Kerry Yo Nakagawa will discuss his book, Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball on Friday September 19, 7 pm Community Roomat the Altadena, Calif. library, located at 600 E. Mariposa.
Following his talk will be a screening of American Pastime, the award-winning film he produced. This powerful film tells the story of the dramatic impact WWII had on the home-front as Japanese American families were uprooted from their everyday lives and placed into internment camps in the Western US in the early 1940’s. Faced with a country that now doubted their loyalty and struggling with their new situation, they turned to baseball as a way to handle their plight and find the strength to stand up for themselves becoming a true symbol of honor and pride. Copies of this award winning film on DVD will be available for sale the evening of the program.
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I highly recommend that anyone interested in baseball history should make the effort to meet Kerry Yo Nakagawa. Founder of the Nisei Baseball Research Project, Kerry is an amazing fount of information on Nisei Baseball, another “league of their own” from the era before integrated professional sports. It is from him I learned the major leagues were actively scouting Japanese ballplayers in the late 30s and early 40s. Who knows? If not for WWII, perhaps the first man to break the color barrier in organized baseball would have been named “Takeshita” and not Robinson. (An inside joke; you’ll have to watch the movie!)
Kerry and his son Kale have small parts in the movie, which stars American actors Gary Cole, Sarah Drew, Jon Gries, Leonardo Nam and Aaron Yoo, as well as Japanese superstar celebrities Masatoshi Nakamura and Judy Ongg. Also, look for a cameo by John Kruk as the PA announcer during the climactic game between the Topaz internees and local Yankee affiliate Abraham Bees. “Go for broke!” . . .BeesGal
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