While the Museum of Hanshin Koshien Stadium is dedicated to the stadium and Koshien tournaments, Hanshin Koshien Stadium is also the home for the Hanshin Tigers.
So, if you are fans of the Central League team, then you will most definitely want to visit the museum as it really does show true appreciation for the Tigers and their baseball legacy.
Not even the Hall of Fame does this for the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome, so the fact that the Hanshin Tigers has a place in the Koshien Stadium is very cool!
For those not familiar with the Hanshin Tigers, they are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Hldings Inc.
They are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, playing their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers before changing their team name in 1961.
While the stadium and the museum is located in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture in Kobe, because of the roots of the baseball team, they ar considered an Osaka team. While the Orix Buffaloes are considered the Kobe team.
The team won four titles before the establishment of the Central and Pacific League, but as a Central League team, the team has only won the Japan series once (1985).
It is believe the team is affected by the Curse of Colonel Sanders.
After the team won in 1985, fans who looked like team members jumped into Dotonbori Canal, but who would be the popular first baseman, American and Caucasian man, Randy Bass? Well, fans decided the Colonel Sanders statue in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Dotnbori would be OK. So, they tossed him over the river.
The curse is that the Tigers would be forever doomed and will never win a season ever again until the Colonel was rescued.
While the team made it to the Japan Series in 2003, to this very day, the Colonel Sanders statue is not fully complete as only parts of him were found and he is still missing his left hand and glasses.
The team did make it to the 2014 Japan Series but lost against the powerhouse Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in five games.
The Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants are like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, the ultimate Central League rivalry.
The Hanshin Tigers portion of the museum is no doubt the best I have seen for an NPB team. There really is nothing like it and I was impressed.
I’ve heard many times of how the Museum of Hanshin Koshien Stadium was the best and how awesome the Hanshin Tigers section was, but after seeing it with my very own eyes, I admit… it’s quite awesome!
