Nippon Professional Baseball

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is Japan’s top professional baseball organization, operating the Central League and Pacific League and their championship competition.

Central League: One of NPB’s two six-team leagues, traditionally distinguished by playing without the designated hitter. It is one of the two leagues NPB operates.
Japanese baseball: The sport of baseball as played, organized, and followed in Japan. NPB grew from Japan’s wider baseball culture and earlier professional leagues.
Sadaharu Oh: A Japanese baseball player and manager who hit 868 home runs in Nippon Professional Baseball. His record-setting career became one of NPB’s defining achievements.
Major League Baseball: The professional baseball organization overseeing the American and National Leagues in the United States and Canada. Its scale, rules, and international labor market contrast with NPB’s structure.
Baseball in Japan: The organized and recreational practice of baseball within Japanese society. NPB is the sport’s highest domestic professional level and a major cultural institution.
Pacific League: One of NPB’s two six-team leagues, which adopted the designated hitter rule in 1975. It is NPB’s other league and has a distinct playing-rule history.
Japanese Baseball League: Japan’s first sustained professional baseball league, active from 1936 to 1949. It was the predecessor whose dissolution preceded NPB’s formation.
Shigeo Nagashima: A Japanese baseball player and manager celebrated for his career with the Yomiuri Giants. His popularity helped make NPB a national spectator sport.
Korean Baseball Organization: South Korea’s top professional baseball league organization. It offers a nearby East Asian comparison in league design and baseball culture.
Japanese baseball draft: NPB’s annual system for selecting eligible amateur players for professional clubs. The draft channels emerging talent into NPB’s member teams.

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