Brought aggressive American style to Japanese baseball

Returning to Maui during baseball off-seasons to remind himself of the hard work required to succeed His parents' experience with Japanese resistance toward intermarriage with Okinawans Brought aggressive American style to Japanese baseball The privations of living in post-war Japan, 1952 Training for football by carrying 100-lb bags of grass over mountains Working in cane fields as teenager to supplement family income Working in cane fields as teenager, and how it helped in his athletic training (Japanese)

Transcripts available in the following languages:

When I went to Japan, the Japanese, they weren't aggressive and I would say, they hit a ground ball to the shortstop and would just jog to first base. And I changed all that. So even when I was in Japan, I made a speech at a place there and the old-timers came up to me and said, 'You changed Japanese baseball.' Because, when I went there, I did real American style. You know double plays, I'd break double plays. And I used to run out from the dugout all the way to center field and run back, and everybody used to see that. The Japanese were so slow, you know?

Date: December 16, 2003
Location: Hawai'i, US
Interviewer: Art Hansen, John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

baseball