Eastern League (Japanese baseball) Eagles were formed to join NPB, and their farm team became part of the Eastern League as well. The league currently contains the minor league affiliates of seven Japanese professional teams. With a few exceptions, Eastern League teams currently carry the same name, and use the same uniforms, as their parent team. Current teams (minor league homefield shown in parentheses): Eastern League (Japanese baseball) The is one of the two minor leagues ("ni-gun") of Japanese professional baseball. The league is owned and managed by the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Teams in the Eastern League generally play an
Knuckleball be contributing to its demise. Says Bob Humphrey, a former major-league knuckleball pitcher: "you just don't have time to mess with it." A fast-track scheme is developing, eliminating the knuckleballer pitcher's chief ally: time. Tom Candiotti said: "to get signed, you have to be impressive on the radar guns." The knuckleball takes time to master and is not an attractive pitch on the radar guns, both of which may be contributing to its demise. Perhaps as a result, knuckleball pitchers often view themselves as members of an exclusive club, with its own uniform number (49, first worn by Wilhelm) and