Hiroshima Toyo Carp

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp (広島東洋カープ, Hiroshima Tōyō Kāpu) is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by Hajime Matsuda (松田元, Matsuda Hajime), who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda. Mazda is the largest single shareholder (34.2%), which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family (about 60%). Because of that, Mazda is not considered the owner firm. However, the company connection is highlighted in the club name; until 1984, Mazda's official name was Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. (東洋工業株式会社, Tōyō Kōgyō Kabushiki Gaisha). The Carp are the only one of the 28 Asian professional baseball teams to be majority privately owned. As the Carp was founded only four years after the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and had risen to the Central League champion along with the reconstruction of Hiroshima, the team is often referred to as "the symbol of the post-war reconstruction of Hiroshima".

Currently, the team has the longest Japan Series championship drought, as they are one of only two existing teams to not win the series since the 21st century.