A strong team for decades, the Hankyu Braves (1936-88) and Orix BlueWave (1989-present) have had a long list of strong players. Here are the best among them.

Tetsuya Yoneda: Pitching his first twenty years with Hankyu (1956-75) and his last two seasons with Hanshin and Kintetsu, Tetsuya Yoneda earned 350 career wins (second on the all-time list), 3,388 strikeouts (also second), and a 2.91 ERA.

A generally consistent pitcher for most of his career, Yoneda led the league once in each major category, with 231 strikeouts in 1962, 25 wins in '66, and a 2.47 ERA in '73.

Yutaka Fukumoto: Japan's top all-time base-stealer, Yutaka Fukumoto earned records for career steals (1,065), triples (115), doubles (449) and steals in a season (106).

Playing his entire career with the Braves (1969-88), Fukumoto took fifteen crowns for thefts while clubbing 208 home runs with 884 RBIs and a lifetime .291 batting average. Earning the 1972 Pacific League MVP, the left-handed outfielder stole 106 bases, hit fourteen home runs and batted .301.

Tokuji Nagaike: Hankyu's top run producer during the early 1970s, Tokuji Nagaike. Twice earning the league MVP (1969 and '71), Nagaike picked up three home run crowns ('69, '72, '73) and three RBI titles ('69, '73, '74). Playing his entire career with the Braves (1966-79), the right-handed outfielder clubbed 338 career home runs with 969 RBIs while compiling a .285 lifetime batting average.

Hideji Kato: When Tokuji Nagaike's bat began to cool off in the mid-1970s, Hideji Kato took over as the team's top hitter. Falling three home runs short of a triple crown in 1979, Kato batted in 104 runs while hitting .364. Earning his only league MVP in 1975, the left-handed batter led the league with 97 RBIs while clubbing 32 homers and batting .309.

Picking up two batting titles and three RBI crowns while playing for the Braves (1969-82), Kato belted 347 Career home runs with 1268 RBIs and a lifetime .297 average. After leaving Hankyu, the slugger spent his five final seasons with the Carp, Buffaloes, Giants and Hawks.

Hisashi Yamada: The Braves top pitcher of the 1970s, Hisashi Yamada earned the Pacific League MVP three straight years (1976-78). Playing his entire career with Hankyu, the right-handed hurler compiled a 284-166 lifetime record with 2,058 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA.

Gregory "Boomer" Wells: One of the best foreign players ever to appear in Japan, Boomer Wells slugged 277 home runs and batted .317 during his ten seasons in Japan (1983-92). One of only six players to win a triple crown in Japan, Wells earned the 1984 MVP by leading the Pacific League with 37 home runs, 130 RBIs and a .355 average.

Including his his triple crown 1984 season, Boomer led the PL in hits three times, RBIs three times, home runs once, and batting twice. Playing his first nine years with Hankyu and Orix, Wells played one final season with the Hawks before returning to Orix as a batting coach.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa: Though hardly one of the greatest players ever to pitch in the Japanese leagues, Shigetoshi Hasegawa left his mark with the BlueWave by earning the 1991 Pacific League Rookie of the Year award and compiling double-digit wins in four of his first five seasons. His greatest year was in 1995 when he compiled a 12-7 win-loss record with 91 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA in 171 innings. Today, Hasegawa is a Major League pitcher for the Anaheim Angels.

Troy Neel: After hitting 37 home runs with a .280 three-season average for the Oakland A's, first baseman and designated hitter Troy Neel joined the BlueWave in 1995. He showed enough power in his first year (27 home runs, 70 RBIs) that he was invited back for the next season despite only hitting .244.

In 1996, the right-handed slugger (bats left) led the league in home runs (32), RBIs (111) and slugging percentage (.553) while improving his average to .274 and placing second in the MVP voting. While slowing down a bit in 1997 (as did nearly everyone on the Orix line-up), Neel still produced good numbers: 25 home runs, 98 RBIs and a .265 average.

Unfortunately, he also led the Pacific League with 137 strikeouts in 1997. That may have been one of the main reasons Neel was released by the BlueWave after the end of the season.