The oldest of the six current Pacific League franchises, the Orix BlueWave have gone through a number of incarnations since their founding in 1936. Owned by Hankyu railways for their first fifty-two years, the Osaka-based ball team was simply known as "Hankyu" until 1947.

In those early years, Hankyu was a pretty strong ball club, usually ranking third behind the Tokyo Kyojin (Giants) and Hanshin. In 1936, a year that was more-or-less an exhibition season, Hankyu compiled a 28-19 record with their hot batting, a team .247 average. After posting a few winning records, the team peaked at second place (53-31) in 1941. With most of the best Japanese players being drafted into the army and navy, Hankyu played erratically for the remainder of the war years, dropping to seventh place (31-51) in 1943 when their offense went belly-up.

After the war, professional baseball started up again in the spring of 1946 with eight teams, including two expansion franchises, and Hankyu played around .500 for the rest of the decade. In 1947, the team decided to add a nickname to their title. After a few months as the "Bears," the ball club finally settled on calling themselves the Hankyu Braves.

In 1950, the Braves joined the Pacific League along with several other Kansai (Osaka-area) teams. But since the expansion clubs were pretty strong that first year, Hankyu had to settle for fourth place with a 54-64 record. Though playing erratically those first few years with a generally unimpressive pitching staff, the team gradually grew stronger, posting four straight winning seasons (1955-58), before taking a nose-dive in 1959. Compiling their worst record in franchise history, Hankyu went 48-82, finishing in fifth place, 40 games behind the first-place Nankai Hawks.

With a terribly weak offense, the Braves dropped to the cellar four years later, the only time the franchise has ever finished a season in last place. Fortunately, however, Hankyu retained the manager who sat at the helm during that disastrous season. Hired before the 1963 season, Yukio Nishimoto went on to manage for the Braves for eleven seasons. Although leading Hankyu to second place in 1964, the team fell below .500 the next two seasons as their offense stumbled.

But in 1967, things started to go right for Nishimoto and his team. First baseman Daryl Spencer, who had led the team's offense the last three years, batted 30 home runs while center fielder Tokuji Nagaike compiled 78 RBIs. Meanwhile right fielder Gordy Windhorn batted .285 and clubbed 25 homers, helping Braves compile a team .251 average with a league-leading 143 home runs.

From the mound, Hankyu's pitching staff compiled a team 2.79 ERA while top starter Tetsuya Yoneda went 18-15 in 280 2/3 innings while posting a 2.75 ERA. Winning their first Pacific League pennant with a 75-55 record, the Braves fell to the Giants in the '67 Japan Series, four games to two.

Improving the following year to 80-50, Hankyu earned their second-straight pennant. Though Nagaike earned the home run (41) and RBI (101) crowns, he couldn't provide enough offense in the Japan Series. Again, the Giants prevailed in six games. A virtual repeat of the previous two seasons, Hankyu earned the 1969 PL flag (76-50) but handed the Japan Series to the Giants, losing 9-2 in the sixth and deciding game.

Limping to a 64-64 fourth-place finish in 1970, the Braves returned to the Japan Series the next two years, losing both series to the Giants in five games. Though Hankyu earned the best PL record (77-48), they were denied the pennant.

In an attempt to improve interest in the in Japan's junior circuit, Pacific League officials designed a split season in 1973, in which the first-half winner would face the second-half title holder in a playoff that would decide the pennant. That year, the Braves lost the first championship series, giving the PL flag to the Nankai Hawks. The split season schedule continued until 1982.

Ready for a change, Nishimoto departed after the 1973 season to become Kintetsu's skipper while Toshiharu Ueda was hired to manage Hankyu.

By 1975, the Braves had waited long enough. Though only posting a "second place" 64-59 record, Hankyu had benefited from first baseman and RBI king Hideji Kato's clutch-hitting and center fielder Yutaka Fukumoto's base-stealing. Clinching a first-half playoff berth, Hankyu quickly eliminated Kintetsu who had gone 40-20 in the final stretch.

Facing the Hiroshima Carp, who had gone from sixth to first place in one year, Hankyu won played two games to a draw and won the other four to earn their first of three-straight Japan Series championships. In the following two years, the Braves settled their score against the Giants, winning the first series in seven games and the second in five.

Though Hankyu earned their ninth PL flag in 1979, they faced a near equal opponent in that year's Japan Series, the Yakult Swallows. Both teams had a strong powerful offense, but the Braves seemed to have the edge as far as pitching.

Entering the seventh and deciding game on a sunny October 22 afternoon at Korakuen. When Yakult first baseman Katsuo Osugi stepped up the the plate in the bottom of the sixth with one out, the bases empty and the Swallows leading 1-0, he faced Hankyu ace Mitsuhiro Adachi who had won game three while only surrendering three hits, no walks and no runs.

But Osugi hooked the first good pitch just inside the left field foul pole. Or so it seemed. Hankyu manager Ueda quickly ran out to the umpire lingering in left field an began arguing the call, claiming the ball landed in foul territory. Unable to sway the arbiter, Ueda pulled his team off the field for an hour. It didn't matter though.

The next batter up, Yakult's Charlie Manuel slugged a solo homer and Osugi added another blast over the left-center field wall in the eighth inning while the Braves failed to score a single run. After four hours and seven minutes, the Swallows had their first Japan Series championship and the Braves headed home, convinced they had been wronged.

Though the Braves compiled a first place 75-44 record in 1980, they lost the playoff to second-half champion Kintetsu. After a two year absence, Ueda returned to the helm in 1982 and led the team to nine winning seasons in the next ten years. But he got some big help along the way.

One of the best foreign players ever to appear in Japan, Gregory "Boomer" Wells joined the Braves in 1983 and batted .304 with seventeen home runs. Shortening his swing the following season to accommodate the off-speed nature of Japanese pitching, Boomer became the first foreign player to earn a triple crown in Japan (.355, 37 home runs, 130 RBIs), helping the Braves win their first pennant in six years. Though both teams scored 28 runs throughout the seven game tournament, Hiroshima eventually finished off the Hankyu to earn the 1984 Japan Series championship.

While the Braves played well for the rest of the decade, they could never break through the Seibu glass ceiling since the Lions earned eleven pennants from 1982-94. During that span, the Braves placed second five times. Although their hitting often surpassed Seibu, Hankyu suffered from a lack of pitching.

Following the 1988 season, Hankyu sold the Braves to the Oriental Leasing company (Orix). When the team moved from Nishinomiya to Green Stadium in 1991, they changed their name to the Orix BlueWave, a nod to Kobe's maritime heritage. With its "Major League" dimensions, Green Stadium also cut down on the number of home runs the team hit, a drop of nearly sixty their first year in their new home. The move also brought a new manager to Orix, Shozo Doi.

Though Doi proved a fairly capable manager, he will likely be remembered for his inflexible foolishness regarding one of the team's young prospects. In 1992, a young player named Ichiro Suzuki joined the BlueWave. Though the young man was a natural hitter, Doi didn't like his attitude.

Ichiro, who prefers to be called by his given name, basically knew how to hit and didn't feel Doi had anything worthwhile to teach him. In a typical show of pettiness, the skipper kept Ichiro on the Orix farm team until the BlueWave decided to hire a new manager.

Joining Orix in 1994, former Kintetsu manager Akira Ogi brought a dramatic change to the BlueWave. An easygoing and open-minded man, one of Ogi's first actions was to bring Ichiro up to the varsity squad, give him a starting job, and leave him alone. The 20-year old outfielder showed his gratitude by tallying a record 210 hits while batting .385 with 41 doubles. Ichiro became an overnight hit, and followed up his breakthrough season by hitting over .340 the next three seasons.

The BlueWave skipper also prefers to juggle his line-up around, a strategy dubbed "Ogi Magic" after he led the team to a pennant in 1995. It has had mixed results, with some players complaining that the constant changes make it difficult for batters to figure out their role.

Still it seemed to work in 1995, as the BlueWave compiled a first-place 82-47 record. While Troy Neel delivered 27 home runs and Ichiro batted .342, belted 25 homers and led the league with 80 RBIs and 49 steals. Meanwhile Noboyuki Hoshino and Shigetoshi Hasegawa led the deep Orix pitching staff to a terrific 2.88 team ERA. But facing the Swallows in the Japan Series, the BlueWave looked green. Few Orix players had ever appeared in post-season play, and the pressure evidently got to them. Yakult took the series in five games.

Going all the way in 1996, Orix featured a stronger offense but somewhat weaker pitching. Neel earned the home run (32) and RBI (111) crowns while Ichiro batted .356 with 84 RBIs and 35 steals, earning his third straight MVP award. With Hasegawa struggling, the team's ERA rose to 3.55, still the second best in the league. Drawing on their experience from the year before, the BlueWave clobbered the Yomiuri Giants in five games.

While their pitching remained consistent, Orix batters struggled at the plate in 1997. Neel was released after leading the league with 137 strikeouts. Ichiro hit really well in the first half, but after the all-star break he seemed to run out of gas. Following Ichiro's lead, the BlueWave struggled to hold on to the top spot, eventually surrendering the pennant to the Seibu Lions and finishing in second place with a 71-61 record.

But the BlueWave won't likely be down for long. They have the best hitter in the league, a deep bullpen and strong defense. The ball club with the highest winning percentage in Pacific League history will likely hold onto that distinction for years to come.