No More Buffaloes In Osaka

[Mulboyne]

Orix Buffaloes baseball team is planning to change its name. Formerly the Kintetsu Buffaloes, Orix retained the name when taking over the club from the local railway company because it had been associated with the team for nearly 50 years. There'll be a public appeal for suggestions and it seems the plan is to call the team the "Osaka (TBA)". The Buffaloes are also nicknamed the B's so there was some thought of going for something like the "Osaka Bees" but this idea seems to have been quietly dropped. Orix entered the baseball business in 1988 when they took over the Hankyu Braves. The team played as the Orix Braves in Kobe before becoming the Orix BlueWave in 1991 and fielding a squad which included Ichiro Suzuki. In 2004, Orix bought the Buffaloes and merged the two teams, splitting playing time between the Skymark Stadium in Kobe and the Kyocera Stadium in Osaka. Since 2008, Orix decided to become an Osaka team through and through which has prompted a rethink about the name. It seems that the "Osaka Orix" remains a possibility.

[FG Lurker]

It seems that the "Osaka Orix" remains a possibility.

I would say this is a 99% possibility, if not already a done deal...

[wuchan]

Baseball is just another example of the retarded amounts of power that J-corporations have. I wonder when they will adopt the no company logo on uniforms rule that MLB has..... TIJ, most likely never.

[bornbitter]

Doesn't matter what Orix changes their name to, the Tigers will always be the true Osaka team.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I agree with bornbitter. I think Orix also have a moral obligation to the people of Kobe, who were incredibly supportive of the team following the 1995 earthquake, and should have retained as great a presence as possible in the city.
They could be really clever (but they won't be, because TIJ) and call themselves the Orix Oryx, which is close enough to a buffalo, but still something new and original anyway.

[Mulboyne]

The usual 2ch crowd are suggesting "Osaka Koreans" as the name.

[Doctor Stop]

There'll be a public appeal for suggestions and it seems the plan is to call the team the "Osaka (TBA)". The Buffaloes are also nicknamed the B's so there was some thought of going for something like the "Osaka Bees" but this idea seems to have been quietly dropped.

How about the "Osaka Burakumin"?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Gotta go for something typically Japanese...How about the Osaka Plastic Squeaky Hammers?

[Osakadave]

Doesn't matter what Orix changes their name to, the Tigers will always be the true Osaka team.

Hell no! The Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Nankai Hawks were Osaka teams. The Tigers are more a KOBE team than either of the true Osaka teams. oo bad there ain't no real baseball in Osaka no more!

Signed a real Osaka boy who knows what's straight up

[FG Lurker]

Hell no! The Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Nankai Hawks were Osaka teams. The Tigers are more a KOBE team than either of the true Osaka teams.

You know that the original name of the Hanshin Tigers was the Osaka Tigers, and that they predate both the Buffaloes and the Hawks by several years...?