League except the Hanshin Tigers and Yakult Swallows (although Yoji quotes from an article from Chunichi Sports newspaper praising a leaping catch that Jack made to close the door against the Swallows). Nearly all are home games, filmed at Nagoya Baseball Stadium with extras in the stands. The only road game the Dragons play in the film is against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, filmed on location at nearby Okazaki Stadium in Aichi Prefecture. The Yokohama Taiyo Whales were rebranded the Yokohama BayStars by the time the film premiered in Japan in February 1993. The spring training baseball scene was filmed at Dedeaux Field on the campus of the University of Southern California. Uniforms All the uniforms, caps, and training gear featured in the film are authentic and current at the time of release. The Los Angeles Dodgers-inspired uniforms that the Chunichi Dragons players wear in the film—with the royal blue caps emblazoned with white "D" insignias in Casey font—are the same that the Dragons wore between 1987 and 1996. Oddly, the insignia on the Dragons cap is changed in the American theatrical release poster, emblazoned instead with a more angular "D" topped by a macron. The Dragons have never worn a cap like this. The Detroit Tigers cap that Selleck wears in the last scene of the film, when he is coaching a rookie at the Tigers spring training facility, is the same cap he donned while playing the role of Thomas Magnum in the classic television series Magnum, P.I. Tom Selleck, who hails from Detroit, Michigan, is a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan and former minority shareholder of the team. Models While the movie is entirely fictitious, certain characters and scenes are based on real-life personalities and events. The character of Uchiyama, manager of the team, is very closely based on Senichi Hoshino, who managed the Dragons from 1987 to 1991 (he returned to manage the Dragons from 1996 to 2001). The scene in which Elliot taunts an opposing pitcher who refuses to throw him a strike by gripping the bat upside down was apparently based on a real-life incident. Western player Randy Bass, playing for the Hanshin Tigers who was challenging Japan's single-season home run record in 1985, also tauntingly turned his bat around in protest. The African American sidekick role, played by Dennis Haysbert, is believed to be based on the experiences of several African American players in