The Nisei Baseball Research Project is recognizing the members of the 1945 Gila River Butte High Eagles baseball team and the state-champion Tucson High Badgers who played against each other on April 18, 1945, in Rivers, Arizona – the Japanese-American internment camp on the Gila River Indian Community – and was later described by head coach Kenichi Zenimura as “one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of Butte (Gila River) baseball.” In the game, the Eagles defeated the three-time state champions Badgers 11-10 in ten innings.

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LEGENDARY TUCSON HIGH AND JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT BASEBALL TEAMS TO REUNITE
Historic WWII-era baseball game celebrated as a model of American sportsmanship

FRESNO, CA. - (April 18, 2006) The Nisei Baseball Research Project (NBRP) is proud to announce that the members of the 1945 Gila River Butte High Eagles baseball team and state-champion Tucson High Badgers will participate in a reunion weekend on August 12-13, 2006, in Tucson, Arizona.

Both teams are scheduled to receive special recognition through events sponsored by the NBRP, Tucson High alumni organizations and the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. Preliminary activities for the reunion weekend include a dinner on August 12 and team recognition on August 13 during “Hall of Fame Night” at Tucson Electric Park, home of the Tucson Sidewinders, Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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