The manager of the team was Warren Cromartie (aka "Cro"), an American who had played for a number of years in the Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball league.

The Samurai Bears were one of eight charter teams in the Golden Baseball League that began play in 2005 joining the likes of the Chico Outlaws, Fullerton Flyers, Long Beach Armada and San Diego Surf Dawgs of California; the Mesa Miners, Surprise Fightin' Falcons and Yuma Scorpions of Arizona.

They replaced the Tijuana Toros, who were supposed to be one of the original eight teams, but who were unable to play due to the Baja California State Government seizing their stadium with police troops and turning it over to the Mexican League a few months before the start of the GBL season.

They had 3 pitchers (Hideki Nagasaka, Takaaki Igarashi, and Rentaro Seki) on the Arizona Division all-star team.

First baseman Yuji Nerei was a Gold Glove winner and led the team in home runs and RBI, in addition to several other offensive categories.