(FORTUNE Magazine) – Japanese pining for an economic revival have been cheered by the success of Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. For diehard fans, the Tigers are a perennial disappointment. But it is an enduring national myth that when the Tigers win the Central League pennant, as they did in mid-September, ending an 18-year drought, their victory presages a period of prolonged expansion for Japan. The Tigers' 1964 title preceded a burst of furious growth. Their victory in the 1985 Japan Series ushered in another period of torrid expansion that culminated in the 1980s financial bubble. Analysts at Sumitomo Trust & Banking, planting slide rules firmly in cheek, predict that the Tigers' triumph in this year's pennant race ensures GDP growth of at least 1.5% for 2003.

Less widely acknowledged, however, is that the Tigers' latest victory was the result of the kind of hard-nosed restructuring most Japanese firms deplore. Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino is sometimes compared to Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. Like Ghosn, Hoshino, who came to Osaka from Nagoya, is considered an outsider who got results by shaking things up. Last year, after his first season as the Tigers' manager, Hoshino sacked 24 of the 70 players on his roster, replacing them with free agents lured from other teams. Among his best hires: Hideki Irabu, the hot-tempered pitcher who returned to Japan after a six-year run in the U.S.

To help the new squad stay motivated, Hoshino required veterans and rookies alike to compete for positions in the lineup. He pitted pitcher against pitcher, shortstop against shortstop, and benchmarked performance every game. He held members of his coaching staff directly accountable for the performance of their players and gave each an earful when their charges committed an error. Unlike other Japanese managers, Hoshino renews his contract one year at a time. "I hate the idea of being tied down," he said recently. Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui, an Osaka native and lifelong Tigers fan, praises Hoshino for strong leadership and an innovative business model, an "essential combination to make corporate recovery possible." Perhaps in the off-season, Fukui could persuade Hoshino to manage a few banks.