On November 19, 1973, meatpacking company Nippon Ham purchased the team.
The club's name changed to the Nippon-Ham Fighters, its official name became the Nippon-Ham Baseball Corporation, Osamu Mihara became the team president and Futoshi Nakanishi its manager.
After 27 years, the "Flyers" nickname was abandoned.
The "Fighters" nickname was born from a public appeal by the team's management.
A female high school student from Okayama prefecture submitted the winning name, giving the reasoning that "(former Fighters player) Katsuo Osugi has guts, so he's a fighter."
 Ironically, Osugi would be traded to the Yakult Swallows soon after the Fighters were rechristened.

Over the four seasons between 1974 and 1977, the Fighters dwelled at the bottom of the Pacific League, but after improving to finishing in third place for three straight years between 1978 and 1980, manager Keiji Osawa finally led the Fighters to their second Pacific League pennant in 1981.
With saves leader Yutaka Enatsu and starter Shigekuni Mashiba (who went 15–0 over the season) forming the heart of the pitching staff, the Fighters shined with offensive sluggers Tony Solaita, Junichi Kashiwabara, and Tommy Cruz.
The team that year also featured various important players of smaller stature, like Makoto Shimada and Nobuhiro Takashiro.
They would go on to play the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series, where the Fighters lost in six games.

At the time, the franchise shared Korakuen Stadium with the Giants, so scheduling games throughout the season for both teams posed a problem.
League schedulers tried to avoid putting the Fighters and the Giants at Korakuen on the same day, but when they both had home games scheduled, league officials made the implicit decision that the Giants would play during the day and the Fighters during the night.
One novel aspect of the Fighters was that they attracted armies of grade-school boys to sit in the outfield stands on weekend games under a "Young Boys’ Fan Club" promotion, starting the first organized fan club in Japanese professional baseball.

During the 1980s the Fighters hosted many of the Pacific League's leading pitchers, including Isamu Kida (led the P.L. with 22 wins in his rookie year in 1980; won MVP, Rookie of the Year the same year), Mikio Kudō (20 wins in 1982), Hiroshi Tsuno (recorded double-digit win totals in several years throughout the mid-eighties) and Yasumitsu Shibata (three-time All Star; recorded no-hitter in 1990).
Yukihiro Nishizaki particularly stood out, recording 15 wins and an ERA under three in each of his first two years (though the Rookie of the Year title eluded him), racking up seven double-digit win seasons over the course of his eleven-year stay with the Fighters and gaining a considerable following from female fans due to his easy-going demeanor.
In 1986 shortstop Yukio Tanaka joined the club; he remained with the team for 22 seasons, becoming known as "Mr. Fighters."

From 1988 until the move to Hokkaidō, the Fighters played their home games in Tokyo Dome, the stadium that replaced their longtime home Korakuen.
After the Dome was finished, the pitching dominance of Yukihiro Nishizaki and Yasumitsu Shibata began to emerge.
Keiji Osawa came out of retirement to manage the team for a third time in 1993, only to see his team sink to the bottom of the standings; he gained notoriety for kneeling to the fans at the end of that season, begging for their forgiveness.
With the Fighters experiencing more managerial troubles in 1996, then-manager Toshiharu Ueda suddenly took a personal leave during a pennant race with the Orix BlueWave, eventually causing the Fighters to fade over the last month of the season.
However, new life was born in Tokyo Dome in 1998.
Hitters such as Nigel Wilson, Jerry Brooks, Yukio Tanaka, Atsushi Kataoka, Katsuhiro Nishiura and a young Michihiro Ogasawara formed what became known as the Big Bang lineup and subsequently shattered various batting records.
They ran away with first place for the first half of the season, but a pitching collapse in the second half caused a fall of hi
On November 19, 1973, meatpacking company Nippon Ham purchased the team. The club's name changed to the Nippon-Ham Fighters, its official name became the Nippon-Ham Baseball Corporation, Osamu Mihara became the team president and Futoshi Nakanishi its manager. After 27 years, the "Flyers" nickname was abandoned. The "Fighters" nickname was born from a public appeal by the team's management. A female high school student from Okayama prefecture submitted the winning name, giving the reasoning that "(former Fighters player) Katsuo Osugi has guts, so he's a fighter."  Ironically, Osugi would be traded to the Yakult Swallows soon after the Fighters were rechristened.
Over the four seasons between 1974 and 1977, the Fighters dwelled at the bottom of the Pacific League, but after improving to finishing in third place for three straight years between 1978 and 1980, manager Keiji Osawa finally led the Fighters to their second Pacific League pennant in 1981. With saves leader Yutaka Enatsu and starter Shigekuni Mashiba (who went 15–0 over the season) forming the heart of the pitching staff, the Fighters shined with offensive sluggers Tony Solaita, Junichi Kashiwabara, and Tommy Cruz. The team that year also featured various important players of smaller stature, like Makoto Shimada and Nobuhiro Takashiro. They would go on to play the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series, where the Fighters lost in six games.
At the time, the franchise shared Korakuen Stadium with the Giants, so scheduling games throughout the season for both teams posed a problem. League schedulers tried to avoid putting the Fighters and the Giants at Korakuen on the same day, but when they both had home games scheduled, league officials made the implicit decision that the Giants would play during the day and the Fighters during the night. One novel aspect of the Fighters was that they attracted armies of grade-school boys to sit in the outfield stands on weekend games under a "Young Boys’ Fan Club" promotion, starting the first organized fan club in Japanese professional baseball.
During the 1980s the Fighters hosted many of the Pacific League's leading pitchers, including Isamu Kida (led the P.L. with 22 wins in his rookie year in 1980; won MVP, Rookie of the Year the same year), Mikio Kudō (20 wins in 1982), Hiroshi Tsuno (recorded double-digit win totals in several years throughout the mid-eighties) and Yasumitsu Shibata (three-time All Star; recorded no-hitter in 1990). Yukihiro Nishizaki particularly stood out, recording 15 wins and an ERA under three in each of his first two years (though the Rookie of the Year title eluded him), racking up seven double-digit win seasons over the course of his eleven-year stay with the Fighters and gaining a considerable following from female fans due to his easy-going demeanor. In 1986 shortstop Yukio Tanaka joined the club; he remained with the team for 22 seasons, becoming known as "Mr. Fighters."
From 1988 until the move to Hokkaidō, the Fighters played their home games in Tokyo Dome, the stadium that replaced their longtime home Korakuen. After the Dome was finished, the pitching dominance of Yukihiro Nishizaki and Yasumitsu Shibata began to emerge. Keiji Osawa came out of retirement to manage the team for a third time in 1993, only to see his team sink to the bottom of the standings; he gained notoriety for kneeling to the fans at the end of that season, begging for their forgiveness. With the Fighters experiencing more managerial troubles in 1996, then-manager Toshiharu Ueda suddenly took a personal leave during a pennant race with the Orix BlueWave, eventually causing the Fighters to fade over the last month of the season. However, new life was born in Tokyo Dome in 1998. Hitters such as Nigel Wilson, Jerry Brooks, Yukio Tanaka, Atsushi Kataoka, Katsuhiro Nishiura and a young Michihiro Ogasawara formed what became known as the Big Bang lineup and subsequently shattered various batting records. They ran away with first place for the first half of the season, but a pitching collapse in the second half caused a fall of hi
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters