TL;DR
- Panasonic baseball team will suspend operations after the 2026 season.
- The team has struggled to achieve results in recent years.
- The club was founded in 1950 and transitioned to hardball in 1952.
- Notable alumni include Yutaka Fukumoto and Yoshinori Tateyama.
Panasonic, a company that has produced world-class base stealers and Major League Baseball players, will discontinue its baseball team after the 2026 season.
パナソニックホールディングス株式会社は8日、パナソニック野球部が2026年シーズンをもって休部すると発表した。同野球部は今年の都市対抗野球大会に近畿地区代表として出場していた。
The press release stated, "Especially in recent years, we haven't achieved results, such as failing to qualify for the main tournaments of the Intercity Baseball Tournament and the Japan Amateur Baseball Championship. As part of the group management reforms announced in February 2025, we've decided to make the 2026 Japan Amateur Baseball Championship our final tournament and suspend operations." (Excerpt).
1950年に軟式野球部として創設されると、52年に硬式へ転向。以後、都市対抗野球大会には計57回、日本選手権には2度の優勝を含む43回の出場を果たした。
This esteemed amateur baseball club has produced notable figures such as Yutaka Fukumoto, known as the "King of Stolen Bases," who achieved the remarkable record of 1,065 career stolen bases, and Yoshinori Tateyama, who also had a successful career with The Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. The team currently boasts pitchers like Haruki Hatano, who, during his time at Hanai and Toyo University, had submitted his intention to pursue a professional career.