What is Chiba Lotte Marines?

Chiba Lotte Marines
League	Pacific League
Location	Chiba
Ballpark	Chiba Marine Stadium
Year Founded	1950
Nickname(s)	Lotte (ロッテ), Marines (マリーンズ), Kamome (鴎, gull)
League championships	1950, 1960, 1970, 1974, 2005
Japan Series championships	1950, 1974, 2005
Former name(s)	Mainichi Orions (1950-1957), Mainichi Daiei Orions (1958-1963), Tokyo Orions (1964-1968), Lotte Orions (1969-1991)
Colors	Red and black
Manager	Bobby Valentine
Uniforms
Home	Away

The Chiba Lotte Marines (千葉ロッテマリーンズ, Chiba Rotte Marīnzu) are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League.

History

The Chiba Lotte Marines began their franchise in 1950, with the birth of the Pacific League. The Marines were then known as the Mainichi Orions and won the inaugural Japan Series in 1950. In 1958, they became the Daimai Orions, then the Tokyo Orions in 1964. In 1969, they became the Lotte Orions. Since 1992, they have been the Chiba Lotte Marines. They have not duplicated their initial success - they made the Japan Series in 1960 and 1970, only to lose both years. In '74, they beat the Chunichi Dragons; they were the first Pacific League team in 10 years to win the Series as the Yomiuri Giants had claimed the prior nine titles behind the Oh-Nagashima attack.

After that the team failed to go to the Japan Series again till 2005. They had started the '05 season in first, fell behind the Softbank Hawks as the year progressed but then beat Softbank 3 games to 2 in the Pacific League championship. In the final game, they trailed 2-1 entering the 8th but Hatsushiba singled and Fukuura singled. Saburo Omura popped up but Tomoya Satozaki doubled off of closer Takahiro Mahara, scoring both runs to take the lead for good.

After a 31-year absence, the team returned to the Japan Series, the first time as the Chiba Lotte Marines in 14 seasons with that name. In a one-sided series the Marines beat the more popular Hanshin Tigers in a four game sweep, becoming the 2005 Japan Series Champions and scoring ten runs in the first three games. In 2005 the same Chiba Lotte Marines team also succeeded in winning the Asia Series Championships, defeating South Korea's Samsung Lions in the finals.

The apparent ease with which the Marines defeated the Tigers has added fuel to the ongoing debate concerning the need for a playoff system in the Central League.

Players of note

Current players

• Benny Agbayani
• Kazuya Fukuura
• Toshiaki Imae
• Hiroyuki Kobayashi
• Masahide Kobayashi
• Yoshihisa Naruse
• Tsuyoshi Nishioka
• Tomoya Satozaki
• Naoyuki Shimizu
• Shunsuke Watanabe
• Matt Watson
• Julio Zuleta
• Wu Szu-Yu

Former players

• Kevin Beirne
• Mike Diaz
• Julio Franco
• Matt Franco
• Mel Hall
• Isao Harimoto
• Pete Incaviglia
• Hideki Irabu
• Leron Lee - uncle of Derrek Lee
• Lee Seung-Yeop
• Jim Lefebvre
• Darryl Motley
• Hiromitsu Ochiai (Present manager of Chunichi Dragons)
• Dan Serafini
• Jose Fernandez

Retired numbers

none

Honored number

• 26 - This number is considered the number of the fan, the 'twentysixth player' on the bench.

The team is currently managed by Bobby Valentine.

See also

• Lotte Group

External links

• (Japanese) Chiba Lotte Marines official web site

Nippon Professional Baseball
Central League			Pacific League
Yomiuri Giants	Chunichi Dragons	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	Chiba Lotte Marines
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Hanshin Tigers	Yokohama BayStars	Seibu Lions	Orix Buffaloes	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Japan Series - Japanese Baseball League (former) - Eastern League - Western League-