The 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment was a series of events that occurred during the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball season that changed the landscape of Nippon Professional Baseball. I
Livedoor President Takafumi Horie attempted to purchase the Kintetsu Buffaloes, but Kintetsu refused to hear the offer.
Senichi Hoshino, a senior adviser to the Hanshin Tigers, helped to convince Central League team owners to fight to keep the two-league system.
During a home game in July 2004 at the Osaka Dome, Kintetsu Buffaloes fans in the right field bleachers display signs expressing their unhappiness with the planned team merger with the Orix BlueWave. The two largest banners in the front display "我らのチームバファローズ 球団合併断固反対!" and "選手・ファンを無視した合併を許せない". These translate to, "The Buffaloes are our team. [We] strongly oppose a team merger!" and "A merger that ignores players and fans is unforgivable", respectively.
Rakuten President Hiroshi Mikitani applied for and won the opportunity to start a new baseball club in Sendai.
Senichi Hoshino
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Senichi Hoshino was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player and manager.
2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment
…The regular-season winner and the tournament winner would then play each other to determine a champion. Meanwhile, senior adviser to the Hanshin Tigers Senichi Hoshino, who was manager of the club when they won the CL championship the previous year, argued to keep the current two-league format. He heavily criticized…
Hoshino in 2011