Japanese American Baseball in California by Kerry Yo Nakagawa

Author:Kerry Yo Nakagawa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2014-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY AT TULE LAKE

California’s Tule Lake detention facility was primarily for hardcore internees and radicals who wanted to repatriate to Japan or who gave the “wrong” answers on a government questionnaire that was vague and could be misinterpreted. Some of these residents felt that if America was going to imprison them just because of their race, they wanted out.

Almost nineteen thousand internees filled the Tule Lake compound. They were divided into two main factions, one pro-Japan and the other loyal to the United States. This split in loyalty made for a highly volatile situation. Leading the pro-Japan block were Kibei—American-born Nisei who had been educated in Japan and were not only strong partisans of the Rising Sun but also particularly rabid baseball fans.

The camp attracted considerable notice from the outside world. On May 2, 1944, under the headline “All of Tule Lake Turns Out for Baseball Season,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Baseball season opened at Tule Lake Internment Camp on the heels of ceremonies celebrating the birthday of the Emperor of Japan over the weekend, the War Relocation Authority announced yesterday. Ceremonies Saturday were brief and the day passed without incident, according to the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The Tule Lake Baseball Convention was opened by project director Ray Best, who threw out the first ball for the opening game. More than half of the 18,000 residents of the center were present for the game, it was announced.” There were fifteen “major-league” and twenty-three “minor-league” teams for the 1944 season. On this day, the Manzanar team played the Poston squad. Manzanar and Poston players traveled to Tule Lake for the express purpose of the baseball tournament. At Tule Lake, there would be fans from their own regions or those who had transferred from another camp. As usual for any game involving the Manzanar team, there was a better than average turnout. “Our fans had an organized rooting section led by Kibei,” said Barry Tamura, a member of the Manzanar team. “They had the flags just like you see in Japanese stadiums today. We sure drew the crowds. They all wanted to see our cheerleading team.” This included a prominent group of burly fishermen from the harbor community of San Pedro who had a well-deserved reputation for being hotheaded and always ready to mix things up.

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