Tsuneo Watanabe

The Giants said Watanabe, the 78-year-old chairman of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper group, decided to resign to take the blame after a club official paid ¥2 million to Meiji University pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba between December last year and July.

Takashi Yoshida, who was in charge of player acquisitions, was directly involved in the payment, which is banned by collegiate baseball rules.

The Giants dismissed President Makoto Doi, General Manager Hideaki Miyama and Deputy General Manager Koichi Takayama, who were apparently aware of Yoshida's conduct.

Takuo Takihana, 66, president of the Tokyo head office of the Yomiuri Shimbun, was named to take over from Watanabe.

Watanabe, who wields enormous influence over Japanese baseball on the back of the broad fan base of the Giants, was behind the move to realign the Central and Pacific leagues into one league through mergers of ballclubs.

On Aug. 10, the Orix BlueWave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes signed a basic agreement on their proposed merger.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 21, 2004
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