BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//PYVOBJECT//NONSGML Version 1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:events.uid.2549@www.discovernikkei.org DTSTART:20100807T000000Z DTEND:20100807T000000Z DESCRIPTION:July 9\, 2010\n Vancouver\, BC\n For immediate release\n\nJapan ese Canadian National Museum and Carnegie Community Centre present\n <stro ng>Fifth Annual &quot\;Powell Grounds&quot\; Ball Game \n at Oppenheimer P ark\n Tribute to the Vancouver Asahi\n Saturday\, August 7\, 2010 10:30am- 2:00pm\n OPPENHEIMER PARK at 400 Powell Street \n </strong> FREE\n Are you a baseball fan? Come out to the renovated Oppenheimer Park on Saturday\, August 7th for a fun\, community baseball game. This annual event is a tri bute to the Vancouver Asahi Baseball Team. Sign up to play on a team\, or come watch the game. This family friendly event includes a historical disp lay of the Vancouver Asahis\, screening of the documentary film Sleeping T igers\, crafts\, and refreshments. Contact the Japanese Canadian National Museum to sign up to play on one of the teams.\n\nThis event is supported by the Powell Street Festival\, Vancouver Japanese Language School and Jap anese Hall\, and Vancouver Canadians.\n\n<strong>A Brief History of Vancou ver's Asahi Baseball Team</strong> \n From 1914 to 1941 this talented team of Japanese Canadian baseball players competed and won in the Vancouver s enior leagues\, instilling enormous pride in a community faced with racial prejudice and inequality. The Asahis played baseball like no others\, an d they were the only ethnic team in the league. Barely five feet tall\, & quot\;dancing shortstop&quot\; Roy Yamamura\, was incomparable racing arou nd the bases to steal the opposition blind. Long before Little League\, C oach Harry Miyasaki created three tiers of junior teams to nurture talent for the Asahi brand of &quot\;brain ball&quot\;. This club was legendary\ , and they had a dream.\n\nThis team began as an athletic club of young me n in 1914. After several years' transformation into a formidable team of disciplined players\, the Asahis travelled to Japan in 1921. Later they p layed against the professional Tokyo Giants. As William Humber writes in <em>Cheering for the Home Team: The Story of Baseball in Canada</em> \, by the late 1920's the Asahis were &quot\;the top gate attraction on the coa st\,&quot\; and they joined the top Vancouver city league at Athletic Park . Cheered for their brilliant strategies in fielding and pitching\, as we ll as their well-practiced bunting and base stealing\, they were the first Asian Canadian team to win the Terminal League Championship. They won thi s for the first time in 1926 and they continued to win it again and again. The Asahis were a dynasty\, and they went on to claim ten Vancouver seni or league championships and five Pacific Northwest championships in a row. Their days in the limelight came to a halt on December 8\, 1941.\n\nConf ined in internment camps during the Second World War\, the disbanded Asahi members began forming baseball teams in the British Columbia interior. T hey helped communities overcome bitterness and forged friendships with loc al residents. When they were again relocated at the end of the war\, many moved east to Ontario and Quebec to live and work\, but many continued to coach younger generations\, where their legacy lives on.\n\nThe Vancouver Asahi team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 a nd into the BC sports Hall of Fame in 2005.\n\nVisit online exhibition htt p://virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Asahi/\n\n<strong>Oppenheimer Park</stron g> \n Once known as the Powell Street Grounds\, Oppenheimer Park named for Vancouver's second Mayor\, David Oppenheimer\, was officially opened in 1 898. Occupying a city block\, this 0.98 hectare park is located in Vancou ver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood\, at the corner of Powell and Jackson Streets. In the 1930's the park was the only place where politic al gatherings could be held\, and was consequently the location for many D epression-era demonstrations. Today\, it caters to Vancouver's downtown e astside\, serving as a recreational and social centre for the community. Its facilities include softball grounds\, a basketball court\, children's playground a community centre\, and features many shaded seated areas. An other highlight of the park is the Powell Street Festival\, an annual mid- summer event celebrating Asian-Canadian culture.\n\nThe<strong> Japanese C anadian National Museum</strong> collects\, preserves\, interprets and exh ibits artifacts and archives relating to the history of Japanese Canadians from the 1870s through the present\, and communicate the Japanese Canadia n experience and contribution as an integral part of Canada's heritage and multicultural society.\n\n-------------------------\n Media contact\n Nic hola Ogiwara\, Museum Assistant &amp\; Program Coordinator\n National Nikk ei Museum &amp\; Heritage Centre\n nogiwara@nikkeiplace.org\n tel 604.777. 7000 ext.109 fax 604.777.7001\n 6688 Southoaks Crescent\, Burnaby\, BC V5 E 4M7 Canada\n www.jcnm.ca www.nikkeiplace.org DTSTAMP:20240419T192430Z SUMMARY:Fifth Annual Powell Grounds Ball Game URL:/en/events/2010/08/07/fifth-annual-powell-grounds-ball-game/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR