player. In an eight-year career, Abbott played four seasons for the California Angels and Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, as well as one season for the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball...

  • Mike Andrews
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    Michael Jay Andrews is a retired American Major League Baseball infielder who played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. He is currently the chairman of The Jimmy Fund, an event fundraising organization affiliated with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston,...

  • Luis Aquino
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    Luis Antonio Aquino [ah-KEE-noh] is a former middle relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Toronto Blue Jays , Kansas City Royals , Florida Marlins , Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants...

  • Chris Arnold
  • Gene Bacque
    Gene Bacque
    Gene Bacque is a former professional baseball player who played in the Japanese professional leagues.-Biography:...

  • Sean Bergman
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  • Billy Bean
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  • Buddy Bradford
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  • Ralph Bryant
    Ralph Bryant
    Ralph Wendell Bryant is a former Major League Baseball player. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the major leagues, and with the Chunichi Dragons and Kintetsu Buffaloes in Nippon Professional Baseball...

  • Ozzie Canseco
    Ozzie Canseco
    Osvaldo "Ozzie" Canseco Capas is a former Major League Baseball player and the identical twin brother of former Major League Baseball player José Canseco....

  • Phil Clark
  • Alvin Davis
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  • Dick Davis
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    Richard Earl Davis is a former professional baseball player. He played all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball from 1977 until 1982, primarily as an outfielder. He also played five seasons in Japan with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1984 until 1988....

  • Pat Dodson
  • Chris Donnels
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  • Chuck Essegian
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  • Freddy García
  • Shawn Gilbert
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    Albert Shawn Gilbert Jr. is a former Major League Baseball player. He attended Agua Fria Union High School in Avondale, Arizona. After high school, he attended Fresno State and Arizona State University....

  • Jim Gentile
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  • David Green
  • Ike Hampton
    Ike Hampton
    Isaac Bernard Hampton is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He was signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent on August 22, 1970 and played for the Mets and the California Angels .Hampton made his major league debut as a pinch hitter on September 12, 1974 at Shea Stadium...

  • Mike Johnson
  • Terry Lee
    Terry Lee
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  • Phil Leftwich
    Phil Leftwich
    Phillip Dale Leftwich is a former professional baseball player who played three seasons for the California Angels of Major League Baseball. He also played two seasons in Japan for the Kintetsu Buffaloes....

  • Charlie Manuel
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    Charles Fuqua Manuel, Jr. is a former Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball outfielder and current Major League Baseball manager of the Philadelphia Phillies...

  • Glenn Mickens
    Glenn Mickens
    Glenn Roger Mickens was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched in four games for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers. He also played for five years in Japan, from until for the Kintetsu Buffaloes...

  • Bob Milacki
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    Robert "Bob" Milacki , is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues between and , mostly with the Baltimore Orioles.-Major league career:...

  • Don Money
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  • Ben Oglivie
    Ben Oglivie
    Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer is a former Major League Baseball left fielder for the Boston Red Sox , Detroit Tigers , and the Milwaukee Brewers . He also played two seasons in Japan for the Kintetsu Buffaloes...

  • Dennis Powell
    Dennis Powell
    Dennis Clay Powell is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched from 1985-1993 for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners. He also played one season in Japan in 1995 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes....

  • Jim Qualls
    Jim Qualls
    James Robert Qualls is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and pinch-hitting specialist for the Chicago Cubs in 1969, the Montreal Expos in 1970 and the Chicago White Sox in 1972...

  • R. J. Reynolds
    R. J. Reynolds (baseball)
    Robert James Reynolds is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1983-1990. He also played three seasons in Japan for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales and Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1991-1993.Reynolds broke in as a September...

  • Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes
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    Karl Derrick "Tuffy" Rhodes is a professional baseball player. He played six years in Major League Baseball in the US, and eleven years in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan....

  • Bombo Rivera
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  • Germán Rivera
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  • Dave Roberts
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  • Johnny Ruffin
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  • Brian Shouse
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  • Lee Stevens
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  • Jim Traber
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  • Carlos Valdez
    Carlos Valdez (baseball)
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  • Nigel Wilson
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  • Bob Wolcott
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  • Larry Wolfe
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External links

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