Japan's richest baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, could face an investigation after a newspaper report said they regularly burst the professional league's salary limit between 1997 and 2004. The Asahi newspaper reported that the Giants paid six players more than the maximum contract of 150 million yen ($1.78 million) to acquire their services. The total amount paid was reported as 3.6 billion yen.

The Giants denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement: "The maximum amount (of salary) is not a cap, it is more of a rough guideline. We have broken no rules."

Nippon Professional Baseball told Reuters on Thursday that they were "examining the case and will check everything before making any comment."

Pitcher Koji Uehara, now at the Texas Rangers, is said to have received 500 million yen in 1998, while catcher Shinnosuke Abe got double that figure in 2000, the Asahi claimed.