Nankai

The team now known as the Softbank Hawks was founded as the Nankai club in the 1938 fall season of the Japanese Professional Baseball League. The team was owned by the Nankai Electric Railway. Never a very successful club at that time, they had the worst year in franchise history in 1940 (28-71-6) and they finished last in 1943 (26-56-2). On June 1, 1944, the Nankai Electric Railway merged with Kansai Express Railroad (which would later become Kintetsu) to form Kinki Nippon Railroad, and the team's name was changed to the Kinki Nihon.

Managers

• 1938-1940: Kazuo Takasu
• 1941-1942: Hachiro Mitani
• 1942: Yoshiyuki Iwamoto
• 1942: Kisaku Kato
• 1943: Katsuo Takada
• 1943-1944: Kisaku Kato

New Team

Nankai 1938 - 1944 (midseaon)

Succeeded by Kinki Nihon