The Black Mist Scandal (Japanese baseball)
Encyclopedia
In Japan
, the refers to a series of game fixing scandals in the professional leagues between 1969 and 1971. The fallout from these scandals resulted in several star players receiving long suspensions, salary cuts, or being banned from professional play entirely; the resulting abandonment of baseball by many fans in Japan also led to the sale of such illustrious teams as the Nishitetsu Lions and Toei Flyers (now the Seibu Lions
and Hokkaidō Nippon Ham Fighters
).
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...
, the refers to a series of game fixing scandals in the professional leagues between 1969 and 1971. The fallout from these scandals resulted in several star players receiving long suspensions, salary cuts, or being banned from professional play entirely; the resulting abandonment of baseball by many fans in Japan also led to the sale of such illustrious teams as the Nishitetsu Lions and Toei Flyers (now the Seibu Lions
Seibu Lions
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based west of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Prince Hotels, which in turn is owned by the Seibu Group...
and Hokkaidō Nippon Ham Fighters
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at the Sapporo Dome. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō,...
).
Timeline
- October 7, 1969: The Nishitetsu front office discovers pitcherPitcherIn baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
Masayuki Nagayasu taking bribes from an organized crime family to throw games. The team announces that Nagayasu will be released after the end of the season, and the story is reported in Japanese news papers the next day. - November 28, 1969: The committee of commissioners presiding over the league at the time votes to ban Nagayasu from the league for life, the first time any player had been banned from baseball.
- April 1, 1970: In an exclusive tape-recorded interview with the Shūkan Post newspaper (broadcast on a Fuji TelevisionFuji Televisionis a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....
news program), Nagayasu reveals that other players on his former team were also involved in game fixing. The league summons seven players to testify on their involvement: pitchers Nagayasu, Masaaki Ikenaga, Yorinobu Yoda, and Akio Masada; catcherCatcherCatcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
Kimiyasu Murakami; and infielderInfielderAn infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.-Standard arrangement of positions:In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles...
s Kazuhide Funada and Mitsuo Motoi. - April 22: An auto racerAuto racingAuto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
under investigation for rule violations in a race reveals that baseball players are involved in a scheme to fix the results of races. Three are arrested under suspicion of participating in the scheme: Chunichi DragonsChunichi DragonsThe are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:...
pitcher Tsutomu Tanaka, Taiyō WhalesYokohama BayStarsThe are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium....
pitcher Isao Takayama, and yakuzaYakuza, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
member Hirotaka Fujinawa. - May 6: Kentarō Ogawa, star pitcher for the Dragons, is arrested for taking part in the auto-race fixing.
- May 9: Toei Flyers pitchers Toshiaki Moriyasu and Mitsugu Tanaka are revealed to be under suspicion of throwing baseball games.
- May 14: A report reveals that Kintetsu BuffaloesKintetsu BuffaloesThe was a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Osaka, Japan, which were in the Pacific League. The team was owned by Kinki Nippon Railway Co. and later sold to the Orix Group, the owner of the Orix BlueWave baseball team, in 2004...
front-office official Akira Yamazaki was coerced into throwing games as a player in the 1967 season. - May 19: Hanshin TigersHanshin TigersThe are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...
infielder Takao Katsuragi is arrested in the auto-race scandal.
- May 25: The commissioner committee issues the following punishments to Nishitetsu players:
- Ikenaga, Yoda, Masuda: Banned for life (Yoda and Masuda admitted to involvement; Ikenaga claimed to be uninvolved, but had not returned the 1 million yen he had received as an invitation to do so.)
- Murakami and Funada: Suspended until the end of the 1970 season
- Motoi: Severe warning
- June 3: Ogawa is banned from baseball for life.
- June 15: Yamazaki is banned from baseball for life.
- June 17: Tōkyō Yakult SwallowsTokyo Yakult Swallowsis a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League.The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, the Yakult Corporation. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper Sankei...
catcher Toshio Katō is arrested by police for driving without a license. He is benched by the team indefinitely, then is released at the end of the year, joining Toei in 1971. - June 18: Katsuragi is suspended by the commissioner committee for three months.
- July 1: Kintetsu outfielder Masahiro Doi is prosecuted for illegal gambling. He is later suspended by the league for a month.
- July 30: Moriyasu is banned from baseball for life. Tanaka receives a warning.
- September 8: Yakult infielder Takeshi Kuwata is arrested for his role in the auto-racing scandal. He would later receive a three-month suspension from the league, but his involvement effectively barred him from signing with another team and he retired at the end of the year.
- November 30: Hanshin pitcher Yutaka EnatsuYutaka Enatsuis a former Japanese pitcher regarded as one of best Japanese pitchers of all-time. In , he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record. He recorded 9 consecutive strikeouts in one of the All-Star games, and 15 consecutive strikeouts in three of the All-Star games between and 1971....
receives a stern warning from the Central LeagueCentral LeagueThe or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...
president due to "involvement with persons in baseball gambling". - January 11, 1971: Nankai HawksFukuoka SoftBank HawksThe are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were...
pitcher Kiyohiro Miura receives a stern warning for receiving an invitation to throw games from teammate Kimihiro Satō and not reporting it. - January 29: Taiyō coach Takashi Suzuki and pitcher Shōji Sakai are barred from playing in the premiere league for their invovement with the yakuza.
- February 15: Lotte OrionsChiba Lotte MarinesThe are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by the Lotte conglomerate.-History:...
pitcher Fumio Narita is suspended for a month for his involvement with bookmakers.
Players banned for life
- Masayuki Nagayasu
- Masaaki Ikenaga (reinstated in 2005)
- Yorinobu Yoda
- Akio Masada
- Kentarō Ogawa
- Toshiaki Moriyasu