Tokyo Big6 Baseball League

Japanese: 東京六大学野球 - とうきょうろくだいがくやきゅう（英語表記）TOKYO BIG6 BASEBALL LEAGUE

A baseball league made up of six universities that are members of the Tokyo Big Six Baseball League: Waseda, Keio, Meiji, Hosei, Tokyo, and Rikkyo.
It began in 1903 (Meiji 36) as an inter-university match between Waseda and Keio universities (known as the Keio-Wasesen at Keio University), and in 1914, the first league match between the three universities was held. By 1921, Hosei University and Rikkyo University had joined, and in 1925, the University of Tokyo officially joined and the Tokyo Big Six Baseball League was formed. It has the longest history of any of the existing university baseball leagues in Japan.
From 1943 until the end of World War II, the league was dissolved under the orders of the Ministry of Education (now the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), but just after the war on October 28, 1945, a Six University Alumni Tournament was held, and in the spring of 1946, the Six University League was revived. In the autumn of the same year, the Emperor's Cup was bestowed upon the league.
All games are played at Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium, which was built in 2014 with the cooperation of the Tokyo Big Six Baseball League, and as such has been given top priority when it comes to allocation of stadium usage, with priority given not only to Saturdays and Sundays during the spring and fall leagues, but also to daytime use on weekdays from Monday to Wednesday.
The league consists of 15 games played over 8 weeks each in the spring (April to the end of May) and autumn (September to the end of October) (with an irregular schedule of 9 weeks depending on the year). The Waseda-Keio game, the origin of the Tokyo Big Six Baseball League, is always the final game. The game is played in a round-robin format with a best-of-two format, with the first team to win two games against the same opponent receiving one point. In the event of a tie, a rematch is held, and in the event of a one-win-one tie, a third game is played to settle the score. After all games have been played, the team with the most points is ranked higher, and in the event of the same number of points, the rankings are decided by comparing the overall winning percentages. As of the autumn of 2008, Hosei University had the most wins with 42, followed by Waseda University with 41.
The Waseda-Keio game remains popular among students, alumni, and baseball fans of both schools, and its audience numbers far surpass other games. In 2007, Saito Yuki, also known as the "Handkerchief Prince," who became a hot topic after his pitching duel with Tanaka Masahiro (Komadai Tomakomai High School, now with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles) in the high school baseball finals the previous summer, enrolled at Waseda University, and the attention on Tokyo Big Six baseball increased.

(Natsuko Kasai, Freelance Writer / 2009)

Source : "Chiezo" published by Asahi Shimbun Publications Co., Ltd. About Chiezo

Japanese:

東京六大学野球連盟に加盟する早稲田・慶応義塾・明治・法政・東京・立教の6つの大学による野球リーグ。
1903年(明治36年)に始まった早稲田・慶應義塾大学による対抗戦(早慶戦。慶應義塾大学での呼び名は慶早戦)に端を発し、14年には早稲田・慶応・明治の3大学によるリーグ戦が初めて行われた。その後、21年までに法政大学、立教大学が加入し、25年の秋季リーグ戦からは東京大学が正式に加入して東京六大学野球連盟が発足した。現存する日本の大学野球連盟の中で最も長い歴史を持つ。
43年から第二次世界大戦終戦まで間、文部省(現文部科学省)の指示を受け連盟は解散したが、終戦直後の45年10月28日に六大学OB戦が行われ、46年春季には六大学リーグ戦が復活した。同年秋季からは天皇杯が下賜されている。
試合はすべて、明治神宮野球場で行われる。同球場が26年に東京六大学野球連盟の協力により建設されたためで、球場の使用割り当てにも最優先の配慮を受け、春季・秋季リーグ開催期間中の土・日はもちろん、平日も月曜日～水曜日までの日中は優先的に使用する。
リーグ戦は、春季(4～5月末)、秋季(9～10月末)の各8週間(年により9週間の変則日程)に全15カードを行う。東京六大学野球の起源である早慶戦は、必ず最終戦の対戦カードとなる。試合方式は2戦先勝方式の総当たりによる勝ち点制で、同一の対戦校に対して先に2勝したチームが勝ち点1を獲得する。引き分けは再試合とし、1勝1敗の場合は第3戦を行って決着を付ける。全対戦の後、勝ち点が多い方を上位とし、勝ち点が同じ場合は全体の勝率比較によって順位を決定する。2008年秋季までの優勝記録は、法政大学が最多の42回で、早稲田大学が41回で後を追う。
早慶戦は、両校の学生や卒業生、野球ファンの間で根強い人気を保ち、観客動員力は他のカードを大きく引き離す。07年には、前年夏の高校野球決勝戦で田中将大投手(駒大苫小牧高、現東北楽天ゴールデンイーグルス)との投手戦で話題となった「ハンカチ王子」こと斎藤佑樹が早稲田大学に入学し、東京六大学野球への注目が高まった。

(葛西奈津子フリーランスライター／ 2009年)

出典　(株)朝日新聞出版発行「知恵蔵」知恵蔵について　情報

<<: Tokyo Rose - Tokyo Rose (English spelling)

>>: Tokyo University of Science