The Yomiuri Giants beat the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters four games to two in the Japan Series to become 2012 champions. After falling behind two games, they won two to tie, and Sapporo was ablaze with excitement. When manager Kuriyama said after the final game that he had not felt such regret in decades, many Fighters fans—not only in Hokkaido—surely felt the same.
The Fighters have called Sapporo Dome home since 2004, but Nippon Ham acquired the team in the 1973 off-season. There was one year as the Nittsu Home Flyers, but before that they were the Toei Flyers. Until the Tokyo Olympics (1964), Komazawa Stadium was their home base.
The Pacific League then was dominated by three powers: the Nankai Hawks (today's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks), the Nishitetsu Lions (today's Seibu Lions), and the Mainichi Daiei Orion (shared by The Mainichi Newspapers, a Palaceside Building tenant, and a film company—today's Chiba Lotte Marines). The Lions especially intimidated rivals with a fixed lineup: Takakura batting first, Toyota second, Nakanishi third, Ōshita fourth, Sekiguchi fifth, Kōno sixth, Ogi seventh, Hibino eighth. In the 1958 Japan Series they lost three straight to the Giants, then won four in a row for a miraculous comeback. Iron-arm Inao pitched six of seven games with four complete games—five straight from Game 3. In Game 5 he hit a walk-off homer himself and was called "God, Buddha, and Inao-sama."
The team even that mighty Lions dreaded mid-season was the lowly Flyers. Standouts included first baseman Stanley Hashimoto, outfielder Jack Ladra, and pitcher Bill Nishida, nicknamed the Nishitetsu Killer. All three were from Hawaii; Ladra is not Japanese-American but half Spanish and Filipino. His earnest, straightforward character kept him playing in Japan from 1958 through 1964—seven seasons. He had 561 hits lifetime for a .243 average—not stellar numbers, but his fielding, strong arm, and baserunning stood out. Back in Hawaii he is said to have become a firefighter and served his community.
Watching manager Kuriyama's disciplined managing and rapport with players, I sense something shared with Jack Ladra, who quietly hit and quietly fielded for the rough-and-tumble Toei Flyers. The forgotten star is now 79 and living comfortably in Hawaii.