History

Copyright : NHK

The Tokyo Six Universities Baseball Federation is a baseball league consisting of six universities: Waseda, Keio, Meiji, Hosei, Tokyo, and Rikkyo.

Its history spans 90 years, and continues to this day with the first round of the Meiji Taisho Taisho held on September 20, 1925 as the first match since the federation was founded. The first Soukeisen (早慶戦, Waseda-Keio) match was held in 1903 (Meiji 36), and in 1914 (discontinued from 1903), the three universities (Waseda, Keio, Meiji) organized a league match for the first time. became. After this, Hosei joined in 1917, and Rikkyo joined in 1921, but the irregular situation continued with no Soukeisen matches being played. However, in 1925, the University of Tokyo officially joined the Four Universities League in the fall, and the suspended Waseda-Keio match was revived for the first time in 19 years, and the Six Universities League began since then.

In 1926, with the cooperation of Six Universities League federation, the Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium was completed, and the Togu Cup (Regents Cup) was awarded from the fall league match. Later, in 1931, the federation covered the construction costs and expanded the stadium, completing a large stadium with a capacity of 55,000 people.

In 1943, due to the influence of World War II, the Ministry of Education ordered a ban on matches, and the federation was disbanded. However, immediately after the end of the war, on October 28, 1945, the Six Universities League Alumni Game was held, and on November 18, the All-Soukeisen games were held at Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium, leading to a revival of baseball. From May 19, 2017, the Six Universities League was reinstated with a round robin first round. Also, starting in the fall, the Emperor's Cup was awarded, and the prestigious first Emperor's Cup went to the winning school, Waseda University.

However, the Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium was requisitioned by the U.S. military, and only a few games were held at the stadium until March 1952, when the peace treaty ended on March 31st and the stadium was renamed Meiji Jingu. All spring and autumn league matches between the six universities were held at the same stadium, returning to the same format as before the war. During this difficult period, Their Majesties the Emperor Showa and the Empress visited the Soukeisen game in the fall league match of 1950.

Since then, there has been no interruption and the spring/autumn league games and rookie games are still being held at Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium. Also, in the Heisei era, Their Majesties, the Heisei Emperor and Empress visited Soukeisen during the spring league match in 1994.

As the oldest university league, this federation has contributed not only to the development of college baseball but also amateur baseball in Japan, and many alumni have also contributed to the development of adult baseball and professional baseball. Currently, 119 out of 215 people (as of January 2020) related to this federation have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum for their contributions to the world of baseball.

On April 1, 2013, our federation registered as a general incorporated foundation, the Tokyo Six Universities Baseball Federation (Tokyo Big 6), and made a new start as an organization with legal foundations.



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