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Baseball

Japanese Americans in Baseball

"During the 1930s and 1940s – the so-called "golden era" of Japanese American baseball – hundreds of Nisei clubs spanned the diamonds within large and small cities and farming communities, primarily in the American West, to compete for athletic and cultural honors. Wearing wool uniforms that bore such names as "Nippons," "Asahis," and even such major league inscriptions as "Dodgers" and "Giants," teams playing games on well-manicured fields in the Los Angeles area, gravel pits in Hood River, Oregon, and within the orchards of Central California, among other places, drew the attention of entire communities and fostered strong relationships among the players and the baseball aficionados. Some community members also saw baseball as another element in the advancement of acculturation within the American mainstream, and in the 1940s, Nisei baseball served as an important core for morale building during the dark days of internment."
(excerpt from Samuel D. Regalado, "Rural and Urban Nisei Baseball – A Comparison." In: Brian Niiya, ed. More Than a Game: Sport in the Japanese American Community. Los Angeles: Japanese American National Museum, 2000.)

Among the notable American Nikkei who have excelled at baseball are Wally Yonamine, Kenichi Zenimura, and Lenn Sakata.

Links to featured articles about Japanese Americans and baseball. Available only in Japanese.
多様な民族、文化が混在する米国社会。その中でスポーツは、ひとつの「共通言語」として、人種や性別による差別、貧困など、さまざまな壁を乗り越えるための懸け橋となってきた。米国でのスポーツと社会のかかわりについてリポートする。第一部は「日系人と野球」。イチローが活躍し、松井秀喜のヤンキース入りが実現する今日からさかのぼること約１世紀。１９００年前後から、野球は、米国に移住した日系人の間で重要な意味を持っていた。その独自の歴史と、関係者の思いを紹介する。（ロサンゼルス支局・内田　守俊）
Through a Diamond is far more than a history of the experience of Japanese American baseball. It is a compassionate description of the immigrant experience of the Japanese people as seen through the prism of America's grand old game of baseball.
Stories from the interviews of people who had an important role in Nikkei Baseball in the US and/or Japanese Baseball.
  • Ralph M. Pearce, From Asahi to Zebras: Japanese American Baseball in San Jose, California. (Japanese American Museum of San Jose)
Review: Asian Week by Sam Chu Lin. (October 21, 2005)
"Asahi, a club of the best AJA Senior League players, was the pride of the Japanese-American community, attracting big crowds for its games against the All-Hawaiians, All-Chinese, the Braves (Portuguese), the Wanderers (Caucasian) and the All-Filipinos before and after World War II."
Obituary for Funai, a high school baseball coach in Hawai'i for nearly 70 years.
Article celebrating the 100th anniversary of Hawai'i's most notable baseball franchise.
Examines the issue of whether or not the National Park Service should restore the baseball diamond at the Manzanar National Historic Site.


Japanese Brazilians in Baseball


Japanese Canadians in Baseball

  • Asahi (British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum)
Web page commemorating the induction of the Vancouver Asahi baseball team into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame on April 28, 2005. Includes (under the "History" navigation link) a roster of team players and managers from 1914-1941, and a link to a blog celebrating the induction.
A survey of Japanese Canadian baseball players, focusing primarily on the Vancouver Asahis.
  • Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Story (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2003?)
Review: Dan Enjo, "Much more than a sports movie". The Ubyssey August 13, 2003.
Bob Mackin, "Sleeping tigers awake on screen". The Vancouver Courier (August 5, 2004).
Julie Hunt, Review. CM: Canadian Review of Materials vol. XI, no. 10 (January 21, 2005).
The Japanese Canadian National Museum presents a new touring exhibition, curated by Grace Eiko Thomson. Levelling the Playing Field draws on in-depth original research into the Asahis and their era. The exhibition focuses on the stories of Japanese Canadians from the early years of the community in the Powell Street district of Vancouver's Nihonmachi (Japanese Town) until 1942. It features personal voices and experiences of the Asahi team members, their families and fans. Period reports from the Vancouver Sun, Daily Province, and News Herald, as well as the Tairiku Nippo and the New Canadian vividly recreate in context a feeling of the life and times of this proud team. The show relives the great moments and struggles of the champion Asahis with rare artifacts, photographs, histories, statistics, and baseball trivia specially gathered for this show. The exhibition presents material in three languages – English, Japanese and French – and is slated to travel to several Canadian museums.
Article reporting on the induction of the Vancouver Asahis into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on January 28, 2003.
"And while names like [Joe] Carter and Kirk McCaskill were front and centre, most of the people at induction day will come away remembering the gentleness, grace and humility of the five men who represented the Vancouver Asahi who were also inducted."
Obituary and profile of Ken Kutsukake (d. 2003), who played with the Vancouver Asahis and was their spokesperson at their 2003 induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
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