Kenichi Zenimura - Japanese American Baseball Pioneer

For the first time in U.S. census history, the 1940 count included questions about income. The purpose was to capture a snapshot and better understanding of the economic struggles faced by indiv...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-1940-census-reported-incomes-of.html

When we think about ballplayers who competed in both the Negro Leagues and MLB , most people envision (and logically, so) that the sequence of events involves a player who FIRST competed in t...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2024/03/rare-color-line-crossings-mlb-first.html

IN HONOR OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: When highlighting women who competed on the same field as men in the Negro Leagues, the name JOSEPHINE BROWN is rarely mentioned. In 1911, Louisville Tigers...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2024/03/international-womens-day-celebrating.html

... STILL IGNORED. On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that it was formally recognizing seven Negro Leagues as major leagues and adopting the statistics of the more than...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-negro-leagues-are-major-leagues.html

by Bill Staples, Jr. "IF THERE WAS MORE BASEBALL PLAYED IN OTHER COUNTRIES, THIS WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE." - TAKIZO “FRANK” MATSUMOTO (1902-1958), INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL AMBA...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-history-of-baseball-in-india-1874-1947.html

Silvio Garcia could have been the first Black player (in modern times) to join the Major Leagues.  The following is a translated article from the September 2, 1977 issue of the El Miami Herald,...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2023/10/silvio-garcia-before-jackie-robinson.html

Back in 2002, I met Pete Rose at a baseball fantasy camp and there he shared his advice on how to get out of a slump. He says: Don't overthink it. Don't over-adjust. Don't change your stance o...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-end-slump-pete-roses-advice-for.html

By Bill Staples, Jr.  Image: Custom baseball card of Bill Pettus, created by the author. On August 13, 1924, BILL PETTUS celebrated his 40th birthday. Nine days later he was dead. The Negro...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2023/08/bill-pettus-biz-mackey-death-of-mentor.html

  JOSE HONMA NAKAMURA is a Japanese-Cuban pitcher who began his pro baseball career in the U.S. in 1949 with the Abilene Blue Sox of the West Texas-New Mexico League. He was born in Cuba on Ju...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2023/07/nikkei-baseball-in-texas-jose-honma.html

JESSE “HOSS” WALKER was a baseball lifer. His career lasted 31 years, from 1925 to 1956. He was a starter in multiple East-West All-Star Games and competed in the Negro League World Series....

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-international-origins-of-jesse-hoss.html

By Bill Staples, Jr.  In December 1949, Cleveland Browns defensive back WARREN LAHR contacted Cleveland Indians general manager HANK GREENBERG and requested a tryout with the team. The 25-y...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/10/nfl-star-warren-lahr-and-his-lifelong.html

TOURING MLB ALL-AMERICANS HONOR ALEXANDER CARTWRIGHT IN HAWAII, JANUARY 23, 1923  The Digital Archives of Hawaii is in development and offers some interesting artifacts available for public vie...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/10/baseball-photo-mystery-solved-1922-mlb.html

  Image: Top left: Admiral Osami Nagano; right: Babe Ruth meets with Japanese Naval cadets after the game at Yankee Stadium, September 29, 1927. Imagine if during the historic home run race...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/09/osami-nagano-japanese-admiral-who.html

WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE BASEBALL TEAM WHEN YOU WERE A KID? Most likely, it's also the team you watched when you fell in love with the game.  In my formative years I lived in Alief, a suburb of ...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-greatest-outfield-trios-in-mlb.html

By Bill Staples, Jr.  Back in 2012, I purchased a framed uncut sheet of baseball cards from early 1950s Japan known as the "JCM 21 set" and have had it hanging on the wall of my home offic...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/07/menko-meditations-art-order-of-jcm-21.html

by Bill Staples, Jr. “They (the Japs) are like the Cubans – too small to be big players ... That's the trouble with all foreigners. Base ball will always be an American game." – Cy Young...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/01/renaming-the-cy-young-award.html

ARIZONA’S TIES TO JAPANESE BASEBALL: 1936 & 2021 Even if you’re not a baseball fan, the odds are good that you’ve heard the name Shohei Ohtani. Known to his Los Angeles Angels teammates a...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2022/01/arizonas-ties-to-japanese-baseball-1936.html

BY BILL STAPLES, JR. Before MLB integration, Japanese American (Nikkei) ballplayers faced DISCRIMINATION ON AND OFF THE FIELD. THEY ALSO PLAYED AGAINST AND DEFEATED NEGRO LEAGUE TEAMS. DESPITE...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2021/01/baseballs-other-colored-leagues.html

Please support the "RISE TOGETHER WITH CARVER" GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN . ** I have disappointing news to share -- our good friends at the George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center were the...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/09/hate-watch-from-celebrating-negro.html

For country singer Charley Pride, baseball pioneer JACKIE ROBINSON was a larger than life figure. “Jackie Robinson looked to me as if he was 11 feet tall,” Pride said in a 1986 interview....

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/09/pride-of-negro-leagues-country-charley.html

William F. Buckley Jr. (1925 - 2008) was an American public intellectual and conservative author and commentator. In 1955, Buckley founded National Review, a magazine that "stimulated the co...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/09/jackie-robinson-registered-independent.html

Before Opening Day, Texas Rangers’s beat reporter Levi Weaver wrote about the team honoring the Centennial of the Negro Leagues (1920-2020). At the time, the Rangers played a three-game intr...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/08/where-did-ernie-play-mr-cubs-career.html

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan were scheduled to begin on July 24 . As we all know, that did not happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, to get my Tokyo Olympic fix, I turned to The ...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/07/kon-ichikawa-hits-home-run-with-tokyo.html

In a 1937 interview, Joe Barnes talked about the games he played when he was growing up as a slave in Texas. He said when he was young he and the other kids would play marbles and chase rabbits, ...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/07/sort-of-like-baseball-mlb-texas-rangers.html

I'll be honest. I did not know the name WILLIAM ERROL THOMAS, JR. until today. Thanks to the fascinating article "OLD GLORY" BY ERIC NUSBAUM , I learned the identity of the man who on April 2...

http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2020/07/baseball-and-burning-american-flag.html