The Lotte Revolution
Bobby Valentine and the Marines make a day at the ballpark fun again

Photos courtesy of Chiba Lotte Marines

There are many of you out there, I am sure, who look at the Chiba Lotte Marines and think: that’s one slick ball club. Of course, you’re absolutely right. But as a team and a franchise, the Marines haven’t always been blessed with such success. They had to pull themselves out of the cellar of the Pacific League, where they’d been consigned for many years. In 2005, manager Bobby Valentine steered them to victory in the Japan Series for the first time in 31 years. That certainly grabbed people’s attention, but these days the club is now exciting its fans in a lot of other ways as well.

“In the last three years, the amount of time people have spent here when they come to a game on the weekend has increased from four hours to six and a half hours,” Larry Rocca, the Marines’ Director of International Business Development, told Metropolis. “People come early and they stay late. Our fans want to be entertained for the whole day. They were looking for ways to spend their time and money with us, and as an industry we had not been giving them the opportunity. I’ve said this many times: Japanese baseball was the only customer-service industry that didn’t have any regard for the customers.”

What the Marines have done in the past few years is incredible; what they have done since I first saw them 20 years ago defies belief. Rather than return to my little hovel in Shin-Maruko, where I lived in those days, I would often take a slight detour to Kawasaki and pay a pittance for a ticket. The Lotte Orions played at Kawasaki Stadium, which dates back roughly to the Jomon Period—as did some of their fans. And it was mostly the fans who were worth watching. The newspapers always said there were 5,000 spectators in the stadium, but the reality was you could easily count the number of people there. It was even easier to count the number of those who were sober. It was a sad and amusing place of entertainment.

Moving to Chiba in 1992 saw the Marines go upmarket. But while Chiba Marine Stadium (built by the city on prefectural land) may not have been as soulless as the Tokyo Dome, it was still basically just another boring lump of concrete where fans endured boring baseball. Apart from a brief explosion of fun in 1995, when Valentine came onboard as manager before being told to go home again, the team continued to dwell in the nether regions of the Pacific League. But a decade later, Bobby came back and a revolution started in Makuhari.

Valentine has made watching the Marines fun: fun for the players, fun for the fans, fun for the staff. When I asked Rocca how much of this could have been achieved without Valentine at the helm, his answer was simple: “Zero, basically. It all started with Bobby.

“When Bobby came back in 2004, he convinced owner Akio Shigemitsu, ‘Hey, you don’t have to take a beating every year; why don’t you operate the club like a separate company? Hire guys that know how to do marketing, sell tickets, do special events for fans, customer service.’ To his great credit, the owner listened and we had this explosion of hiring. We hired 30 people, spent $6 million renovating, made changes, and the team reversed fortunes. We’ve gone from being a joke to the best fan experience in Japan. Our attendance has gone up fourfold since 2004.”

And it’s not just about winning the Japan Series, either. Rocca explains that the club tried to upgrade every aspect of the spectator’s experience. Now, the area around the stadium is a “street festival” zone, with performances by musicians, comedians, cheerleaders and mascots. There is a museum (with free admission) and impressive merchandising store, and all the food outlets have been rigorously upgraded. They even have a nursery and kids’ play area.

The club has also given its 30,000-seat stadium a makeover. There are now seats without fences close to the baselines (nervous fans get a free helmet and glove as protection), the concession stands have been given a massive makeover, and millions were spent on creating a state-of-the-art viewing area with private boxes and a VIP lounge. For those willing to fork out ¥13,000, there is even a “press box” seat (formed from a section of the actual press-seating area).

And every day of the week has a special promotion: Tuesdays feature fireworks, Wednesday is Salaryman Day, Thursday is Ladies Day, Friday is One-Coin day, Saturday is Kids’ Day (kids can run the bases after the game), and Sundays and national holidays are Family Days.

The results have been astonishing. Fan club enrollment has risen from 22,000 to 93,000 in three years, while in the last four years, revenues are up 400 percent and corporate sales 900 percent. But at the heart of the club’s success is Valentine’s belief that baseball should be fun for everyone. And that’s what it is.

Curious how no one in Japan had thought of that before.

Chiba Marine Stadium is located near Kaihin Makuhari and Makuhari Hongo stations. For more information or bookings, contact Larry Rocca at rocca@marines.co.jp.

Got something to say about this article? Send a letter to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp.

Listen to the Metropolis Podcast, the coolest guide to what goes on this week in Tokyo.

Looking for international friends? Check Japan, Inc. Friends now - it's 100% free!