Japanese Baseball League (1936–1949)
87-762: The Yomiuri Giants ( 読売ジャイアンツ , Yomiuri Jaiantsu , formally Yomiuri Kyojingun ( 読売巨人軍 ) ) are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball 's Central League . Based in Bunkyo , Tokyo , they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows . They have played their home games in the Tokyo Dome since its opening in 1988. The team's owner
174-593: A Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. Major League Baseball's New York Yankees acquired the name from journalists after the team moved from Baltimore in 1903, though they were officially known as the Highlanders until 1913. The regional Yankees–Red Sox rivalry can make the utterance of the term "Yankee" unwelcome to some fans in New England, especially to
261-564: A bloody battle, and the remaining Yankoo Indians transferred their name to the victors—who were "agreeable to the Indian custom". Sonneck notes that multiple American writers since 1775 had repeated this story as if it were fact, despite what he perceived to be holes in it. It had never been the tradition of any Indian tribe to transfer their name to other peoples, according to Sonneck, nor had any settlers ever adopted an Indian name to describe themselves. Sonneck concludes by pointing out that there
348-473: A crewman from North Carolina nicknamed him with that epithet. The term Yankee can have many different meanings within the United States that are contextually and geographically dependent. Traditionally, Yankee was most often used to refer to a New Englander descended from the settlers of the region, thus often suggesting Puritanism and thrifty values. By the mid-20th century, some speakers applied
435-437: A row from 1938 to 1943. Russian-born pitcher Victor Starffin , nicknamed "the blue-eyed Japanese", starred for the team until 1944. One of the league's premier pitchers, he won two MVP awards and a Best Nine award , and won at least 26 games in six different years, winning a league-record 42 games in 1939. He followed his record-setting performance with another 38 wins in 1940. Pitcher Eiji Sawamura co-starred with Starffin on
522-483: A strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior…. This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the Forty-Eighters . Yankees dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest, and were the strongest supporters of
609-553: A team of all-stars organized by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki that toured the United States and matched up against an American all-star team that included Babe Ruth , Jimmie Foxx , Lou Gehrig , and Charlie Gehringer . While prior Japanese all-star contingents had disbanded, Shōriki went pro with this group, playing in an independent league. In 1935, the team traveled to the United States and faced off against college and minor league teams, ultimately playing 109 games in 128 days (including 34 games on 17 days as doubleheaders ) across
696-545: Is Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings , Japan's largest media conglomerate which also owns two newspapers (including the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun ) and the Nippon Television Network (which includes flagship Nippon TV ). The Giants are the oldest professional sports team in Japan. They are also by far the most successful, having won 22 Japan Series titles and an additional nine in the era of NPB's forerunner,
783-629: Is disappearing even there. Mark Twain's 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court popularized the word as a nickname for residents of Connecticut, and Connecticut Air National Guard unit 103d Airlift Wing is nicknamed "The Flying Yankees." The shortened form Yank is used as a derogatory, pejorative, playful, or colloquial term for Americans in Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, and New Zealand. The full Yankee may be considered mildly derogatory, depending on
870-676: Is known today. This created the Sangyo Baseball Club, which is now known as today's Chunichi Dragons . Like the Giants-Tigers rivalry, the Giants have enjoyed long standing success at the expense of the Dragons, creating animosity amongst Dragons fans. This came to a head in the finale of the 1994 NPB season , where the Giants and Dragons were tied in the standings, each sitting at 69-60-0. The Giants would win that game and
957-705: Is often applied as an umbrella term for all leagues — major and minor — under the authority of the Commissioner of Baseball . Operating outside the Minor League Baseball organization are many independent minor leagues such as the Atlantic League , American Association , Frontier League , and the feeder league to these the Empire Professional Baseball League . Japan has had professional baseball since
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#17327762576991044-609: Is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in
1131-618: Is presumed to have no where else on the Globe a permanent local habitation, however ubiquitous he may be in his travels and pursuits. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas pointed out as late as 1966, "The very word 'Yankee' still wakens in Southern minds historical memories of defeat and humiliation, of the burning of Atlanta and Sherman's March to the Sea , or of an ancestral farmhouse burned by Quantrill's Raiders ". Ambrose Bierce defines
1218-746: Is sometimes more cultural than geographical, emphasizing the Calvinist Puritan Christian beliefs and traditions of the Congregationalists who brought their culture when they settled outside New England. The speech dialect of Eastern New England English is called "Yankee" or "Yankee dialect". Most linguists look to Dutch language sources, noting the extensive interaction between the Dutch colonists in New Netherland (parts of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) and
1305-413: Is sometimes used as a pejorative reference to Americans. In Finland, the word jenkki is sometimes used to refer to any American citizen, and Jenkkilä refers to the United States itself. It is not considered offensive or anti-American, but rather a colloquial expression. In Sweden, the word jänkare is a derivative of Yankee that is used to refer to both American citizens and classic American cars from
1392-527: The Central League most valuable player award nine times. Nagashima won the season MVP award five times, and the Best Nine Award every single year of his career (a total 17 times). Future Hall of Famer Tsuneo Horiuchi pitched for the team during its heyday, from 1966 to 1983. The renowned left-hander Masaichi Kaneda pitched for the team from 1965 to 1969, later having his number retired by
1479-641: The Central League , most notably rivalries with the Nishinomiya -based Hanshin Tigers , the Nagoya -based Chunichi Dragons and their cross-town rivals, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows . The Giants-Tigers rivalry is considered the most intense professional rivalry in the history of Japanese team sports. The Giants-Tigers feud began on July 15, 1936 in Nagoya, Aichi , Japan, at a time where Japanese clubs besides
1566-504: The China National Baseball League , Israel Baseball League , and Baseball Philippines . During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, players of black African descent were barred from playing the major leagues , though several did manage to play by claiming to be Cubans or Native Americans . As a result, a number of parallel Negro leagues were formed. However, after Jackie Robinson began playing with
1653-816: The Dodgers , lacked an official nickname at the time). As " Yankees " was immediately out of the question, due to it being an American name, O'Doul suggested the name "Giants", and the team adopted the Tokyo Giants moniker mid-tour. In 1936, with the formation of the Japanese Baseball League , the team changed its name to the Tokyo Kyojin , often called the Tokyo Giants in non-Japanese sources. It won eight league championships under that name from 1936 to 1943, including six championships in
1740-667: The Greater Tokyo Area . This bandwagon appeal has been compared with the marketability of the New York Yankees , Real Madrid , and Manchester United , except that support for the Giants nearly exceeds 50% of those polled, while in the United States and England, support is judged to be between 30% and 40% for the Yankees and Manchester United, respectively. Correspondingly, fans of other professional baseball teams in Japan are often openly derisive and contemptuous of
1827-628: The Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes . The team is often referred by fans and in news headlines and tables simply as Kyojin (巨人, the Japanese word for "giant(s)"), instead of the usual corporate owner's name or the English nickname. The Yomiuri Giants name and uniforms were based on the New York (now San Francisco) Giants . The team's colors (orange and black) are the same colors worn by
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#17327762576991914-672: The Japan Series championship in 1955, but they lost four consecutive Japan Series thereafter, with the first three losses coming against the Nishitetsu Lions , and then the Hawks finally got their revenge to close out the decade. World career home run record holder Sadaharu Oh starred for the Giants from 1959 to 1980, and fellow Hall of Famer Shigeo Nagashima played for the team from 1958 to 1974. The Giants lineup, consisting of Oh batting third and Nagashima batting fourth,
2001-457: The Japanese Baseball League . Their main rivalry is with the Hanshin Tigers , a team especially popular in the Kansai region. The Yomiuri Giants are regarded as "The New York Yankees of Japan" due to their widespread popularity, past dominance of the league, and polarizing effect on fans. (Baseball fans who are indifferent about teams other than their local team often have an intense dislike for
2088-690: The Southern United States , Yankee is a derisive term which refers to all Northerners, and during the American Civil War it was applied by Confederates to soldiers of the Union army in general. Elsewhere in the United States, it largely refers to people from the Northeastern states , but especially those with New England cultural ties, such as descendants of colonial New England settlers, wherever they live. Its sense
2175-550: The battles of Lexington and Concord . Today, "Yankee Doodle" is the official state song of Connecticut. An early use of the term outside the United States was in the creation of Sam Slick the "Yankee Clockmaker" in a newspaper column in Halifax , Nova Scotia , in 1835. The character was a plain-speaking American who becomes an example for Nova Scotians to follow in his industry and practicality; his uncouth manners and vanity were qualities that his creator detested. The character
2262-637: The 1930s. Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League , each with six teams. South Korea has had professional baseball since 1982. There are 10 teams in KBO League . Taiwan has had professional baseball since the 1990s. The Chinese Professional Baseball League absorbed Taiwan Major League in 2003. There are currently 6 teams in the CPBL. Other Asian leagues include three now defunct leagues,
2349-530: The 1950s that are popular in rural Sweden. In the late 19th century, the Japanese were called "the Yankees of the East" in praise of their industriousness and drive to modernization. In Japan, the term yankī ( ヤンキー ) has been used since the late 1970s to refer to a type of delinquent youth associated with motorcycle gangs and frequently sporting dyed blond hair. Around the American occupation of Korea and
2436-478: The 2005-06 NPB offseason, where games began being referred to by the media as the " TOKYOシリーズ ", or literally "Tokyo Series" in Japanese. In 2015 , the Swallows and Giants officially announced plans for an annual "Tokyo Series" event with each team hosting a series. At the same time, the Swallows began producing annual alternate uniforms for said rivalry games. Since Yakult added Tokyo to the Swallows name in 2006,
2523-748: The Central League pennant by a score of 6-3, in what would be known as the 10.8 Showdown , and eventually would win the 1994 Japan Series over the Seibu Lions. Since Nagoya Kinko merged into the Nagoya Baseball Club in 1943, the Giants lead the Dragons in Japan Series championships, 22-2, Central League pennants, 39-9, and head-to-head, 1061-871-61. The Giants and Dragons have met in the Climax Series 5 times, in which
2610-460: The Dutch pronunciation of J being the same as the English Y . Quinion and Hanks posit that it was "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times" and could have grown to include non-Dutch colonists, as well. The Oxford English Dictionary calls this theory "perhaps the most plausible". Alternatively, the Dutch given names Jan ( Dutch: [jɑn] ) and Kees ( Dutch: [keːs] ) have long been common, and
2697-595: The English colonists in New England ( Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Connecticut ). The exact application, however, is uncertain; some scholars suggest that it was a term used in derision of the Dutch colonists, others that it was derisive of the English colonists. Michael Quinion and Patrick Hanks argue that the term comes from the Dutch Janneke , a diminutive form of the given name Jan which would be Anglicized by New Englanders as "Yankee" due to
Yomiuri Giants - Misplaced Pages Continue
2784-716: The Federal Government was controlled by bigoted Yankees and Irish who banded together against the Italian immigrant. The one anomaly of this era was the election of Yankee Republican Leverett Saltonstall as governor in 1938, and even then Saltonstall jokingly attributed his high vote totals in Irish districts to his 'South Boston face'. In the Southern United States, the term is used in derisive reference to any Northerner, especially one who has migrated to
2871-598: The French l'anglais , meaning "the Englishman" or "the English language", which was sounded as Y'an-gee . American musicologist Oscar Sonneck debunked a romanticized false etymology in his 1909 work Report on "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Hail Columbia", "America", "Yankee Doodle" . He cited a popular theory that claimed the word came from a tribe who called themselves Yankoos , said to mean "invincible". The story claimed that New Englanders had defeated this tribe after
2958-588: The Giants and the Shinjuku -based Tokyo Yakult Swallows has been around since the Swallows were founded by the former Japanese National Railways (known as Kokutetsu (国鉄) in Japanese)) as the Kokutetsu Swallows on January 12, 1950. However, the rivalry never truly began in earnest until Yakult , who bought the team from national newspaper Sankei Shimbun in 1970, added "Tokyo" to the team's name in
3045-419: The Giants for ten seasons in the 1990s and early 2000s before migrating to Major League Baseball . He was a three-time NPB MVP , leading his team to four Japan Series , winning three titles (1994, 2000 and 2002), and earning the popular nickname " Godzilla ". He also made nine consecutive All-Star Games and led the league in home runs and RBIs three times. The Giants have several rivalries with clubs in
3132-523: The Giants from 1948 to 1952, winning the home run championship twice, and hitting a home run in the 1951 Japan Series , when the Giants defeated the Nankai Hawks 4 games to 2 for their first NPB championship. The Giants would also win Japan Series championships in 1952 , 1953 , and 1955 , all over the Nankai Hawks. The team was the Central League champion every year from 1955 to 1959, winning
3219-400: The Giants lead the head-to-head regular season series 260–184–19. Overall, since the Swallows were founded in 1950, the Giants lead the head-to-head regular season series 1094–758–61. The Swallows and Giants have met in the Climax Series 4 times, in which Yakult lead the head-to-head matchups 9–4–1 (including Yakult's 1 advantage win in the 2015 and 2021 Central League Climax Series ), winning
3306-404: The Giants rely on underhanded tactics to recruit the best players, involving bribes to players and amateur coaches, or using their influence on the governing council of Japanese professional baseball to pass rules that favors their recruiting efforts. This may be one explanation for the Giants' abundance of success in league play. In August 2004, Yomiuri president Tsuneo Watanabe resigned after it
3393-403: The Giants' bandwagon marketing tactics, and an "anti-Giants" movement exists in protest of the Giants' near-hegenomy. In addition, despite the Giants having employed many foreign players over the years, many Japanese point proudly to the "pure-blooded period" of 1958–1974 when the team enjoyed continued success — 13 pennants — despite having no foreign players. It has also long been alleged that
3480-516: The Giants. Shigeo Nagashima was appointed manager of the Giants almost immediately after his retirement in 1974, staying in that position until 1980. After a couple of down years the Giants re-assumed their dominant position in the Central League, winning league championships in 1976 and 1977. Sadaharu Oh rejoined the team as manager from 1984 to 1988. Nagashima returned as Giants manager from 1993 to 2001, winning Japan Series championships in 1994, 1996, and 2000. Outfielder Hideki Matsui starred for
3567-434: The Giants; on the other hand, the Giants have a large fan base even in cities that have a team of their own.) The English-language press occasionally calls the team the Tokyo Giants , but that name has not been in use in Japan for decades. ( Lefty O'Doul , a former Major League Baseball player, named the team "Tokyo Giants" in the mid-1930s.) Instead, the team is officially known by the name of its corporate owner, just like
Yomiuri Giants - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-587: The Kyojin. He pitched the first no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball, on September 25, 1936, as well as two others. In 1937, he went 33–10 with a 1.38 earned run average . From 1937 to 1943 Sawamura had a record of 63–22, 554 strikeouts, and a 1.74 ERA. Sawamura was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army in 1938, 1941, and 1943; he returned to play for the Giants between deployments, though injuries and time away hindered his form and velocity. He
3741-487: The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, oversees nearly all minor league baseball in the United States and Canada. The minor leagues are divided into classes AAA, AA, High-A, A, and Rookie. These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers. "Affiliated baseball" (archaically, " organized baseball ")
3828-736: The National League's Giants (both then as now in both New York and San Francisco). The stylized lettering on the team's jerseys and caps is similar to the fancy lettering used by the Giants when they played in New York in the 1930s, although during the 1970s the Yomiuri Giants modernized their lettering to follow the style worn by the San Francisco Giants. The team began in 1934 as The Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club ( 大日本東京野球倶楽部 , Dai-Nippon Tōkyō Yakyū Kurabu ) ,
3915-708: The South and maintains derisive attitudes towards Southerners and the Southern way of life. Alabama lawyer and author Daniel Robinson Hundley describes the Yankee as such in Social Relations in Our Southern States : Yankee with all these is looked upon usually as a term of reproach—signifying a shrewd, sharp, chaffering, oily-tongued, soft-sawdering, inquisitive, money-making, money-saving, and money-worshipping individual, who hails from Down East, and who
4002-452: The Tigers did not have set home ballparks, and would bounce around wherever they could play. This game would set the tone for the history-setting rivalry, as the first home run in Giants professional club history would come on that day at the hands of Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame member Haruyasu Nakajima off Tigers' ace Tadashi Wakabayashi , but the Tigers would win the game 8-7. On September 25, 1936, young Giants ace Eiji Sawamura threw
4089-668: The Tigers in each of the four seasons; however, the Giants would lose all 4 of their Japan Series appearances during that time, three times to the Nishitetsu Lions (now the Saitama Seibu Lions ) from 1956 to 1958 , and once to the Nankai Hawks (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks ) in 1959. Most notably during this time, the only ever baseball Tenran-jiai , or "Match viewed by the Emperor" happened on June 25th, 1959, where Emperor Hirohito decided to watch
4176-775: The United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders , the Northeastern United States , the Northern United States , or to people from the US in general. Outside the United States, Yank is used informally to refer to a person or thing from the US. It has been especially popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand where it may be used variously, either with an uncomplimentary overtone, endearingly, or cordially. In
4263-419: The Yomiuri company's vast influence in Japan as a major media conglomerate, the Giants have long been branded as "Japan's Team". In fact, for some years the Giants' uniforms had "Tokyo" on the jersey instead of "Yomiuri" or "Giants", seeming to imply that the Giants represent the vast metropolis and geopolitical center of Japan, even though the Yakult Swallows are also based in Tokyo and three other teams play in
4350-473: The country. The Spanish variation yanqui is used in Latin American Spanish, often derogatorily. Venezuelan Spanish has the word pitiyanqui derived around 1940 from petit yankee or petit yanqui , a derogatory term for those who profess an exaggerated and often ridiculous admiration for anything from the United States. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, the term seppo , shortened from traditional rhyming slang yank ==> septic tank ,
4437-440: The country. The tour ended with a record of 75 wins, 33 losses, and 1 draw. When they faced off against the San Francisco Seals , the manager of the Seals, Lefty O'Doul, stated the team needed a promotional name . He suggested that since Tokyo was the New York of Japan , they should emulate one of the two named MLB teams in New York; either the Yankees or the Giants (New York's third team, which would eventually be called
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#17327762576994524-421: The earliest recorded use of the word "Yankee" in 1758 when he referred to the New England soldiers under his command. "I can afford you two companies of Yankees, and the more, because they are better for ranging and scouting than either work or vigilance". Later British use of the word was in a derogatory manner, as seen in a cartoon published in 1775 ridiculing "Yankee" soldiers. New Englanders themselves employed
4611-416: The end of the 2024 season, the Giants have the edge in Japan Series championships, 22–2, Central League pennants, 39–6, overall championships, 31–6, and the Giants lead the Tigers head to head, 1127–888–77. The Giants and Tigers have met in the Climax Series 5 times, in which the Giants lead the overall head-to-head matchup 11-6-0, winning the series 4 times to the Tigers' 1. The geographic rivalry between
4698-416: The first no-hitter in Japanese professional baseball history against the Tigers at Hanshin Koshien Stadium . He would be the only Giants pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Koshien until Shosei Togo did it on May 24, 2024. The Giants-Tigers rivalry has seen mostly the Giants enjoy long standing periods of success at the expense of the Tigers. From 1956 to 1959 , the Giants won the Central League pennant over
4785-628: The former prevail wherever the latter are found. Although the genuine Yankee belongs to New England, the term "Yankee" is now as appropriate to the natives of the Union at large. Yankees settled other states in various ways: some joined highly organized colonization companies, others purchased groups of land together; some joined volunteer land settlement groups, and self-reliant individual families also migrated. Yankees typically lived in villages consisting of clusters of separate farms. Often they were merchants, bankers, teachers, or professionals. Village life fostered local democracy, best exemplified by
4872-460: The game between the Tigers and Giants; Giants legend Shigeo Nagashima would walk off future Tigers legend Minoru Murayama in the bottom of the 9th as the Giants won 5-4. During the Giants' V9 dynasty, where the Giants would win a record setting 9 consecutive Japan Series championships from 1965 to 1973 , the Tigers would finish 2nd in the Central League 5 of the 9 seasons, including 3 consecutive second place finishes from 1968 to 1970 . As of
4959-436: The history of the Japanese Professional Baseball League , which is now known as Nippon Professional Baseball. The Shachihoko, later known as Nagoya Kinko, would be absorbed into the Nagoya Baseball Club in 1943 as their parent company, the Nagoya Shimbun, was forced to merge into rival newspaper company Shin-Aichi Shimbun under the Japanese newspaper control ordinance , creating Chubu-Nippon Shimbun, or Chunichi Shimbun as it
5046-404: The late 1860s to educate the Freedmen . Historian John Buenker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Midwest: Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic,
5133-501: The late colonial period, many became Presbyterians , Episcopalians , Methodists , or, later, Unitarians . Strait-laced 17th-century moralism as derided by novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne faded in the 18th century. The First Great Awakening under Jonathan Edwards and others in the mid-18th century, and the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century under Charles Grandison Finney and others emphasized personal piety, revivals, and devotion to civic duty. A pervasive influence on
5220-609: The major-league Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded. The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at a black player's head. Now, however, baseball is fully integrated, and there is little to no racial tension between teammates. Between 1943 and 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in several Midwestern towns. Yankee The term Yankee and its contracted form Yank have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from
5307-424: The modern Yankee stereotype. Coolidge moved from rural Vermont to urban Massachusetts and was educated at elite Amherst College . Yet his flint-faced, unprepossessing ways and terse rural speech proved politically attractive. "That Yankee twang will be worth a hundred thousand votes", explained one Republican leader. Coolidge's laconic ways and dry humor were characteristic of stereotypical rural "Yankee humor" at
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#17327762576995394-426: The most dedicated Red Sox fans living in the northeastern United States. The term Swamp Yankee is sometimes used in rural Rhode Island, Connecticut, and southeastern Massachusetts to refer to Protestant farmers of moderate means and their descendants, although it is often regarded as a derogatory term. Scholars note that the famous Yankee "twang" survives mainly in the hill towns of interior New England, though it
5481-430: The most hits in a season. He was the first player in Japanese pro baseball to achieve 2,000 hits and was named the league's MVP three times. Leadoff man Shosei Go starred for the team from 1937 to 1943, winning league MVP in 1943. Only 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) and 140 lb (64 kg), he was nicknamed "The Human Locomotive" due to his speed. Pitcher Hideo Fujimoto (also known as Hideo Nakagami) pitched for
5568-519: The new Republican party in the 1860s. This was especially true for the Congregationalists , Presbyterians , and Methodists among them. A study of 65 predominantly Yankee counties showed that they voted only 40 percent for the Whigs in 1848 and 1852, but became 61–65 percent Republican in presidential elections of 1856 through 1864. Ivy League universities remained bastions of old Yankee culture until well after World War II , particularly Harvard and Yale . President Calvin Coolidge exemplified
5655-402: The northeast, while wealthy New Englanders also sent ambassadors to frontier communities where they became influential bankers and newspaper printers. They introduced the term "Universal Yankee Nation" to proselytize their hopes for national and global influence. New England Yankees originally followed the Puritan tradition, as expressed in Congregational and Baptist churches. Beginning in
5742-407: The open town meeting form of government that still exists today in New England. Village life also stimulated mutual oversight of moral behavior and emphasized civic virtue. The Yankees built international trade routes stretching to China by 1800 from the New England seaports of Boston , Salem , Providence , Newport , and New London , among others. Much of the profit from trading was reinvested in
5829-510: The other until the World Series , in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of interleague play . The Philadelphia Phillies , founded in 1883, are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports. In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization officially styled Minor League Baseball , formerly
5916-639: The overall head-to-head is tied, 12-12-1, including 1 game advantage wins in the 2008 , 2009 , 2010 , and 2012 Central League Climax Series . The Giants also have won the head to head series in the Climax Series 3 times to Chunichi's 2. Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Manager Coaches Catchers Outfielders Manager Coaches Sourse:Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) Sourse:Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) Sourse:Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, % = Win Percentage Due to
6003-439: The sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest, and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stock ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin and corruption, they felt
6090-406: The series 3 times to the Giants' 1 series win. The Giants-Dragons rivalry is said to be the oldest professional rivalry in the history of professional Japanese team sports. The Giants and one of the teams that would eventually form the Dragons, then known as the Nagoya Shachihoko , first met on February 5, 1936 at Narumi Baseball Stadium in the suburbs of Nagoya, marking the first ever game in
6177-400: The team became the Yomiuri Giants, winning the final JBL championship in 1949 (again under player-manager Haruyasu Nakajima ). From 1938 to 1987 the Giants played at Korakuen Stadium , moving to their current home the Tokyo Dome in 1988. In 1950, the Giants were one of the founding members of Nippon Professional Baseball , joining the Central League . Slugger Noboru Aota starred for
6264-408: The team for 12 seasons from 1942 to 1955. He holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA (1.90) and seasonal ERA (0.73 in 1943), as well as best all-time winning percentage (.697). He threw two career no-hitters , including the first perfect game in Japanese professional baseball. In addition, he served as the Giants' player-manager in 1944 (there was no 1945 season) and part of 1946. In 1947
6351-617: The term in The Devil's Dictionary as: "In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMNYANK.)" E. B. White humorously draws his own distinctions: To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders,
6438-423: The textile and machine tools industries. After 1800, Yankees spearheaded most American reform movements, including those for the abolition of slavery, temperance in use of alcohol, increase in women's political rights, and improvement in women's education. Emma Willard and Mary Lyon pioneered in the higher education of women, while Yankees comprised most of the reformers who went South during Reconstruction in
6525-421: The turn of the 20th century. Yankee ingenuity was a worldwide stereotype of inventiveness, technical solutions to practical problems, "know-how," self-reliance, and individual enterprise. The stereotype first appeared in the 19th century. As Mitchell Wilson notes, "Yankee ingenuity and Yankee git-up-and-go did not exist in colonial days." The great majority of Yankees gravitated toward the burgeoning cities of
6612-756: The two are sometimes combined into a single name (Jan Kees). Its Anglicized spelling Yankee could, in this way, have been used to mock Dutch colonists. The chosen name Jan Kees may have been partly inspired by a dialectal rendition of Jan Kaas ("John Cheese"), the generic nickname that Southern Dutch used for Dutch people living in the North. The Online Etymology Dictionary gives its origin as around 1683, attributing it to English colonists insultingly referring to Dutch colonists. English privateer William Dampier relates his dealings in 1681 with Dutch privateer Captain Yanky or Yanke. Linguist Jan de Vries notes that there
6699-549: The use of the term throughout the years has been the song "Yankee Doodle" which was popular during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The song originated among the British troops during the French and Indian or Seven Years' War, creating a stereotype of the Yankee simpleton who stuck a feather in his cap and thought that he was stylish, but it was rapidly re-appropriated by American patriots after
6786-588: The word Yankee , but modern linguists generally reject theories that suggest it originated in any Indigenous languages. This includes a theory put forth by a British officer in 1789, who said that it was derived from the Cherokee word eankke meaning "coward"—despite the fact that no such word existed in the Cherokee language. Another theory surmised that the word was borrowed from the Wyandot pronunciation of
6873-473: The word in a neutral sense; the " Pennamite–Yankee War ", for example, was a series of clashes in 1769 over land titles in Pennsylvania between settlers from Connecticut Colony and "Pennamite" settlers from Pennsylvania . The meaning of Yankee has varied over time. In the 18th century, it referred to residents of New England descended from the original English settlers of the region. Mark Twain used
6960-757: The word in this sense the following century in his 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court . As early as the 1770s, British people applied the term to any person from the United States. In the 19th century, Americans in the southern United States employed the word in reference to Americans from the northern United States, though not to recent immigrants from Europe. Thus, a visitor to Richmond, Virginia , commented in 1818, "The enterprising people are mostly strangers; Scots, Irish, and especially New England men, or Yankees, as they are called". Historically, it has also been used to distinguish American-born Protestants from later immigrants, such as Catholics of Irish descent. Many etymologies have been suggested for
7047-518: The word to any American inhabiting the area north of the Mason–Dixon Line , though usually with a specific focus still on New England. New England Yankee might be used to differentiate. However, within New England itself, the term still refers more specifically to old-stock New Englanders of English descent. For example: Certainly the Irish have for years complained of Yankee discrimination against them. There were no civil rights groups then. Even
7134-474: Was developed by Thomas Chandler Haliburton , and it grew between 1836 and 1844 in a series of publications. The damned Yankee usage dates from 1812. Confederates popularized it as a derogatory term for their Northern enemies during and after the American Civil War (1861–1865). Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun had been a pilot in World War II, and he named his B-17F bomber Damn Yankee because
7221-459: Was mention of a pirate named Dutch Yanky in the 17th century. The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves (1760) contains the passage, "Haul forward thy chair again, take thy berth, and proceed with thy story in a direct course, without yawing like a Dutch yanky." According to this theory, Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam started using the term against the English colonists of neighboring Connecticut. British General James Wolfe made
7308-663: Was never a tribe called the Yankoos . The original Yankees diffused widely across the northern United States, leaving their imprints in New York, the Upper Midwest , many taking advantage of water routes by the Great Lakes , and places as far away as Seattle , San Francisco , and Honolulu . Yankeeism is the general character of the Union. Yankee manners are as migratory as Yankee men. The latter are found everywhere and
7395-463: Was nicknamed the ON Hou , ("Oh-Nagashima Cannon") as the two players emerged as the best hitters in the league. Now the team's manager, Tetsuharu Kawakami led the Giants to nine consecutive Japan Series championships from 1965 to 1973, and Oh and Nagashima dominated the batting titles during this period. During his career, Oh was a five-time batting champion and fifteen-time home-run champion, and won
7482-517: Was released by the team in 1943, then killed in battle when his ship was torpedoed near the end of the Second World War . Outfielder Haruyasu Nakajima was a featured hitter during the franchise's first decade-and-a-half, and as player-manager led the Kyojin to a championship in 1941. Tetsuharu Kawakami was a team fixture from 1938 to 1958, winning the batting title five times, two home run crowns, three RBI titles, and had six titles for
7569-504: Was revealed that the club had violated scouting rules by paying ¥2 million to pitching prospect Yasuhiro Ichiba. Ten months later, Watanabe was hired as chairman of the Yomiuri corporation. In 2012, Asahi Shimbun discovered that the Giants had violated NPB rules by secretly paying pitcher Takahiko Nomaguchi while he was still an amateur playing in Japan's corporate league. Professional baseball Professional baseball
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