The Manzanar Baseball Project

Dan Kwong is organizing this fundraiser.

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The Manzanar Baseball Project will consist of a doubleheader to be played at Manzanar National Historic Site this Fall. (IMPORTANT UPDATE: DOUBLEHEADER WILL BE FOR PLAYERS & FAMILIES ONLY; IT WILL NOT BE A PUBLIC EVENT. HOWEVER IT WILL BE DELAY-STREAMED FOR INTERNET VIEWING. SEE "UPDATE" BELOW)

BACKGROUND

Manzanar was the first of ten WWII internment camps where Americans of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned without due process of law by the U.S. government. Overall, it was the largest mass incarceration in American history with 120,000 people being imprisoned between 1942 and 1945.

Uncertain if they would ever be free again, Japanese Americans did their best to create a sense of "home" in any way possible, with sports being one of the most important ways.

In the 1940s baseball was truly the National Pastime, by far the most popular sport in the country, and for incarcerated Japanese Americans it was no different. Baseball sprang up in every camp, where dozens of leagues were formed with hundreds of players. People were so hungry for a sense of normalcy, a way to feel proud, and a way to express their Americanness, games might draw a thousand spectators standing and sitting on bare ground in the blazing sun. It has been said that, without baseball, life would have been unbearable.

TODAY

The main baseball field at Manzanar is currently being restored to its wartime configuration. Upon completion it will be a new living testament to the determination and spirit of the Japanese American community and its ballplayers.

The Manzanar Baseball Project will feature players from the Japanese American baseball leagues of California playing a doubleheader to inaugurate the diamond:

Li'l Tokio Giants vs. Lodi JACL Templars - the two longest continuously active teams in California

North vs. South All-Star Game - with players wearing custom-made 1940s-style uniforms and using vintage equipment.

This year the event will be our "soft opening" of the field; for players and families only. In 2025 we will stage our Grand Opening, with the field fully finished, incorporating culture and performing arts into the day, and developing an expanded educational component. Our goal is to make this an annual tradition.

Manzanar Baseball Project will use baseball to bring attention to an often overlooked chapter of our nation's history, and highlight its lessons in freedom, justice and respect.