Description: The Carp were founded in 1949, four years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The team struggled to find success in their early years and faced serious financial issues, but narrowly escaped merger and contraction plans through the fundraising of Hiroshima citizens and fans. The team found stability over the next two decades, eventually rising to their first Central League pennant in 1975, and winning the 1979 Japan Series. In appreciation of their emergence alongside the reconstruction of Hiroshima, the Carp are regarded "as a symbol of Hiroshima's recovery".
Description: The Carp were founded in 1949, four years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The team struggled to find success in their early years and faced serious financial issues, but narrowly escaped merger and contraction plans through the fundraising of Hiroshima citizens and fans. The team found stability over the next two decades, eventually rising to their first Central League pennant in 1975, and winning the 1979 Japan Series. In appreciation of their emergence alongside the reconstruction of Hiroshima, the Carp are regarded "as a symbol of Hiroshima's recovery".
Description: Prior to the 2002 season, the idea of moving the Fighters to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaidō and Japan's fifth largest city, emerged. The Seibu Lions also had preliminary plans to move to the northern metropolis. Tokyo's Fighters fans voiced their opposition to the proposed relocation (though the franchise never drew as many fans as their co-habitual counterparts, the Giants, while playing in the capital), but it was eventually announced that the team would indeed call the Sapporo Dome its new home beginning in 2004. Aiming to build a grassroots relationship with its future fans, the team decided to change its name to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Description: Prior to the 2002 season, the idea of moving the Fighters to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaidō and Japan's fifth largest city, emerged. The Seibu Lions also had preliminary plans to move to the northern metropolis. Tokyo's Fighters fans voiced their opposition to the proposed relocation (though the franchise never drew as many fans as their co-habitual counterparts, the Giants, while playing in the capital), but it was eventually announced that the team would indeed call the Sapporo Dome its new home beginning in 2004. Aiming to build a grassroots relationship with its future fans, the team decided to change its name to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
