When it comes to city love for its baseball team, when it comes to city support, I don’t think I’ve seen so much love for a baseball team than the Hiroshima Carp.
This is fascinating to me because I’m a Yomiuri Giants fan and I know how strong the fan base is for the Giants, Osaka’s Hanshin Tigers and DeNA Yokohama Baystars.
The fandom for these teams are evident near the stadium but outside the stadium, you don’t see a team being promoted heavily in stores than what I’ve seen in Hiroshima.
Go to a 7-Eleven, there are Hiroshima Carp goods everywhere, go to a Tokyo-based 7-Evelen, you’re not going to see Yomiuri Giants or Yakult Swallows gear at stores. Sports shop, possibly, but at best, that’s the best I have seen. For DeNA Yokohama Baystars, the stations heavily promote the team but that’s about it. Granted, near the stadium, then you will see more of a love towards a team.
But Hiroshima Carp? The people of Hiroshima are dedicated to their team. But why is that?
I learned while in Hiroshima to visiting the Hiroshima Peace Museum and one of the books that I purchased that after the atomic bomb dropped, Hiroshima was devastated but the people were quick to get back their homes, prioritizing electricity, water, hospitals and whichever they can to help the people who were trying to survive and many united for reconstruction.
And because Hiroshima loved baseball, the people were instrumental in voting for the name, founding the Hiroshima Baseball Club and wanting to have a professional baseball team in their hometown.
Like the reconstruction of the city, there were challenges in building a team. But building a team comes at a cost and reconstruction efforts for the city, not having star players and their passion of wanting and having a professional baseball team in Hiroshima, Hiroshima locals founded the Hiroshima Carp Support Group getting donations. The players also asked for donations and they raised the money.
While my friends at JapanBall have a great history of Hiroshima creating their own baseball team, the city is no doubt in love with their baseball team because after World War II, they have always worked hard to make sure their team, their stadium were taken care of.
In 2015, Hiroshima Toyo Carp offered fans in Tokyo to come to Hiroshima for 5,000 Japanese yen + a single shinkansen trip to Hiroshima, get a special t-shirt, game ticket and 14,000 people applied for the 1,300 tickets offered.
Hiroshima Carp fans come out in droves to opponents baseball parks. It’s amazing to see so many Hiroshima Carp fans at games but its goes to show how much the city loves their team.
I respect that.
