Originally owned by the Mainichi newspaper chain, the Orions were established in September 1949 and joined the Pacific League the following season. With an 81-34 record, the 1950 Orions took the PL pennant, winning the first Japan Series four games to two. Mainichi's Kaoru Betto became the PL MVP, batting .335 while winning the home run and RBI crowns.

As Betto's hitting began to decline, outfielder Kazuhiro Yamauchi emerged the team's leader. In his ten seasons with Mainichi (1954-63), Yamauchi won four RBI crowns, two home run titles, and led the league with a .331 average in 1957. Betto meanwhile became the Orions player-manager in 1954 and guided the Orions' pitching staff to six straight strong seasons.

Prior to the 1958 season, the Orions merged with the Daiei Unions. A mediocre team the previous season (41-89), the Unions had been playing in various incarnations since 1946. Never a particularly strong team, Daiei peaked in 1950 with a third place 62-54 record and gradually slid out of contention. After the merger, the subsequent team became the Daimai Orions.

Though Betto held the Orions together through the transition and led the team to a strong second-place 82-48 record in 1959, Daimai hired new manager Yukio Nishimoto in 1960. With MVP Yamauchi winning the home run (32) and RBI (103) crowns while Kihachi Enomoto won the PL batting title (.344), the Orions compiled a team .262 average with 100 home runs.

On the mound Masaichi Ono led the league with a 33-11 record and a 1.98 ERA while striking out 258 batters and helping Daimai earn a 2.66 team ERA. With excellent pitching and hitting performances, the Orions captured the PL pennant (82-48), four games ahead of second-place Nankai. Unable to challenge the Taiyo Whales, Daimai lost the 1960 Japan Series in four games.

Falling to fourth place the following season, the Orions spent the next decade hovering near the .500 line. Changing their name to the Tokyo Orions in 1964, the team in disarray went through seven managers from 1959-67.

Sold to Lotte, a Korean confectionery company, in 1969 the Orions finally found a level of stability. Under new ownership, the ball club surged to a first-place 80-47 finish in 1970 with the help of MVP pitcher Masaaki Kitaru, outfielder George Altman (.319, 30 home runs, 77 RBIs) and third baseman Michiyo Arito (.306, 25, 80). Despite overpowering the rest of the Pacific League, the Orions lost the 1970 Japan Series in five games to the Yomiuri Giants.

Dropping to fifth place in 1972 prompted Lotte to hire Japan's all-time greatest pitcher Masaichi Kaneda to manage the Orions in 1973. In that year, the Pacific League also began using a split season, with the winner of the first half meeting the second half leader in a playoff to decide the PL pennant. The following year, Kaneda led the Orions to a second half title. Defeating the Hankyu Braves in the PL playoffs, Lotte earned the 1974 pennant and defeated the Chunichi Dragons in six games to earn their second Japan Series title.

Drifting through the next several years, Lotte's offense gained potency just as the team's pitching weakened. Helped by the acquisition of former Major Leaguer Leron Lee in 1977, his brother Leon Lee the following year, and rookie Hiromitsu Ochiai in 1979, Lotte's offense packed a wallop. In 1980, the Orions compiled a .280 batting average and clubbed 184 home runs. But by 1983, with Leon Lee departing for the Whales and pitching ace Choji Murata sidelined with a ruptured ligament in his right elbow, Lotte posted a franchise-worst 5.12 team ERA while dropping into the PL cellar (43-76) for the first time in the ball club's history.

After a three year rebound, Lotte made a dramatic turn for the worse. Ochiai left the Orions after the 1986 season and first baseman Arito retired the same year. Re-hired to managed Lotte in 1987, Arito proved to be a strict and aloof disciplinarian. Unable to build a rapport with the new skipper, Leron Lee was released at the end of 1987. With two of the team's best hitters gone, Lotte spent four of the next seven years in the cellar and the other three in fifth-place.

Moving from run-down Kawasaki Stadium to newly constructed Chiba Marine Stadium (thirty-minutes east of Tokyo) in 1991, the team changed their name to the Chiba Lotte Marines. With the "Major League" dimensions cutting down on Lotte's home run production, the new park didn't do much for improving the team. Perhaps out of desperation, General Manager Tatsuro Hirooka convinced Lotte to hire Bobby Valentine to skipper the team in 1995.

Valentine inherited a team that had potential but little direction. Power pitcher Hideki Irabu had led the league in 15 wins and 239 strikeouts (in 207 1/3 innings) in 1994. Satoru Komiyama and newcomer Eric Hillman completed a solid three-man rotation while the Marines had two of Japan's best relievers, set-up man Yasuyuki Kawamoto and closer Toshihide Narimoto.

Taking a team that had finished 55-77 the previous season, Valentine led the Marines to their best record (69-58) since 1984 while guiding Lotte's pitching staff to an impressive 3.27 ERA (a drop from 4.50 in 1994). Surprisingly, GM Hirooka had, it was reported, given Lotte an ultimatum--either Valentine had to be fired or he would resign. Hirooka claimed Valentine should have won the pennant. The Marines took the general manager on his word, and Valentine was dismissed.

Because fans believed Valentine responsible for the Marines good season, the decision was very unpopular. A year later, the Marines placed fifth and the controversial general manager was fired. With that crisis over, another dispute created headlines for Lotte in the 1996-97 off-season.

If one is to take Hideki Irabu at his word, the hard-throwing pitcher had dreamt of playing for the New York Yankees since his childhood. In late 1996, he demanded that Lotte trade him to a Major League franchise (though at the time, he had not stated a preference). When stonewalling didn't make Irabu back down, the Marines reluctantly agreed to trade their best pitcher to the San Diego Padres.

By that time, however, there was speculation that Irabu could make much more money playing elsewhere. A deal was eventually worked out that sent Irabu to the Yankees. No one emerged from the fight with their reputation enhanced, though Lotte did get the last laugh when their defector came to the big leagues and flopped shortly after a promising debut.

Back in Chiba, meanwhile, the Marines dropped into the cellar. Because of the defections of Irabu and Hillman (who signed with the Yomiuri Giants), many critics thought Lotte's thinning pitching staff would fall apart in 1997. Oddly, Komiyama and young workhorse pitcher Tomohiro Kuroki helped the staff compile a better-than-expected 3.84 team ERA, the fourth lowest in the league and not far behind pace-setting Orix (3.61).

Instead, it was the Marines offense that withered. Despite Rookie of the Year Makoto Kosaka swiping 56 bases and batting near .400 during the opening months of the season, Lotte's batters compiled a .249 team batting average (last in the league) with only 75 home runs. Disenchanted outfielder Mark Carreon led the Marines with a .279 batting average.

Taking over the Marines in 1997, new manager Akihito Kondo clearly faced an unpleasant situation. Success in 1998 will largely depend on how well Lotte batters recover and if the pitching staff can improve. It's a tall order, but already the team has shown Kondo more patience than his two predecessors. But without better personnel decisions and more stability, there's little chance Lotte will relive its glory days.