Asahi (baseball team)

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Asahi
Asahi Baseball Club VPL 11750.jpg
1929 Asahi baseball team
Information
LocationVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
BallparkPowell Street Grounds
Year founded1914
Year folded1941
Member of the Canadian
Empty Star.svg Empty Star.svg Empty Star.svg Baseball Hall of Fame Empty Star.svg Empty Star.svg Empty Star.svg
Induction2003

The Asahi was a Japanese-Canadian baseball team of amateur and semi-professional players that was based in Vancouver from 1914 to 1941.[1] The team won many league championships, particularly in the 1930s.[2]

History[]

The team was based in Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park—originally known as the Powell Street Grounds—in the city's Japantown.[2] Matsujiro Miyazaki, a Powell Street shop owner, was the team's first manager.[a] The team's championships included the International League (1919), Terminal League (1926, 1930), and Burrard League (1938–1940).[1][b] The team was disbanded when its members were dispersed across Canada due to the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II.[1]

Legacy[]

The team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003,[4] and the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.[5] The team was designated an Event of National Historic Significance on August 26, 2008.[6] A plaque honoring the team was unveiled in Oppenheimer Park on September 18, 2011, the 70th anniversary of the team's last game.[7][8] On April 24, 2019, the team was honoured with a postage stamp issued by Canada Post.[9]

In media[]

In December 2014, a Japanese studio released a period drama movie called The Vancouver Asahi starring Satoshi Tsumabuki and Kazuya Kamenashi.[10]

A 2003 documentary about the team, Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story, was directed by . Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the documentary combines archival film and dramatic recreations, along with interviews with the last of the Asahi. The 50-minute film garnered four awards including a Rockie Award for Best Sports Program at the Banff Television Festival and a Golden Sheaf Award.[11][12]

Heart of a Champion is a 2016 novel by Ellen Schwartz.[13] The story is about a boy named Kenji "Kenny" Sakamoto who aspires to be a baseball player for the Vancouver Asahi, but his dreams were crushed when the Canadian government issued an order for all Japanese Canadians to be placed in internment camps, then got permission to clear the land and make a baseball field. The novel has won a Silver Birch Award.

On February 19, 2019, a Heritage Minute was released, depicting an Asahi baseball game and the subsequent internment of a player alongside other Japanese Canadians. The short segment was narrated by the last surviving member of the team, Koichi Kaye Kaminishi, and novelist Joy Kogawa.[14]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Contemporary newspaper reports refer to him as "Harry Miyasaki".[3]
  2. ^ Other sources state that the team won "the Pacific Northwest crown eight out of 11 times from 1928 to 1941."[2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Hawthorne, Tom (October 21, 1994). "Rising sun shone". The Province. Vancouver. p. A59. Retrieved December 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c Elbe, Sean (December 5, 2011). "The Asahi Baseball Team". Montecristo. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  3. ^ "Harry Miyasaki Back to Asahis; Coaches Tonight". The Province. Vancouver. August 1, 1935. p. 19. Retrieved December 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Vancouver Asahi". Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  5. ^ "Vancouver Asahi". BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved 2009-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "Asahi Baseball Team National Historic Event". Parks Canada. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  7. ^ Frenette, Brad (September 17, 2011). "Japanese heritage forged on the diamond". Vancouver Sun. p. A11. Retrieved December 11, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Ivens, Andy (September 19, 2011). "Asahi Tigers earn place in history". The Province. Vancouver. p. A6. Retrieved December 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Takeuchi, Craig (24 April 2019). "Canada Post unveils Vancouver Asahi baseball stamp at Burnaby's National Nikkei Centre". Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  10. ^ The Vancouver Asahi at IMDb
  11. ^ "Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story". Collection. National Film Board of Canada. 2003. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  12. ^ Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story, Canadian Materials
  13. ^ "Heart of a Champion". rmba.info. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  14. ^ Takeuchi, Craig (19 February 2019). "New Heritage Minute takes Vancouver Asahi baseball story to national audiences". Retrieved 26 April 2019.

Further reading[]

  • Adachi, Pat (1992). Asahi: a legend in baseball. Asahi Baseball Organization. ASIN B000TW10SA.
  • Furumoto, Ted Y.; Jackson, Douglas W. (2012). More Than a Baseball Team: The Saga of the Vancouver Asahi. Media Tectonics. ISBN 978-4990617202.
  • Goto, Norio (2016). Story of Vancouver Asahi, A Legend in Baseball. Translation by Masaki Watanabe. Asian Canadian Studies Society. ISBN 978-1771364409.

External links[]


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