Hiroshima baseball team gave Japanese city hope after atomic bomb, and citizens’ cash kept team afloat in bleak early years

When the people of Hiroshima needed hope, they looked to baseball. A professional team formed in 1950, the Hiroshima Carp survived on public donations

Perennial underdogs apart from a few glory years, to city’s people their team is a monument to recovery from ashes of war as much as the Peace Park world knows

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Hiroshima Toyo Carp players pray for atomic bomb victims before a game in Hiroshima on August 6, 2015. The city suffered the world’s first atomic bombing, but for locals, baseball helped boost morale on the road to recovery. Photo: AFP via Getty Images

Published: 7:15am, 6 Aug 2020Updated: 11:00am, 6 Aug 2020

At 8am every August 6, a ceremony is held in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park to mark the anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.

To the outside world, the Peace Memorial Park embodies the Japanese city’s post-war reconstruction, an oasis of tranquil parkland and memorials that, in normal times, attracts thousands of tourists daily.

They come to pay their respects at the epicentre of the bombing 75 years ago that claimed 140,000 lives.

However, for the people of Hiroshima, it could be argued that the real symbol of the city’s reconstruction lies not within the park but just across the street from the Genbaku Dome, on a site where once stood the first dedicated stadium of the city’s baseball team, Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Hiroshima Carp's first baseball stadium, in 1957. Photo: Hiroshima City Public Archives

“If you visit Hiroshima, be ready to talk about baseball,” says Lauren Shannon, of Arigato Japan, who designed the company’s Hiroshima food tours. “Everywhere you go, whether it’s a little tobacconist or a fruit stall on the street corner, you’re probably going to see autographed posters of the Carp because the elderly female shop owner goes to all the games. Being ready to embrace Hiroshima’s baseball team is one of the best tips I can give you for visiting the city.”