page_title: Hanshin Tigers
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hanshin Tigers / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Summer Koshien 2009 Final 日本語: 2009年夏の甲子園決勝
context_page_description: The Hanshin Tigers are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc.
  The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961.
context_section_description: The Hanshin Tigers, one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935 with the team being formed in 1936. The team was first called "the Ōsaka Tigers".  In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment, the Tigers changed the name to "Hanshin" and in 1947 changed the name back to "Ōsaka Tigers".  The current team name was assumed in 1961.
  The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two league system in 1950. Since the league was split into the Central League and the Pacific League, the Tigers have won the Central League pennant five times (1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, 2005) and the Japan Series once (1985).
  When the 2004 Major League Baseball season opened in Japan, the Tigers played an exhibition game against the New York Yankees at the Tokyo Dome on March 29.  The Tigers won 11–7.
  In each of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, more than three million people attended games hosted by the Tigers.  The Tigers were the only one of the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams to achieve this.
  On January 31, 2007, the Tigers presented uniforms for the 2007 season.  For the home uniforms, yellow, one of the colors of the team, was used again.
  The home field, Koshien Stadium, is used by high school baseball teams from all over Japan for play in the national championship tournaments in spring and summer. The summer tournament takes place in the middle of the Tigers' season, forcing the Tigers to go on an annual three-week road trip to allow the tournament to be played.
  Famous players in Hanshin Tigers history include Fumio Fujimura, Masaru Kageura, Minoru Murayama, Yutaka Enatsu, Masayuki Kakefu, Randy Bass and many others.
caption: Kōshien Stadium in 2009
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