» November 26, 1957: Yoshio (Kaiser) Tanaka, an American citizen of Japanese descent, is named manager of the Hanshin Tigers. He is the first American to manage a Japanese ML team.

» June 26, 1959: The "Emperor's game," the greatest in Japanese baseball history, is played by the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers, with Emperor Hirohito and his wife attending at Tokyo's Korakuen Stadium. The game is tied 4–4 in the 7th on Giants rookie Sadaharu Oh's 2-run home run, then won 5–4 in the last of the 9th on a home run by the Giant's Shigeo Nagashima. This starts the famed "O-N cannon," the hitting combination of Oh and Nagashima, that will bring the Giants nine pennants between 1965 and 1973. In all, the O-N cannon hits dual home runs in 106 games.

» May 7, 1960: Takehiko Bessho becomes the winningest pitcher in Japan as his Tokyo Giants beat the Hanshin Tigers 6–3. Bessho has 302 wins, one more than Victor Starfin.

» May 3, 1964: Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants hits four home runs in one 9-inning game against the Hanshin Tigers to set a Japanese record, and tie the American major-league record held by seven players.

» October 10, 1969: Yutaka Enatsu of the Hanshin Tigers strikes out his 401st batter of the season. This puts him 3rd on the all-time list after Matt Kilroy with 513 in 1886 and Old Hoss Radbourn with 441 in 1884.

» October 11, 1976: In the last of the 8th, leading the Hanshin Tigers 4-1 with 2 out and a full count, Sadaharu Oh socks his 715th HR to pass Babe Ruth's mark. He finishes the season with 716 HRs and takes aim at Hank Aaron's record.

» December 20, 1978: Don Blasingame is named manager of the Hanshin Tigers, the first American not of Japanese descent to lead a Japanese team.

» January 15, 1990: Former Blue Jay Cecil Fielder signs with Detroit as a free agent after spending last season with Japan's Hanshin Tigers, where he hit 38 home runs.

» December 18, 1996: Red Sox veteran Mike Greenwell signs a one-year contract to play for the Hanshin Tigers. The Sox had designated him for assignment on October 15, so his leaving Boston after 10 years was inevitable.

» May 23, 1997: The Rockies sell Darnell Coles to the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese League. Coles, who hit 29 homers and .302 for Chunichi last year, will replace Mike Greenwell, who suffered a broken leg.