Heiwadai Stadium

When Heiwadai Stadium was first constructed, it lacked lighting equipment to accommodate night games, therefore games had to be completed before sunset. A game was called off if it was not finished by sundown and if five innings were completed, it would be considered an official game and count toward the standings. However, if five innings were completed, the game would be cancelled and would not be an official game. On July 16, 1952, the Mainichi Orions were scheduled to play Nishitetsu at Heiwadai at 3:00 pm, however it had been raining in Fukuoka since the morning. With fans already at the stadium, the decision was made to postpone the game instead of cancelling it.[3]

The first night game at Heiwadai Stadium, June 2, 1954.

The game finally started at 4:55 pm, almost two hours after its scheduled start time. With the 7:29 pm sunset just over two and a half hours away, it would have been feasible to complete a full game, however, the rain continued. A 15-minute, first-inning interruption followed by a one-hour delay after the third inning put the game even more behind. The umpire persuaded the reluctant Orions to resume the game in an attempt to fit five innings in before sundown and an announcement was made in the stadium that the game may have to be called at sunset. At 18:46 pm, with the Lions leading 5–4 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Mainichi began to overtly stall in an attempt to force a "no-game".[3] Orion players repeatedly called time outs and went to the bench to drink water.[5] The Lions scored four more runs in the fourth inning and before the top of fifth, with the Orions trailing 4–9, Mainichi manager Yoshio Yuasa insisted that he could not continue.[3]

When the umpire agreed and called the game after the fourth inning, fans stormed the field and attacked the umpire and the Orions.[5] Nishitetsu players such as Noguchi Masaaki and Hiroshi Oshita helped to defend Kaoru Betto and the other Orion players against the assault.[3] Yuasa attempted to defuse the situation by apologizing over the PA system.[5] Eventually, the team managed to get out of the stadium with the help of a police escort.[3][5] In addition to police, the U.S. Army in Fukuoka was also mobilized and the chaos wasn't contained until midnight.[3] The event received media attention throughout Japan and thrust Heiwadai Stadium into the national spotlight.[6] In the aftermath, Yuasa was later dismissed as manager on July 27. In response to this incident,[5] Nishitstsu applied for and received approval from Fukuoka to install lights in 1954. Heiwadai Stadium's first night game feature the Lions competing against the Nankai Hawks on June 2, 1954.[2]

Renovation comparison

Pre-renovations, 1956

Post-renovations, 1961

Renovations following the 1957 season greatly changed the stadium, specifically its infield and outfield seating.

During a game against the Daiei Stars on August 29, 1953, Lions' infielder Futoshi Nakanishi hit a home run to center field off of Yoshikazu Hayashi that cleared the outfield stands and left the stadium. The home run is estimated to have traveled over 160 m (525 ft) and is still considered to be the farthest by a Japanese player. A ball-shaped commemorative sign was later installed to indicate where the ball left the stadium.[7] Nakanishi helped the Lions win their first Pacific League championship the next season, allowing Heiwadai to host its first Japan Series during the 1953 series.[2] During the team's "Golden Age", Nishitetsu won three straight Japan Series from 1956 to 1958.[8]

For the 1956 Japan Series against the Yomiuri Giants, temporary stands were constructed and infield seating was added to increase the stadium's capacity and help meet fan demand.[9] After winning two consecutive championships, Nishitetsu decided to dramatically renovate and modernize the stadium.[10] Architectural firm Nikken Sekkei Komu was hired to design the renovation.[11] As Heiwadai was managed by the city of Fukuoka,[10] Nishitetsu requested and acquired permission to proceed with the renovations following the conclusion of the 1957 season. Among the changes, the wooden stands were replaced with reinforced concrete,[12] seats were installed in the previously earthen outfield seating area,[6] the stadium's seating capacity was increased from 24,000 to 34,000,[5][2] the center field scoreboard was replaced, and indoor bullpens,[13] locker rooms, and player bathrooms were built.[6] The modernization project cost ¥157.71 million, paid for by Nishitetsu and donated to Fukuoka, and wasn't completed until April 26, 1958.[2] The Lions opened the 1958 season playing their home games at the newly constructed Kokura Stadium in Kitakyushu since construction wasn't completed before the start of the season.[14] Later that year, on July 27, Heiwadai hosted its first of seven All-Star games.[15]

The 1963 Japan Series was the last held at Heiwadai. In 1969, a game-fixing and gambling conspiracy dubbed the Black Mist Scandal was uncovered and resulted in several key Lions players being suspended or banned from baseball. The loss of these players dramatically weakened Nishitetsu and the team finished in last place for three consecutive seasons from 1970 to 1972; the team would not recover from the scandal for the rest of the 1970s. By the end of 1972, the average attendance at Heiwadai had dropped to 4,900 people per game, or 320,000 annually.[16] In the offseason, Nishitetsu sold the team to former Lotte Orions owner Nagayoshi Nakamura who renamed the team the Taiheiyo Club Lions after securing a sponsorship from golf company Taiheiyo Club.[17]

In the first year under new ownership, the Lions secretly coordinated with the Lotte Orions to intensify their rivalry as a way to boost attendance. The opening game against Lotte in 1973 at Kawasaki Stadium was contentious and disparaging remarks by Lotte manager Masaichi Kaneda provoked Lions fans further. When the two teams next played on June 1 at Heiwadai Stadium, the Lions lost prompting fans to throw bottles of liquor onto the field. The situation continued to escalate after the game. Glass at the stadium's entrance was broken and Lotte was escorted out of the stadium at 11 pm in a Fukuoka Prefectural Police armored bus. The animosity between the two teams continued the following season and again, on May 23, fans stormed the field at Heiwadai and Lotte again left in an armored bus. While the plan to grow the rivalry was a success, it did not lead to an overall increase in attendance.[5] The team was sold once again in 1977, this time to the Crown Lighter company. Following the 1978 season in which the team only drew 780,000 fans to Heiwadai,[18] the team was sold to the Seibu Group and the franchise moved northward to Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture.[2]

A commemorative plaque was erected at the stadium's former entrance in 2002.

With the Lions gone and no team to use Heiwadai Stadium as their dedicate home field, Heiwadai Baseball Corporation was established to help continue hosting professional baseball games at the stadium. The field was converted to artificial turf in April 1979, and starting that same year, various Central and Pacific League teams held 28 countryside games there on average annually.[2] At the end of 1988, Nankai Electric Railway sold the struggling Hawks to Daiei who then moved the team to Fukuoka. Starting with the 1989 season, the Hawks began using Heiwadai as their home field.[19] However, after the remains of the Korokan, an ancient lodging facility for foreign visitors, were discovered under the bleachers during renovations in December 1987, the city planned to excavate the ruins and redevelop the site into a historical park. With plans to close Heiwadai in the works, Daiei started construction on Japan's second domed stadium (and first with a retractable roof), Fukuoka Dome, about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) away and moved there in 1993.[19] The last official professional baseball game played at Heiwadai Stadium was the Daiei vs. the Kintetsu Buffaloes on October 1, 1992.[5] During the stadium's lifetime, 1,904 official NPB games were played over 42 consecutive seasons.[1]

Heiwadai closed permanently on November 24, 1997, and the park and the infield stands were dismantled the next year. The outfield bleachers were left standing as archeological excavation on the nearby Korokan continued.[2] They were demolished in 2008, however, after the 2005 Fukuoka earthquake damaged them and put them at risk of collapsing.[20] Excavation at the site was completed in 2013 and the stadium's former footprint was eventually developed into a plaza lawn named Korokan Square and opened to the public in 2016.[21] Today, part of the outer outfield walls are the only portion of the stadium that still remain.[20]

In March 2002, the Nishitetsu Lions Alumni Association erected a commemorative plaque was at the stadium's former entrance.[2][21] Since its demolition, both the Lions and the Hawks have held events celebrating their former home. At the first Lions Classic event in 2008, stone from the stadium's outfield wall was displayed outside of Seibu Dome during a series devoted to Heiwadai against the Hawks.[22] During a similar event in 2014, the Fukuoka Classic, the Hawks modified Yafuoku Dome's scoreboard to resemble the Heiwadai Stadium's scoreboard during the team's time there.[23]