Tempe History Society Lunch Talks

“Japanese American Baseball” By Bill Staples, Jr.

Wednesday, November 13, at 11:30 a.m.

While the story of the Negro Leagues has been well documented, few baseball fans know about the Japanese American Nisei Leagues, or of their most influential figure, Kenichi Zenimura (1900-1968). A talented player who excelled at all nine positions, Zenimura was also a respected manager and would become the Japanese American community's baseball ambassador. He worked tirelessly to promote the game at home and abroad, leading goodwill trips to Asia, helping to negotiate tours of Japan by Negro League All-Stars and Babe Ruth, and establishing a 32-team league behind the barbed wire of Arizona's Gila River Internment Camp during World War II.  Author Bill Staples, Jr. has written the first biography of the "Father of Japanese-American Baseball", Kenichi Zenimura. Stop by Tempe History Museum for this free talk presented by Tempe History Society with generous support from Friendship Village.