1. An American Past time: Baseball in Japantowns
Baseball was a very popular past time for the early Japanese communities and the first official team that was formed was the San Francisco Fuji in 1903. San Jose got its own team in 1913 called the San Jose Asahi who would have a long reign as one of the premier Japanese American baseball teams. In the Sacramento region the first team to form was in 1914 with the Florin Athletic Club and soon other teams would follow such as the Nippon Stars, the Nippon Cubs, and even churches had their own teams with the Japanese Baptists and the Japanese Presbyterians. The San Jose Asahi team proved to be very popular and was one of the first to play against white teams. In 1924 Meiji University sent its team to America to play against Japanese American teams and the San Jose Asahi beat Meiji University's team that same year. Impressed with the Asahi team Meiji University invited them to come play in Japan in 1925 and they won a record of thirty two games in both Japan and Korea. Other Japanese universities would send their teams over throughout the late 1920s and 1930s. The San Jose Asahi continued to be a dominant team in Northern California and won numerous championships throughout the 30s. In 1935 the Tokyo Giants came to America and played sixteen games against Japanese American teams and only the San Jose Asahi and the Los Angeles Nippons were the only ones to beat them. The Giants came again the next year and just barely beat the Asahi team by one run. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II broke up many baseball teams as some members were sent to different camps. The Asahi team reformed into the Azucars when they were at the Santa Aninta Assembly Center and after being moved to the Heart Mountain Internment Camp the team changed its name again to the San Jose Zebras. After the war new teams were formed such as the Sacramento All-Stars and the San Jose Cardinals. The Zebras continued to play and won more championships and again underwent a name change in 1959 being called the San Jose Nisei Tigers. Unfortunetly this was the last hurrah of the team who ended their long career in 1961. By the 1960s the color barrier for the minor and major baseball leagues was being erorded and the first Japanese player to enter the major leagues was Masanori Murakami who joined the San Francisco Giants in 1964. Throughout the 1960s and 70s local Japanese baseball teams came and went but now many players joined the big leagues to play professionally.