Being known as “The Chicago Cubs of Japan” is not a good thing. While this team is not quite at the 107 year championship drought of the Cubs, they did go 40 years between wins- critics and fans alike expect that is will be another 40 years before they are champions again.
But they do have a few off-the-field wins going for them. The Yokohama BayStars, a pro baseball team in the Japanese Central League, are the last team to not sell their name out to a corporation. So instead of having some brand character wearing a product logo, they have a hamster with a star face and star-printed palms.
From 1950 to 1993, it was actually the Yokohama whales because they were founded by a fishing company, which is why their colours are still blue and white.
However, in the early ’90s, there started to be worldwide talk about a restriction on whaling, and the team decided it was time for something new. Japan’s former Prime Minister Miyazawa even mentioned to former President Clinton that the team’s name change was due to the agreement on restrictions of international whale trade. If changing a mascot doesn’t show the seriousness of an issue, I don’t know what does.
Being located on the Tokyo Bay, and wanting to keep the star from the background of the old logo, the team logically became the BayStars. But don’t worry, they didn’t just get a hamster and roll with it, they took the name extremely literally, and got this for their cheer team:
It’s a star with a tiny body who is somehow managing to hold up that bat. But don’t mess with him- he’s got that flat-bill hat.
