The NPB’s annual championship, the Japan Series (日本シリーズ), was previously known as the NPB Nippon Series, and still is for many domestically. This seven-game matchup crowns the Nippon Pro Baseball champion, and is contested by the winners of the Central League and Pacific League’s Climax Series — the NPB playoffs / postseason. The final Japan Series features two official game balls every year (and sometimes more) one specially stamped official game ball for each team’s home stadium. Neutral site games also get a unique commemorative gamer, though I’ve only seen one version of those.
1990s–2006 NPB Nippon Japan Series Baseballs (Mizuno, Sun-Up, Etc.)
1998 Seibu Dome, Saitama Seibu Lions. 1999 Fukuoka Dome, SoftBank Hawks. 2000 Fukuoka Dome, Fukuoka Hawks. 2001 Jingu Stadium, Tokyo, Yakult Swallows. 2001 Osaka Dome (Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes). 2002 Tokyo Dome Version 1 – Blank Top Panel Variant, Yomiuri Giants (Believed to be non-game version). 2002 Tokyo Dome Version 2 (On-field Official Game Ball) ‘Show the Spirit’ & Use Ball Official Stamps, Yomiuri Giants. 2002 Seibu Dome (Lions). 2003 Fukuoka Dome (Hawks). 2004 Nagoya Dome (Chunichi Dragons). 2004 Seibu Dome (Lions). 2005 Chiba Marine Stadium (Lotte Marines). 2005 Hanshin Koshien Stadium (Hanshin Tigers). 2006 Sapporo Dome, Hokkaido (Nippon-Ham Fighters). 2006 Nagoya Dome (Chunichi Dragons).
Prior to 2006, there are multiple Nippon Pro baseball manufacturers; it’s often difficult to determine which company made which team’s baseballs. The are no manufacturer names or logos stamped on these earlier baseballs. All balls pictured below (and any official NPB game ball made from 2006 onward) should Mizuno-made game balls—that’s when the league switched to one official standard “12-team match ball.” We’re missing some of these so if you have any that aren’t pictured here, please reach out to us on Instagram, Facebook or X/Twitter. Arigato gozaimas! ありがとう ございます!
2007–2010 Mizuno NPB Nippon Series (Japan Series) Baseballs
2007 Nagoya Dome (Dragons). 2007 Sapporo Dome (Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters). C. 2007 or 2008 (est.) Mizuno NPB Goodyear Climax Series. 2008 Seibu Dome (Saitama Seibu Lions). 2008 Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants). 2009 Sapporo Dome, Hokkaido (Fighters). 2010 Chiba Marine Stadium (Lotte Marines). 2010 Nagoya Dome (Chunichi Dragons).
You may have noticed an oddball outlier above. The Pacific and Central Leagues’ Climax Series games often use commemorative game balls too. These can vary greatly and don’t seem to be league mandated like the All-Star events and Japan Series and Japan Farm Championship baseballs. So they are tough to track and collect. What’s more, they’re usually much less appealing, only showing a sponsor name on the center league panel, or a hand-stamp with simple matchup and date details. But sometimes there’s a cool logo, such as the common NPB Climax Series logo ball we have pictured above from 2007 or 2008, most likely.
2011–2013 Mizuno NPB Japan Series ‘Konami Nippon Series’ Baseballs
2011 Nagoya Dome Chunichi Dragons. 2011 Fukuoka Dome SoftBank Hawks. 2012 Tokyo Dome Yomiuri Giants. 2012 Sapporo Dome Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. 2013 Tokyo Dome Yomiuri Giants. 2013 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
2014–2025 Mizuno SMBC Japan Series Baseballs
2014 Fukuoka Dome SoftBank Hawks (vs. Hanshin Tigers). 2015 Fukuoka Dome SoftBank Hawks. 2015 Tokyo Meiji Jingu Stadium Yakult Swallows. 2016 Sapporo Dome Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (Shoei Ohtani’s only NPB championship). 2016 Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima Carp. 2017 Fukuoka Dome SoftBank Hawks. 2017 Yokohama Stadium DeNa BayStars. 2018 Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima Carp (vs. SoftBank Hawks). 2020 Tokyo Dome Yomiuri Giants (vs. SoftBank Hawks). 2022 Tokyo Meiji Jingu Stadium Yakult Swallows. 2022 Kyocera Dome Osaka Orix Buffaloes. 2024 Fukuoka PayPay Dome SoftBank Hawks (vs. Yokohama DeNa BayStars). (2019, 2023, 2025 to be added.)
These special event commemorative game balls are often branded with a wordmark logo depicting the stadium and/or team name. At times, there is additional artwork and “cheering” phrases as part of the commemorative logo or additional top or bottom stamping. And they’ll almost always come with the customary hand-stamped commissioner’s approval insignia from about 2000 onward – unless it has worn off.
The first NPB Nippon/Japan Series ball we’ve seen is from 1995. It’s certainly possible that there are earlier versions, though this timing lines up with official NPB All-Star Game balls, at least for official commemorative logo stamps game balls (we have noted there could be wordmark style ASG balls from as early as 1979). In our 20-some years of collecting foreign league baseballs, these special NPB championship official game balls are very scarce prior to about 2014, and incredibly rare from the early 2000s and prior.
Additional Climax Series game ball notes: There have been a few exceptions, but for the most part, very few cool commemorative logo Climax baseballs exist. They don’t even offer a professional looking manufacturer’s stamp with an official event name, such as “2025 NPB Climax Series” to match the modern Japan Series gold-stamped game balls or other league-wide event game balls. Unfortunate, but it leaves room to improve!
More recently, they (Climax Series balls) only feature a factory-stamped center league panel with an advertiser’s wordmark logo (sometimes in a different ink color, so some might be hand-stamped). That’s in addition to the customary factory stamped Mizuno RunBird logo on the lower panel and NPB logo plus “Approved by Commissioner” combo stamp on the top. So they’re mostly plain-Jane, ordinary-Joe, boring balls very similar to standard league balls. Too bad.
A Brief Explainer: NPB Playoff and Japan Series Format
JapanBall’s Yuri Karasawa explained it best prior to the 2024 NPB Climax and Japan Series: “The Climax Series First Stage, NPB’s version of the MLB Wild Card Series, is a best-of-three format hosted entirely by the higher seed in each league. Winners advance to the Climax Series Final Stage, or the League Championship Series, where the regular season pennant winners get full home-field advantage and an automatic 1-0 series lead, with the ultimate goal of reaching the Japan Series.”
Game-Used Examples: Japan/Nippon Series Baseballs
Official, NPB-authenticated Japan Series baseballs are made available for auction at the end of each season. The league usually reserves 3–5 dozen or more for auctions. They’re quite tough to come by and very difficult to win outright. I’m not sure when the league began this practice; the earliest examples we’ve seen were 2007 for All-Star Game and about 2010 for the championship series. That said, there are aftermarket sale opportunities, especially for unauthenticated.
While most used and unused will be officially hand-stamped by the commissioner’s office, one clear sign a ball it NOT game-used is the NPB hologram sticker on the top panel — those specific types of stickers are used for retail balls only. We’ve only seen NPB game-use certification on the cubes and COAs that come with league-auctioned examples.