Curse of the Colonel: A Japanese Baseball Team Kept Losing After Throwing a KFC Statue in the River
Sports fans are a passionate breed. The same is true of baseball supporters in Japan, especially those of the Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers, based in Osaka, are known for having some of the most devoted and loudest fans in the country. Their enthusiasm, however, once turned into a national superstition.
It all began in 1985, when the Tigers won the Japan Series for the first time in over two decades. That night, downtown Osaka erupted into celebration, with thousands of fans flooding the streets and jumping into the Dotonbori River to honor each player by name. When it came time to cheer for American star Randy Bass, the crowd found an unusual substitute: a statue of Colonel Sanders standing outside a nearby KFC restaurant.
They tossed the statue into the river as if it were Bass himself, and the moment instantly became part of Osaka’s urban legend. What followed was one of the most famous and bizarre streaks of bad luck in sports history. The team’s championship high faded quickly, replaced by years of heartbreak and the growing belief that they had cursed themselves by angering the Colonel’s spirit.
A Celebration That Went Too Far
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The Hanshin Tigers’ victory in 1985 meant everything to Osaka. It was the team’s first championship in 21 years, and their fans, known as torakichi—literally “tiger maniacs”—took to the streets in full force. As chants echoed through Dotonbori, fans leapt into the river one by one, each representing a player. When they reached Randy Bass, who had become the face of the team that season, there was a problem.
No one in the crowd looked like him, so in true Osaka fashion, someone decided that the white-bearded Colonel Sanders would make a perfect stand-in. Within minutes, the KFC mascot was hoisted up and thrown off the bridge into the river.
The act seemed funny at the time, but after that night, the Tigers’ success vanished. They fell to the bottom of the standings multiple times and couldn’t reclaim the magic of 1985. Fans began to talk about the “Curse of the Colonel,” convinced that the spirit of Sanders had taken revenge for his impromptu swim.
The Long Search for the Colonel
As the years dragged on and the team’s losing streak grew, the missing statue became something of a mystery. Divers searched the Dotonbori River several times, hoping to recover it and end the bad luck. It wasn’t until 2009 that workers dredging the river finally pulled the Colonel out.
The statue was coated in sludge, missing its glasses and one hand, but it was unmistakably the same figure that had disappeared nearly 25 years earlier. After a priest performed a blessing, the restored statue was displayed near Koshien Stadium, the team’s home turf.
Still, the curse stayed. The Tigers made it back to the Japan Series in 2003, 2005, and 2014, but couldn’t clinch the title. The fans’ loyalty never wavered, but many half-joked that the Colonel’s full forgiveness had yet to be earned.
The Curse Breaks After 38 Years
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Then came 2023. The Hanshin Tigers finally broke their drought by defeating the Orix Buffaloes 7–1 to win the Japan Series again, exactly 38 years after the Colonel was tossed into the river. The city of Osaka erupted in joy, and thousands gathered at the same Dotonbori bridge where the curse began.
This time, instead of a plastic statue, a fan dressed up as Colonel Sanders took the plunge into the river and was immediately pulled back out, laughing. The symbolism wasn’t lost on anyone. After decades of frustration, the team had won, and the curse was considered lifted.
In 2024, KFC Japan officially retired the recovered statue. The company announced that the original figure had become too damaged to preserve, but before disposing of it, they held a small temple ceremony in Osaka. KFC Japan’s president, Takayuki Hanji, attended, offering sake and fried chicken as thanks for the Colonel’s unlikely role in Japanese baseball history.