Volunteers clear brush at the site of the Manzanar baseball field in November 2023, in preparation for exhibition games to be played there this fall. Below, the diamond begins to take shape on the same ground that was used by incarcerees during the war.
By GWEN MURANAKA
RAFU SENIOR EDITOR
Play ball! After more than 75 years, baseball will be returning to the Manzanar National Historic Site with a special doubleheader planned for this September.
During World War II, baseball provided welcome distraction from the grim reality of camp, with teams such as the Manzaknights and Dusty Chicks suiting up and playing on the field, located on the eastern boundary of the former concentration camp.
Organized by Dan Kwong, there will be two exhibition games that afternoon, featuring the Li’l Tokio Giants and the Lodi JACL Templars, and a North vs. South all-star game. The current target date is Sept. 21.
Kwong has established a GoFund-Me campaign, and as of late Friday, nearly three-fourths of the $40,000 goal has been pledged for the project.
Although Shohei Ohtani will no doubt be very busy, hopes are high that former Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu, Kurt Suzuki or other Nikkei Major Leaguers may make an appearance.
Kwong said the day will be akin to traveling back in time, with uniforms and baseball gear consistent with the game in the 1940s.
The event will also feature drumming performances by Makoto Taiko, a musical performance created by Nobuko Miyamoto, and a special appearance by The Samurai Centerfielder (performed by Kwong).
He is hoping this will be the first in what becomes an annual tradition.
“We’re going to this place of sadness and pain and do something joyful and wonderful,” said Kwong in an interview with The Rafu Shimpo. “In a way I think we are following in the footsteps of Issei and Nisei because that’s what they had to do. They made beautiful gardens, they played sports, they practiced cultural traditions, they were not going to be stopped from living life.”
Kwong is a community activist, performance artist and avid baseball player. He began playing with NAU in 1971 and has been with the Lil’ Tokyo Giants for 52 years, in what is considered the longest career in NAU history.
Bobby Umemoto, Lil’ Tokyo Giants manager, marveled at Kwong’s energy.
“He has such passion, whether it’s in performing arts or baseball. That in and of itself will make this something to remember,” Umemoto said.
Kwong’s mother, famed artist Momo Nagano, was incarcerated at Manzanar and instilled a strong sense of social justice in her son. Throughout his career he has created and performed theatrical works exploring Asian American identity in forums throughout the U.S., as well England, Hong Kong, Thailand, Mexico, China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan.
“Mom was in Manzanar (at age) 15 when the war started and she spoke very freely about camp life. I grew up hearing stories about Manzanar,” Kwong recalled. “We’ve been going there since I was 12 years old, because Uncle would take us fishing in Bishop and were there when there was nothing but the stone guard huts and old auditorium.”
In many ways, this baseball project brings together many aspects of his life, on and off the field of play.
“I have a lifetime relationship with JA baseball and a lifetime connection with Manzanar — all the work I’ve done as an artist with the JA community and experience producing events. It really is this interesting example that sometimes the universe puts you in the right place and the right time,” Kwong said.
Baseball has been part of Japanese American life since the beginning of the 20th century when baseball teams played in cities along the West Coast. When Japanese Americans were sent to concentration camps in 1942, incarcerees brought their jerseys, built baseball diamonds and formed leagues.
A quote from Manzanar incarceree Takeo Suo captured how important America’s pastime was for the Nisei.
“Putting on a baseball uniform was like wearing the American flag,” he said.
For years, the Manzanar baseball field was only indicated with a simple wooden sign, until a grant in 2023 raised funds to rebuild parts of the old park, including an announcer’s booth, bleachers, players’ benches, backstop, foul-ball poles and pitcher’s mound.
The project was proposed by the National Park Service and was enabled by The Fund for People in Parks, a nonprofit organization that provides private funding and professional services to enhance the visitor experience in western national parks.
Friends of Manzanar donated more than $15,000 for the effort. Founded by the late Lillian Kawasaki and Rose Ochi, FOM also raised funds for the recreation of the guard tower.
“It’s a wonderful idea. Wish we had thought of it,” FOM President Bruce Saito said of Kwong’s project. “All those projects are so meaningful and important to tell the story.”
In November, a group of volun-teers helped to clean tumbleweeds from the site. Among them were members of the Lodi JACL Templars.
Founded in 1915, the Lodi JACL Templars are among the oldest teams still playing. They won the state championship in 2015, as they celebrated their 100th anniversary amid fears it would be their final season. Happily, the Templars continue to play ball. The Manzanar game will be the first of their season.
Mike Furutani, a member of the Lodi JACL Templars, was among the volunteers. He also helped in the res-toration of Center Field, the largest baseball field at the Minidoka camp site, which was rebuilt at its historic location in 2016.
“I was at Minidoka, Idaho. That was my first time building a baseball field. We literally in a day and a half put the backstop up, cleared brush, built stands and benches. It was pretty cool,” Furutani said.
“When I heard about the Manzanar project, Kent Furukawa was the guy who initially mentioned it, we said, ‘Hell yeah, let’s go.’”
With sunscreen, water, gloves and a lot of elbow grease, the volunteers cleared much of the former field. For many it was emotional.
Furukawa, the team’s historian, noted that most of the members were incarcerated in Rohwer, Ark. and played ball there.
Among them was the Lodi JACL Templars’ longtime manager, Masato “Mauch” Yamashita, an infantryman with the 100th/442nd. On April 7, 1945, during a firefight, Mauch was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade blast. He was awarded a Purple Heart for the wounds he received and was also awarded a Bronze Star for his gallantry in battle.
“I stood on the mound since I’m a pitcher,” Furutani said. “It hit me, who the other guys who might have been standing here were. Who might have gone to the 442nd (Regimental Combat Team) and not come back.”
Returning from the war, Yamashita, who passed away on Dec. 7, 2011, devoted much of his time and re-sources to managing the Lodi JACL Templars. A field at Kofu Park in Lodi is named in his honor.
“When Mauch would tell me about Rohwer, he said they would go outside the camp to play locals,” Furukawa said. “I’d ask, ‘Did you guys win?’ He’d say, ‘Oh hell yeah, they didn’t even have shoes.’”
A Lodi resident, Jimmy Morita, played baseball at Manzanar and, according to Furukawa, is very excited about the project.
“Jimmy wants to throw out a first pitch. Not sure if it’d be for an all-star game or Lodi game,” Furukawa said.
In a December 2023 interview posted on Discover Nikkei, Morita recalled that there were 17 teams with names such as the San Pedro Yogore and San Fernando Aces.
“I used to pitch,” Morita said. “I was on a team, the Red Sox, and the Solons. They were named after the Sacramento Solons (a minor-league team that moved to Hawaii in 1961 and became the Hawaii Islanders).”
Much work will need to be completed in advance of the day, including field restoration, acquiring equipment and uniforms, and recruiting a team of volunteers.
Kwong said the mission of the Manzanar Baseball Project is high-lighting an often overlooked chapter in American history and the lessons that can be learned by future generations.
He thought about what it will feel like stepping onto the dusty field a few months from now.
“I will probably be laughing and crying at the same time. It’s going to be a moment so full of meaning. I imagine my mother and grandparents looking down on us and smiling at what we will accomplish. It really is a way to honor their spirit and bring it back to life in an interesting way,” Kwong said.
To donate to the Manzanar Base-ball Project, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ManzanarBaseball