Life at Manzanar: Ben Yoshiwara
This article was written by Bill Staples Jr.
This article was published in How We Played the Game: Baseball at Manzanar, 1942–1945
Ben Yoshiwara, senior photo. (University High School, Chieftain yearbook, Los Angeles, California, 1940)
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, at 2:00 PM, Los Angeles Nippons pitcher Ben Yoshiwara stood on the mound in Los Angeles, staring down a lineup of Paramount Studio Cubs.1 In the third inning, FBI agents arrived, and murmurs about the attack on Pearl Harbor spread quickly through the ballpark.2 Yet, in this moment of extraordinary circumstances, the game continued. Under the watchful eyes of federal officials, Yoshiwara continued to wind up, deliver, and compete. He pitched the entire game, refusing to let the gathering storm break his concentration.
This surreal setting serves as the perfect metaphor for the life of Ben Yoshiwara. His journey was defined by resilience in the face of profound hardship and challenge. Whether he was navigating the racial barriers of prewar California, building baseball diamonds out of the desert dust of the Manzanar concentration camp, or rebuilding his life as a cornerstone of the postwar West Los Angeles community, Ben lived with the steady resolve of a man who knew that no matter the stakes, you take what life throws at you one pitch at a time, stay in the fight, and give it everything you’ve got.
Ben Yoshiwara was born on August 24, 1921, in Shasta County, California.3 He was a son of first-generation Japanese immigrants (Issei) who arrived in the United States seeking opportunity despite restrictive laws. His parents, Torajiro “Jack” Yoshiwara and Shimeno “Shime” Umezawa, had emigrated from Fukuoka, Japan, in the early 1900s.4 They wanted their son to be “all-American,” so they named him simply “Ben” and gave him no Japanese middle name, as was common for Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans).5 Robert Yoshiwara, Ben’s son, later noted, “My grandparents didn’t give my dad a Japanese name because they wanted to adopt American culture and assimilate.”6
By the time Ben was nine years old, the family had moved to Los Angeles. His father worked as a gardener and farmer, navigating the racial covenants and alien land laws of the era by carving out a niche in urban landscaping. For the Nisei youth of Los Angeles, baseball was the primary vehicle for cultural assimilation and acceptance.
In 1937, Ben entered University High School in West Los Angeles. Eventually growing to 5 feet 7 inches tall and 185 pounds, he possessed a sturdy, athletic build that earned him a reputation as a “fireplug,” low to the ground, incredibly strong, and explosive at the plate.7
When he wasn’t playing for University High, Ben competed with the Roscoe Playground softball team that was a microcosm of Los Angeles’s diversity. He played alongside Japanese American, African American, Mexican, and Caucasian teammates, proving that the diamond was one of the few places where merit could bypass prejudice.8
Ben’s talent on the diamond was validated by the company he kept. His teammate Vince Romero went on to pitch professionally for Crookston (Minnesota) in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.9 His opponents included John Rosier and Richard Weller, both of whom would sign professional baseball contracts.10
In 1939, Ben was named an all-district outfielder.11 In an era when mainstream media and scouts often overlooked Japanese American athletes, Ben’s inclusion in the district’s top tier was a testament to his athletic prowess.
After graduating in January 1940, Ben coached the University High JV baseball team.12 When he wasn’t coaching, he competed in the Japanese Athletic Union (JAU) with the West Los Angeles baseball club and the Royal Sportsman fastpitch softball team. Both teams were league title contenders. The JAU league featured hundreds of baseball teams and a level of community support that rivaled major-league towns.13
In November, he joined the LA Nippons, the premier Japanese American baseball club of Southern California.14 He was the quintessential utility player who could play the infield or outfield, catch or take the mound. Notable LA Nippon teammates during this era included:
- Pete Mitsui (1914–2011). Mitsui was a star pitcher at San Fernando High School and for the San Fernando Aces of the Japanese Athletic Union in the ‘30s and ‘40s.15 In the ‘90s, he participated in the Nisei Baseball Research Project (NBRP) player reunions, which culminated in the “Diamonds in the Rough” exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.16 In 2010, he was also named by Terry Cannon’s Baseball Reliquary as one of the Southland’s all-time high school baseball all-stars.17
- Jack Kakuuchi (1920–2009). Kakuuchi was a great multisport athlete who played football at San Jose State and went on to become a legendary coach at Citrus College in Glendora, California.18 During WWII he joined the Army, where he competed on the Camp Grant (IL) team that defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, on June 1, 1942. Jack played third base, went 1-for-4, and scored a deciding run in the tight contest.19 After the war, he married Manzanar softball star Rosie Maruki.20
- Ted Yoshiwara (1922–2002). Ted, Ben’s cousin, was also a multisport athlete; he was a celebrated football star and played catcher for the LA Nippons. He was Ben’s batterymate for many games, including the contest on December 7, 1941. Unlike Ben, he was not incarcerated, but instead served in the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regiment.21 His son, Jon, played pro baseball with the Portland Mavericks (1976‒1977), competing alongside major-league pitcher Jim Bouton and future Hollywood star Kurt Russell, and is featured in the award-winning Netflix documentary The Battered Bastards of Baseball.22
- Shigeo Tanaka (1923‒1999). Nicknamed “Muscles” due to his powerful build, Shig played center field and was a star slugger before the war and at Manzanar.23 After the Loyalty Questionnaire was issued in 1943, he and his family were sent to the Tule Lake camp in California. There, his younger sister Chizuka Tanaka married Hiko Oda and welcomed a son, Mineo Dan (Danny) Oda, in early 1946. The Tanaka athletic genes were passed down to future generations, and years later, in 2018, Danny’s grandson, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, won the National League MVP Award. (Thus, Shig Tanaka is the great-granduncle of Yelich, a Gosei—a fifth-generation Japanese American.24)
In the fall of 1940, Ben enrolled in Santa Monica Junior College, eventually earning a spot on the baseball team, and helping them secure an 8-7 record the following spring.25
A notable highlight from Ben’s prewar career occurred in October 1941, against the top-ranked Paramount Studio Cubs. In a contest played at the Pico Boulevard and Overland Avenue diamond in the Rancho Park area, the Nippons prevailed in a 12-inning affair, 6-4. The game was tied at 2-2 at the end of the ninth. Both clubs scored again in the 11th before the Nippons broke up the game in the 12th by pushing across three runs. Willie Hiroto doubled and Ted Yoshiwara singled in the last inning to drive home the deciding runs. George Okuda worked the hill until the end of the sixth inning and was relieved by Ben, who finished out the game with six competitive innings on the mound. According to The Rafu Shimpo, it was the first time in two years that the Nippons had defeated Paramount.26
Both teams looked forward to the rematch, scheduled for a crisp Sunday afternoon on December 7, at the Paramount Cub lot in Culver City, located at Venice and Overland Avenue.27 With Okuda unavailable for the game, Ben took the mound as the starting pitcher for the Nippons. Cubs player-manager Pep Lee tapped Venice High School star Danny Hile for mound duty.28 Fueled by Lee’s perfect 4-for-4 performance at the plate, Paramount ultimately defeated the Nippons, 6–3.29
Ben’s cousin, Ted Yoshiwara, served as his batterymate in the “Pearl Harbor game.” The game would soon be immortalized in the nationally syndicated cartoon “Seein’ Stars,” by Feg Murray. In February 1942, Murray’s article read:
First victory scored by the U.S.A. over Japan after the opening of hostilities on Dec. 7th was by the Paramount Studio Baseball Team, which defeated the Los Angeles Nippons 6 to 3. No one knew about the War until the 3rd inning. (Thanks to ‘The Hollywood Reporter.’)30
While the game marked a tragic turning point for the Nippons, Paramount Cubs pitcher Danny Hile eventually went on to play in the St. Louis Cardinals organization following the war.31
It was reported that after the final out was recorded and the Cubs claimed victory, FBI agents escorted the Japanese American ballplayers to their homes. However, some questioned the validity of that claim. On February 15, Rafu Shimpo sports reporter Richard Honma wrote, “That’s right, you’re wrong,” and explained:
Very interesting reading to be sure, the Nips guffaw, but many of us like Joe Suski, were at home within earshot of the loudspeaker when the flash came and, that should refute that quite satisfactorily.
Then again, we have another bone to pick with that astute journalist, Damon (The Brighter Side) Runyon. If it is true as he scoop-fully reported, that the Nips had to be ESCORTED from the field after the game, then, that’s so much news to the boys.
Honma concluded his editorial with concerns that would prove to be prophetic:
Most unforgivable of all, it seems to our rightfully sensitive, if disillusioned minds, is the unsympathetic or is it intentional practice of lumping American-Japanese with the overseas aggressor in the same category.32
The LA Nippons, the pride of the Japanese American community in Southern California, was effectively disbanded by the end of the day. The club attempted to play games under the name of the LA Travelers, however, the team withdrew from the Southern California Semi-Pro Baseball Association tournament just before the Christmas holiday, citing conditions created by the war.33
In early 1942, Ben and his fellow Travelers joined forces with a club called the Three Star Ayes. According to The Rafu Shimpo, the new season brought a new climate and a new set of self-imposed rules:
This week marks the first time in the … history of the J.A.U. that nisei athletics will be conducted under such strained and critical conditions. No doubt, since all of us are so thankful that we are permitted to continue normal sport activities, but we believe a sober note would not be out of order.
No one will deny the important role of sports in times such as these. As an uplifter for morale, sports has few equals. It is important however to keep in mind at all times, the gravity of the situation. We must not forget, for instance that our J.A.U. is existing and functioning in an area officially designated as combat zones and as such, is subject to the orders of the military at any time should the occasion arise.
Let’s Behave
Certainly we should keep tab on our behaviour at the courts, not only as athletes, but as spectators in the stands. Occasional fist fights and blatant manifestations of temperament and ill-will characteristic of not a few nisei games, would not be tolerated. It is not too much for any offending teams to be singled out and made examples of and a warning to others.
Sportsmanship is the keynote, more than ever this season…The consequences at stake are too high for any team or any single member of a team to cast unfavorable reflection on its innocent member teams.
Offenders should be punished
The J.A.U. as the properly constituted body should be on the alert for any infraction of behaviour or rules and punish offenders accordingly if only for the protection of the majority.34
While Ben and his Nikkei teammates demonstrated discipline and respect on the field, the same could not be said for Caucasian fans. From the stands, loud yells of “Remember Pearl Harbor!” were common. In a game between the visiting Nisei Three Star Ayes and the Caucasian Sacramento Freight Liners, hecklers shouted this rallying cry from the bleachers. It was the bottom of the ninth with Sacramento trailing, with minor-league journeyman Larry Barton at the plate, facing Kay Miyamoto on the mound.35 Barton blasted Miyamoto’s next pitch out of the park, giving Sacramento the victory, and foreshadowing the hostilities Japanese Americans were about to face in the coming weeks.36
After Executive Order 9066 was signed on February 19, life turned upside down for people of Japanese ancestry in America. Ben had some serious soul-searching to do. His son Robert explains, “After war was declared and EO 9066 signed by FDR, my dad was given two choices, to either join the Army or go into the camps. He chose the camps.” By the spring of 1942, Ben and his family were forcibly removed from their homes. Life would never be the same. Robert believes that his father’s trajectory in life was permanently altered by the war. “The World War II camp experience really blurred or stunted my father’s ambition in life,” said Robert. “Before the war, he was accepted to attend UCLA, and most likely would have tried to play ball there.”37
By May 1942, EO 9066 had transformed Ben into an “evacuee.” He and his family were first sent to the Owens Valley Reception Center, and then on to the Manzanar concentration camp.38
Ben Yoshiwara (center, bottom row) as a member of the 1941 Santa Monica Junior College baseball team. (Photo: Santa Monica Junior College yearbook, 1941)
Ben’s time behind barbed wire was well-documented in the camp newspaper, the Manzanar Free Press. After he arrived at Manzanar in the summer of 1942, he immediately assumed leadership roles in the camp community. In late July, he was named the assistant men’s athletic director, where he helped plan and organize the recreational activities of the camp. He acted as the primary liaison for team managers and was tasked with collecting rosters to organize the first formal baseball and softball seasons.39 His work during this period was crucial in transforming a desolate environment into a community with structured social activities, giving incarcerees a sense of normalcy and hope behind barbed wire.
By 1943, Yoshiwara made a name for himself beyond the front office and onto the field, establishing himself as one of the most versatile athletes in the camp. He split the softball exhibition season that spring between the North Stars and the Has-Beens.40 In fact, he recorded one of the earliest home runs in camp play as a Has-Been in a close 4-3 loss to the Skippers.41 He stuck with the Has-Beens for the regular season, which began in June, and tied for the league lead in hitting. In September, he played a pivotal role in leading a team of all-stars to a victory over the league champion Manzaknights.42
In late 1943, Ben joined the San Fernando Aces baseball club, playing third base and outfield and pitching.43 During this season, he faced significant physical adversity. On October 20, he was struck in the head by a pitch with such velocity that the ball cleared the 60-foot-high backstop.44 This was followed by a severe leg injury that was expected to sideline him for three months.45 Demonstrating remarkable grit and resilience, he returned to the field in less than a month, serving as both a starting pitcher and center fielder for the Aces.46 His commitment to the community was further evidenced in December when he organized a holiday event for the young people in Block 14.47
The year 1944 marked the peak of Yoshiwara’s team success. He was identified in the Manzanar Free Press as a former four-year high-school starter, a pedigree that was evident as he led the San Fernando Aces through the Manzanar 1943-44 Winter League.48 On February 16, 1944, the Aces defeated the Sears Nine 13-3 to win the baseball tournament championship. Yoshiwara played left field in the title game.49
In the spring of 1944, Yoshiwara expanded his athletic reach by competing in the camp’s tennis tournaments.50 He was granted short-term leave to travel to Denver, Colorado, during the summer, which signaled the beginning of his transition toward life outside the camp.51 He returned to participate in the Manzanar fall softball league with a club called the Canteens.52 His year concluded with a public expression of gratitude in November 1944, when he wrote a letter to the Manzanar hospital staff for the excellent medical care he received during his recovery from his injury the year before.53
Life changed for Ben and everyone else incarcerated in the camps on December 18, when the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Mitsuye Endo, declaring that the government could not lawfully detain “concededly loyal” citizens.54 The decision in Ex parte Endo forced the closure of incarceration camps and secured the eventual release of all Japanese Americans.55
In the final months of the camp’s operation, Yoshiwara achieved his greatest individual statistical feats. Serving as co-captain of the newly formed Red Sox, he became the most feared hitter in Manzanar’s final baseball season. In February 1945, he was selected for the Red vs. White All-Star game, and by April his batting average surpassed the .500 mark. His career at Manzanar culminated in May 1945, when he finished as the league’s leading hitter with an impressive .581 batting average (18-for-31 in the short seven-game season).56
Sadly, this period of individual success was soon overshadowed by family tragedy. In August, as the war in the Pacific drew to its violent conclusion, Ben’s father Jack passed away at the age of 58. His official cause of death was listed as terminal bronchopneumonia, a condition that often claimed those whose immune systems had been depleted by the cumulative stress and harsh environmental conditions of long-term incarceration.57 The death of Ben’s father serves as a poignant reminder of the physical toll the camps took on the Issei generation. He died as a prisoner of his adopted country, never living to see the official end of the war or the return of his family to their home.
Ben and his mother left Manzanar for Colorado on August 31.58 He continued to play ball. After their stay in Denver, where Ben earned an Honorable Mention at the 1946 Nisei Baseball Tournament with the Denver Bussei, they returned to a transformed Los Angeles.59 In 1947, he joined the San Fernando Aces baseball team and dominated local softball circuits with the Sugar Bowl team.60
On March 16, 1948, Ben married Fukiko Uchino of Gardena.61 The couple welcomed their first child, Jo-Allyn, the following February.62 With a family to support, Ben followed his father’s professional footsteps by becoming a gardener. For Ben, the occupation was also an extension of his athletic discipline: physical, meticulous, and outdoors. The work enabled him to build a stable life for Fukiko and their four children: Jo-Allyn, Robert, Bruce, and Staci Rei.63 As the only child, Ben also fulfilled the cultural expectation to care for his mother. “She moved into the house with the Yoshiwara family, cleaned, cooked all of the food, and made his lunch every day for work,” Robert recalls.64
As Ben stepped away from competitive baseball, he turned his energy toward community service. He became a cornerstone of the West Los Angeles Nisei Bowling League, organizing tournaments that served as a primary social hub for the Nisei.65 He served as a scout leader at the West Los Angeles United Methodist Church, ensuring his sons and their peers had the guidance he had found in sports.66 An avid photographer, Ben also volunteered at JACL track meets, capturing the speed and grace of the Sansei generation.67
Although Robert never saw his father play in his prime, he caught glimpses of that innate greatness. “One time when I was a kid, I challenged my dad to a footrace, and he blew me out of the water,” Robert remembers. “When we played ping-pong, he would play left-handed and still beat me.”68
Even though his mother was Buddhist, Ben encouraged his own family to be active members of the West Los Angeles United Methodist Church community. Robert explains, “Dad wasn’t religious. So instead of Buddhism, he steered our family towards the Methodist Church.”69
Ben’s later years were marked by a rough exterior that masked deep-seated pain. “Dad was very stoic. He didn’t share much and kept all of his emotions inside,” Robert reflected. “I knew that he was angry, and I suspect that most of that anger came from how he and other Japanese Americans were treated during the war. It was a tough time, a tough experience.” This emotional suppression took a heavy toll; Robert believes the bottled-up resentment and regret eventually contributed to his father’s declining health.70
Additional heartache arrived in 1966, when Ben was involved in a car accident that killed the other driver. The incident haunted him. “My father felt really bad about being involved in an event that ended with the death of another human being; he was plagued with guilt and remorse,” Robert says. “I remember being touched by seeing the human, compassionate side of my father, a man who showed little to no emotion throughout his adult life.”71 The resulting legal case, Huggins v. Yoshiwara, reached the California Supreme Court in 1970 and set a major legal precedent for liability and insurance coverage.72
The early 1970s brought quiet, difficult transitions. Ben mourned the death of his mother in 1972 and navigated a divorce from Fukiko. Though their father-son relationship had been tense during Robert’s teenage years, the two reconnected during this period, spending time together through Ben’s passion for bowling.73
On August 15, 1973, Ben died at the age of 51 from a bleeding ulcer.74 He was buried in Santa Monica, just a few miles from the high school fields where his journey began.75 Robert, now a parent himself, has found peace with their complicated history. “Looking back now, I think he did the best he could as a father, given his situation in life, the cards that he was dealt…I have a lot of empathy and forgiveness for him.” In honor of his father, Robert named his own son Benjamin Jesse Yoshiwara.76
Ben Yoshiwara’s legacy is not found in major-league record books, but in the enduring spirit of Nisei athletics—before, during, and after the war. He was a man who pitched through the initial shock of a national tragedy and helped rebuild a shattered community one inning at a time. Ben Yoshiwara remains a quintessential, quiet, selfless American hero, a man who knew that no matter the score, you compete until the final out—for the good of the greater team.
BILL STAPLES JR. is a SABR member in Arizona with a passion for researching and telling the untold stories of the “international pastime.” He’s a student of Buddhism who examines Nikkei (Japanese American) Leagues, Negro Leagues, and US-Japan baseball history to explore the themes of civil rights, cross-cultural relations, and globalization. His contributions to the SABR Baseball at Manzanar project are dedicated to his good friend Tetsuo Furukawa (1927-2023), who, at age 15, was incarcerated in Rivers, Arizona. Tets was a pitcher and a poet, who in his later years wrote haikus about his wartime experiences: “Red-laced balls and bats / tribute to barbed wire baseball / lucky we have HOPE.” To see the inspiration for Tets’ haiku, visit Nozomi Park in Chandler, Arizona. To learn more about Bill, visit zenimura.com.
NOTES
1 “L.A. Nips Meet Paramount Cubs,” The Rafu Shimpo, December 7, 1941: 17.
2 Richard Honma. “My 2 Cents Worth,” The Rafu Shimpo, February 15, 1942: 7.
3 California Birth Index, 1905–1995, s.v. “Ben Yoshiwara,” August 24, 1921, Ancestry.com.
4 Selective Service System, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, Oakland, Alameda County, California, Torajiro Yoshiwara, November 22, 1886, Ancestry.com.
5 According to Ben’s youngest son, Bruce Yoshiwara, his father’s first name is partly inspired by the Japanese word for lawyer, bengoshi (弁護士). (Bruce Yoshiwara, email to author, February 15, 2026.)
6 Robert Yoshiwara, telephone interview with author, December 20, 2025. (Robert is the oldest son, and second child of Ben Yoshiwara.)
7 “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” Ancestry.com, accessed February 14, 2026, entry for Ben Yoshiwara, North Hollywood, California; citing Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration, Record Group 147, National Archives and Records Administration.
8 “Valley Champions Train for City-Wide Softball Play-Off,” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, August 12, 1938: 2.
9 Vincent Romero profile on Baseball-Reference.com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=romero001vin.
10 John Rosier profile on Baseball-Reference.com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=rosier001joh; Richard Weller profile on Baseball-Reference.com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=weller001ric.
11 “Lopez, Briles Named as Top Pitchers,” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, May 10, 1939: 16.
12 University High School, Chieftain (Los Angeles), 1940, 277 (image 277), Ben Yoshiwara, in “U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900-2016,” Ancestry.com, accessed February 14, 2026.
13 The prewar JAU became the Nisei Athletic Union (NAU) after WWII.
14 “Ben Yoshiwara Makes Debut,” The Rafu Shimpo, November 17, 1940: 16.
15 Steve Henson, “For Some, Baseball Was More Than a Pastime,” Los Angeles Times, September 29, 1997: A1, A20
16 Henson, “For Some, Baseball Was More Than a Pastime.”
17 Terry Cannon, “Terry Cannon’s All-Time Southland Baseball All-Stars,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2010, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jul-12-la-sp-0713-cannons-team-20100713-story.html.
18 “Los Angeles Nippons,” The Rafu Shimpo, August 25, 1941: 7.
19 Corp. Bill Wadel, “Camp Grant Warriors Win from Chicago Cubs: Winning Run Is Scored in Last Inning,” Rockford (IL) Morning Star, June 2, 1942: 10.
20 Bettina Boxall, “Camp Revisits Ugly Side of War Effort,” Ann Arbor (MI) News, December 16, 2002: A3.
21 Henson, “For Some, Baseball Was More Than a Pastime.”
22 “The Battered Bastards of Baseball,” IMDb.com, accessed February 10, 2026, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3445270/.
23 “Nippons Set for First of Three Games Sunday at Terminal,” The Rafu Shimpo, August 15, 1941: 2.
24 Bill Staples, Jr., “Christian Yelich JA Camp Connections,” March 4, 2023, https://bit.ly/Yelich_JA_geneaology.
25 Santa Monica Junior College, SaMoJaC (yearbook), (Santa Monica, CA: 1941), 136, in “U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900–2016,” Ancestry.com, accessed February 14, 2026.
26 “L.A. Nippons Win 12 Inning Contest,” The Rafu Shimpo, October 27, 1941: 8.
27 “L.A. Nips Meet Paramount Cubs.”
28 “Venice Athlete to Pitch for Cubs Tomorrow,” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, December 6, 1941: 12.
29 “Paramount Cubs Nip Nipponese, 6 to 3,” Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1941: 25.
30 Feg Murray, “Seein’ Stars,” South Bend Tribune, February 8, 1942: Comic Section.
31 Danny Hile profile on Baseball-Reference.com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hile–001dan.
32 Richard Honma. “My 2 Cents Worth,” The Rafu Shimpo, February 15, 1942: 7.
33 “L.A. Nippons Will Not Play Scheduled Games,” Kashu Mainichi Shinbun (Los Angeles, CA), December 20, 1941: 4.
34 Richard Honma, “My 2 Cents Worth,” The Rafu Shimpo, January 25, 1942: 7.
35 Larry Barton profile on Baseball-Reference.com, https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=barton001law.
36 Richard Honma, “My 2 Cents Worth,” The Rafu Shimpo, January 25, 1942: 7.
37 Robert Yoshiwara.
38 “U.S. Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1942-1946,” Ancestry.com, accessed February 10, 2026.
39 “People’s Voice …,” Manzanar Free Press, July 27, 1942: 2.
40 “Has Beens, Skips to See Action,” Manzanar Free Press, May 1, 1943: 6.
41 “Skippers Squeeze Has Beens, 4-3,” Manzanar Free Press, May 12, 1943: 4.
42 “All-Stars Blast Knights, 8-4,” Manzanar Free Press, September 15, 1943: 4.
43 “Aces Too Much for Sears,” Manzanar Free Press, October 6, 1943: 4.
44 “Aces Annihilate Los Santos, 28-7,” Manzanar Free Press, October 20, 1943: 4.
45 “Sport Core,” Manzanar Free Press, October 27, 1943: 4.
46 “Aces in 3rd Consecutive Victory; El Santo Victim,” Manzanar Free Press, November 17, 1943: 4.
47 “Around the Blocks,” Manzanar Free Press, December 15, 1943: 3.
48 “Diamond Dusters…S.F. Aces,” Manzanar Free Press, January 19, 1944: 4.
49 “Aces Eliminate Sears Nine 13-3 to Capture Baseball Pennant,” Manzanar Free Press, February 16, 1944: 1, 4.
50 “Tennis Finals Sunday,” Manzanar Free Press, May 27, 1944: 4.
51 “Arrivals,” Manzanar Free Press, July 1, 1944: 3.
52 “Canteeners Dropped by Yogore Squad, 8-1,” Manzanar Free Press, September 16, 1944: 4.
53 “Thanks,” Manzanar Free Press, November 4, 1944: 2.
54 “Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283 (1944),” Justia: U.S. Supreme Court, accessed February 1, 2026, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/323/283/.
55 “Remembering Mitsuye Endo and the Supreme Court Case That Helped End Incarceration,” Densho Catalyst, December 16, 2025, https://densho.org/catalyst/remembering-mitsuye-endo/.
56 “Benny Yoshiwara Slugs Way to League Batting Crown,” Manzanar Free Press, May 12, 1945: 4.
57 Jeffery F. Burton, Jeremy D. Haines, and Mary M. Farrell, I Rei To: Archeological Investigations at the Manzanar Relocation Center Cemetery, Manzanar National Historic Site, California (Tucson, Arizona: Western Archeological and Conservation Center, National Park Service, 2001), 91, https://npshistory.com/series/anthropology/wacc/79/report.pdf.
58 “U.S., Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1942-1946”
59 “Ordway Nine Stops Denver Bussei; Nabs Tri-State Nisei Baseball Crown,” The Rafu Shimpo, September 6, 1946: 1.
60 “Kido Handcuffs Hitless Cleaners 5-0,” The Rafu Shimpo, October 3, 1947: 1.
61 “California, U.S., County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980,” Ancestry.com, accessed February 14, 2026) entry for Ben Yoshiwara and Fukiko Uchino, March 16, 1948; citing California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
62 “Jo-Allyn Yoshiwara,” Find a Grave, accessed February 14, 2026, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161986250/jo-allyn-yoshiwara.
63 “Ben Yoshiwara,” Find a Grave, accessed February 14, 2026, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161986252/ben-yoshiwara.
64 Robert Yoshiwara.
65 Tosh Kinjo, “Finger Tip release,” The Rafu Shimpo, February 7, 1964: 1.
66 Robert Yoshiwara.
67 “WLA Junior Track Meet to Go Sunday,” The Rafu Shimpo, May 12, 1964: 1.
68 Robert Yoshiwara.
69 Robert Yoshiwara. Robert’s middle name is Wesley, a popular name in Methodist church history.
70 Robert Yoshiwara.
71 Robert Yoshiwara.
72 “Huggins v. Yoshiwara,” Justia: U.S. Law, accessed February 19, 2026, https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/2/200.html.
73 Robert Yoshiwara.
74 “Deaths: Yoshiwara, Ben,” Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1973: Part II, 4.
75 Ben Yoshiwara, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161986252/ben-yoshiwara.
76 Robert Yoshiwara.