Yomiuri Giants

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Yomiuri Giants
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
League	Nippon Professional Baseball Central League (1950–present) Japanese Baseball League (1936–1949) Independent (1934–1935)
Location	Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
Ballpark	Tokyo Dome
Founded	December 26, 1934; 89 years ago (1934-12-26)
Nickname(s)	Kyojin (巨人, giant)
CL pennants	39 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2024)
Japan Series championships	22 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1981, 1989, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2012)
JBL championships	9 (1936 Fall, 1937 Spring, 1938 Fall, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1949)
Former name(s)	Tokyo Kyojin (1941-1946) Tokyo Giants (1935–1940) Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club (1934)
Former ballparks	Korakuen Stadium (1937–1987)
Colors	Orange, Black, White
Mascot	Giabbit
Playoff berths	14 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024)
Retired numbers	1 3 4 14 16 34
Ownership	Legally as KK Yomiuri Kyojingun (株式会社読売巨人軍) 100% owned by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings
Management	Toshikazu Yamaguchi
Manager	Shinnosuke Abe
Uniforms

The Yomiuri Giants (読売ジャイアンツ, Yomiuri Jaiantsu, formally Yomiuri Kyojingun (読売巨人軍)) are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They have played their home games in the Tokyo Dome since its opening in 1988. The team's owner is Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, Japan's largest media conglomerate which also owns two newspapers (including the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun) and the Nippon Television Network (which includes flagship Nippon TV).

The Giants are the oldest professional sports team in Japan. They are also by far the most successful, having won 22 Japan Series titles and an additional nine in the era of NPB's forerunner, the Japanese Baseball League. Their main rivalry is with the Hanshin Tigers, a team especially popular in the Kansai region. The Yomiuri Giants are regarded as "The New York Yankees of Japan" due to their widespread popularity, past dominance of the league, and polarizing effect on fans. (Baseball fans who are indifferent about teams other than their local team often have an intense dislike for the Giants; on the other hand, the Giants have a large fan base even in cities that have a team of their own.)

The English-language press occasionally calls the team the Tokyo Giants, but that name has not been in use in Japan for decades. (Lefty O'Doul, a former Major League Baseball player, named the team "Tokyo Giants" in the mid-1930s.) Instead, the team is officially known by the name of its corporate owner, just like the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes. The team is often referred by fans and in news headlines and tables simply as Kyojin (巨人, the Japanese word for "giant(s)"), instead of the usual corporate owner's name or the English nickname.

The Yomiuri Giants name and uniforms were based on the New York (now San Francisco) Giants. The team's colors (orange and black) are the same colors worn by the National League's Giants (both then as now in both New York and San Francisco). The stylized lettering on the team's jerseys and caps is similar to the fancy lettering used by the Giants when they played in New York in the 1930s, although during the 1970s the Yomiuri Giants modernized their lettering to follow the style worn by the San Francisco Giants.