Games played earlier this year at restored Manzanar baseball field featured teams in retro-style uniforms.
Games will be played on the newly restored diamond. Volunteers are sought for the day-long event at the historic site.
RAFU STAFF REPORTS
After nearly two years of planning, fundraising and labor, the newly restored baseball diamond at the Manzanar National Historic Site will have its grand opening with a special doubleheader on Saturday, Oct. 18.
“It’s happening!” led the online post from organizer Dan Kwong, who has spearheaded the project from its inception.
A link for tickets went live last Sunday, and Kwong emphasized the very limited number of seats available. Up to four seats can be reserved at manzanarbaseballproject.eventbrite.com.
Kwong added that the event will be livestreamed for those not making the trip to the former incarceration site.
The schedule for Oct. 18 kicks off with a 10 a.m. game between the Lil’ Tokio Giants and Florin Athletic Club, followed by lunch.
Pre-game ceremonies will be held at 1:30 p.m., followed by an All-Star game.
Weather permitting, Obon danc-ing on the diamond will be take place at 4:50 p.m.
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,” Kwong told The Rafu Shimpo last year. “In a way I think we are following in the footsteps of Issei and Nisei, because that’s what they had to do. They the made beautiful gardens, they played sports, they practiced cultural traditions, they were not going to be stopped from living life.”
Kwong hopes to make the games an annual tradition on the field, which has been restored by scores of volunteers, from identifying markers of the old diamond and pulling weeds by hand, to the construction of the backstop, fan seats, and this week, the building of the raised announcers’ booth.
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.
A community activist, performance artist and avid baseball player, Kwong began playing in the Nisei Athletic Union in 1971 and has been with the Lil’ Tokyo Giants for 52 years, considered the longest career in NAU history.
A preview event was held earlier this year, with games that featured teams in vintage-style uniforms designed by Kwong and others, to reflect the aura of wartime baseball.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese American baseball teams were formed 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.
Former 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.
Kwong is actively reaching out for volunteers on Oct. 18. particularly for first aid personnel.
For more information, visit mzbbp.org or email Kwong at dkbb12@ aol.com.