Like the short-lived Shochiku Robins, the Chunichi Dragons made a giant leap toward respectability when they joined the newly-formed Central League in 1950. But while the Robins quickly disintegrated and eventually merged with another team, the Dragons went on to become one of the strongest teams in Japan.

Though founded in 1936 and simply named "Nagoya," the predecessors of the Dragons labored in obscurity through the Second World War years. With poor pitching and even worse batting, it took Nagoya eight years to finally peak at second place, compiling a 48-29 record in 1943. Despite a miserable .198 team batting average, Nagoya's mound staff improved considerably, posting a 1.41 ERA. Of course, many of the best pro baseball hitters of that era had been drafted into the Imperial army and navy.

Dropping back to the cellar after the war, the renamed Chubu Nippon Dragons briefly surged to second place in 1947 under the leadership of pitcher Hideo Fujimoto and his 1.83 ERA. But when the all-time career ERA leader returned to the Giants the following year, the Nagoya ball club fell back to last place.

Also in 1947, the team changed their name to the Chunichi Dragons. Though the nickname would stay, the franchise was also known briefly as the the Nagoya Dragons (1951-53).

Joining the newly formed Central League in 1950 with three other established teams and four expansion franchises, the Dragons wasted little time becoming a contender. With 25-year-old ace Shigeru Sugishita leading the league with 209 strikeouts while compiling a 27-15 record and slugger Michio Nishizawa (.311, 46 HRs, 135 RBIs), Chunichi quickly surged to second place. Starting a winning trend, the Dragons would go on to post 32 winning records in the following 48 seasons.

Though their bats cooled off as the years passed, Chunichi's pitching got even stronger as Sugishita asserted himself as one of Japan's top hurlers. Winning two straight Sawamura Awards (1951-52), the right-hander picked up a third in 1954 by going 32-12 with 273 strikeouts and a 1.39 ERA, leading the league in all three categories. Posting a team 2.32 ERA, the Dragons grabbed their first CL pennant with an 86-40 record. Facing the Nishitetsu Lions in the 1954 Japan Series, Chunichi prevailed in seven games. Making five appearances on the mound, Sugishita earned the series MVP by posting a 3-1 record with a 1.38 ERA

With Chunichi's offense faltering, Sugishita and the rest of the mound staff kept the Dragons in every pennant race until 1964, when the team dropped to last place with a 57-83 record. With Yomiuri winning every CL pennant from 1965-73 and Sugishita retired, the Dragons didn't have the pitching or anything else to topple the Giants. Winning 29 games and earning the 1967 Sawamura Award, Kenjiro Ogawa provided the team with their only big surge in the 1960s but that still wasn't enough to break the second-place glass ceiling.

After three losing seasons in four years, Chunichi turned to foreign manager Wally Yonamine in 1972. Born in Hawaii but a product of Japanese ancestry, the former Giants star and future hall of famer delivered Chunichi their second pennant in 1974. With Senichi Hoshino earning the Sawamura Award (2.87 ERA, 10 saves, 15-9) and Yukitsuru Matsumoto leading the league in wins (20-9), the Dragons featured an effective but thin pitching staff. Chunichi's 3.75 ERA ranked fifth in the league. But with Gene Martin slugging 35 home runs with 87 RBIs, the Dragons compiled a team .264 batting average with 150 home runs.

Although the Giants (71-50 and 9 ties, .587) actually won more games, the Dragons earned two more ties (70-49-11, .588), winning the 1974 pennant by one-tenth of a percent. Such anomalies were nothing new at the time and it was enough to snap the Giants V-9 streak. In the following Japan Series, the Lotte Orions defeated Chunichi in six games.

With their pitching falling apart even as their hitting and home run production improved, the Dragons played erratically for the next decade until earning another anomalous pennant in 1982. Compiling a .577 winning percentage with a 64-47-19 record, the Dragons edged past second place Yomiuri (66-50-14), who had a .569 percentage, but were soundly defeated in six games by the Seibu Lions in that year's Japan Series.

Going up and down every year, Chunichi hired former pitcher Senichi Hoshino to manage the Dragons in 1987. Along with the acquisition of three-time triple-crown winner Hiromitsu Ochiai and the wise shift of Taiwanese hurler Genji Kaku to the bullpen, Hoshino in his first year guided Chunichi to a second-place 68-51 record.

Though the team's batting faltered the following year, Hoshino bullied his pitchers into compiling a team 3.20 ERA. With Kaku picking up 37 saves (44 save points), Chunichi's bullpen allowed the Dragons to steal the pennant from an otherwise superior Yomiuri team. In 1988, the Giants compiled a team 3.09 ERA (to Chunichi's 3.20) while batting .268 (.258) with 134 home runs (131). But Kaku's MVP performance allowed the Dragons to post a 79-46 record while Yomiuri went 68-59. The Seibu Lions overwhelmed the Dragons in five games to take the '88 Japan Series.

Hoshino proved quite successful in his remaining three years, even leading the Dragons to a second place 71-59 finish in 1991, three games behind Hiroshima. But when Chunichi decided to go with skipper Morimichi Takagi in 1992, the Dragons fell into the CL cellar (60-70), albeit only nine games out of first. Though he led the Dragons to two straight second-place seasons (1993-94), Takagi wore out his welcome when the Dragons went 50-80 in 1995.

A big part of that dreadful outing was the absence of southpaw Masahiro Yamamoto who won the Sawamura Award in 1994 (19-8, 3.49 ERA, 148 strikeouts) but limped through the following year with a 4.82 ERA while going 2-5 in 74 2/3 innings. Shinji Imanaka, an incredible pitcher who won the 1993 Sawamura Award (17-7, 2.20 ERA, 247 strikeouts), simply couldn't carry the entire pitching load on his back in 1995.

Returning to the Chunichi helm in 1996 after a four year absence, Hoshino did as much as he could with the Dragons under the circumstances. With Yamamoto still ailing, Imanaka unable to carry loads as he had in the past (249 innings in 1993), and Korean ace Dong Yol Sun floundering, Chunichi's mound staff compiled an unremarkable 4.01 team ERA.

But with Taiwanese slugger Yasuaki Taiho pounding 38 home runs and Takeshi Yamasaki clubbing 39 while Alonzo Powell won his third straight batting title (.340), the explosive Chunichi offense compiled 179 home runs and a .278 team batting average. But without a top notch closer like Kaku, the Dragons settled for second place (72-58), five games behind the Giants.

In 1997, the Dragons finally got the closer they needed when Hoshino shifted Sun to the bullpen and the Korean ace racked up 38 saves. Yamamoto, for his part, returned to his old form and nearly won the Sawamura Award with an 18-7 record, 2.92 ERA and 159 strikeouts. But virtually nothing else went right for the Dragons.

Moving into the cavernous Nagoya Dome, the Dragons hit 62 fewer home runs than they had the year before at their former ballpark while their batting average fell just as dramatically from .278 to .243.

About the only player not psyched out by the huge outfield wall was newcomer third baseman Leo Gomez (31 home runs, .315 average, .407 on base percentage) who spent 1996 in the Major Leagues and didn't need any time getting used to the Nagoya Dome's big dimensions. Three-time batting champion Powell was released after his average dipped to .253 and the Dragons traded Taiho (12 home runs, .240) to Hanshin.

By the time Chunichi finished their last game on October 6, the team had compiled a last-place 59-76 record, 24 games behind front-runner Yakult. Had Sun not been able to save so many close games, the Dragons would likely have had a much worse season. The key to the Dragons future lay with looking at the past. Moving to the Nagoya Dome clearly had an adverse effect on the team. If Hoshino can figure out how his team can win in their new home, Chunichi may be able to avoid the mistakes which led them to the 1997 cellar.