Manzanar Men’s Winter Baseball League, 1943-1944: Everything Came up Aces

The San Fernando Aces won the Manzanar winter baseball league (1943-44) and are shown here with their championship banner. (Courtesy of Mitsui family)

 

After traversing many hardships in the construction of the large baseball diamond, referred to by the Manzanar Free Press camp newspaper as the “Pride of Manzanar,” the camp baseball association raced to get an eight-team hardball league season going by the latter half of 1943. A deadline was set for teams to register, but due to a misunderstanding, there was one too many entrants. This necessitated a play-in tournament in which the last three teams to register, YBA, Tony’s Alley, and the Solons, were required to play elimination games.

In the first elimination game, Tony’s Alley was defeated by the Solons in a close 12-10 contest. This result anointed the Solons as the seventh team in the league. However, all hope was not lost for Tony’s Alley, which moved on to face YBA with the winner to complete the eight-team league.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Tony’s Alley was looking to prove their worth. It was the heroic pitching of their starting pitcher Masao Sanohigashi, who struck out 14 YBA batters, that propelled Tony’s Alley to not just a 9-6 win and the eighth spot in the league, but also to a renaming of their team from Tony’s Alley to Los (El) Santos in honor of their star pitcher. It wasn’t a complete loss for the YBA, though, as many of their players were recruited to play on the other teams.

• San Fernando Aces
• Sears (previously known as the 7-11s)
• San Pedro Yogores
• Manzaknights
• Red Sox
• Skippers
• Los (El) Santos
• Solons

The official baseball season kicked off on September 25, 1943. According to reporting in the Manzanar Free Press, the games “ran smoothly until arguments between players and umpires arose.” A “practice league” served as a prelude to the winter ball season to give the players an opportunity to get a feel for the new nine-inch-circumference baseball. The San Fernando Aces clearly needed no practice as they finished with five wins and no losses at the conclusion of the practice league.

On October 30, 1943, the sports section of the Manzanar Free Press ran the headline “WINTER SEASON BASEBALL LEAGUE LAUNCHED.” To accommodate a full slate of games, weekend seven-inning doubleheaders on the diamond were scheduled. A 12:30 PM matchup between the Red Sox and Solons served as the first Opening Day game. The Red Sox started pitcher Jimmy Morita, who was opposed on the mound by Solons pitcher Yo Takahashi. The Sox jumped out to a four-run lead in the first inning thanks to a screaming three-run homer down the right-field line by center fielder Shig Morikawa. The Solons didn’t let what became a five-run deficit discourage them as they rallied in the fourth inning with eight successive hits to tie the score at five apiece. The Red Sox took the lead for good in the seventh inning when catcher Kane Ishino smacked a three-run home run. Red Sox first baseman Wally Yamada contributed a perfect five hits in five trips to the plate to help secure a 13-6 victory over the Solons.

The Yogores couldn’t have asked for a better start to their season in a contest versus El Santo. Yogores starting pitcher Isao Higashi hurled a sensational no-hitter, striking out 10 while issuing just one walk. The El Santo committed 10 errors, helping to give Yogores a no-doubt 15-0 win.

The Manzaknights and Skippers found themselves in a tight opening contest in which Knights starting pitcher Thomas Higa outpitched Skippers pitcher Junji Tani for a 4-3 win. It was the Skippers who struck first, scoring three runs in the opening inning on hits by Moto Shimizu and China Miyaki. Skippers center fielder Fumio Takade committed a costly error in the third inning when he dropped a fly ball that allowed the tying run to score. The Manzaknights broke the tie in the sixth inning when Thomas Higa walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on a drive by player-coach Min Watanabe. The Skippers had a golden final chance to at least tie the game, if not win it, when they loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning with only one out. L. Kawauchi proceeded to fly out, followed by a groundout from Miyaki to end the threat.

The San Fernando Aces carried positive momentum from their undefeated practice season into their opening game against Sears. The Aces’ lineup included the Tamura brothers, pitcher Jimmie Tamura, shortstop George Tamura, and catcher Barry Tamura. Jimmie started this day and did his part, giving up three runs while brother George scored two of the six runs for the Aces, who left the game with a 6-3 victory.

In their second game, Yogores pitcher Isao Higashi came ever so close to throwing back-to-back no-hitters as Yogores defeated the Solons, 13-1. If not for a misjudged fly ball in right field, Higashi would have pulled a Johnny Vander Meer.

The San Fernando Aces needed extra innings to defeat the Manzaknights in their second game. Bill Sugawara and Satoru “Sats” Mitsui provided the hits in the 10th inning that led to the 3-1 victory.

Pitcher Min Kosaka made his debut for El Santo against the Skippers in their respective second contests. Unfortunately, he and El Santo lost a heartbreaker when their 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning evaporated. The Skippers scored three runs and held on for a 5-3 win. The Skippers had left fielder Ted Kamoto to thank for the win as he hit two triples and a single.

The Red Sox kept pace with the Aces and Yogores by beating Sears, 12-8.

In a mid-November matchup between two of the three undefeated teams, Yogores pitcher Isao Higashi continued to pitch otherworldly. This time he was facing the Red Sox, whose defense committed eight errors, with almost every error leading to a run. The Red Sox found themselves on the wrong side of the 7-1 final score.

Min Kosaka found himself a hard-luck loser again for El Santo. He held the potent San Fernando Aces in check, but miscues by his mates led to three runs scored for the Aces in a game that was called after six innings. The 3-1 victory gave the Aces their third win in three games.

Wataru Okamoto, iron man catcher for the Skippers, hit the first home run of the winter league against the Solons in a 17-6 drubbing. Errors continued to plague some teams in the league, with the Solons being one of the worst offenders. Their 11 errors in this game cost them greatly.

Great pitching was a theme in the early going of the league and this was certainly the case for Thomas Higa of the Manzaknights, who shut out Sears on four hits while his teammates went on a scoring rampage in a 21-0 victory.

The weekend games preceding the Thanksgiving holiday included the greatest upset of the winter league season. The great, mighty, and undefeated Aces faced off against the Solons, who were starting a bespectacled sidearm pitcher by the name of Bill Horimoto. Horimoto’s funky delivery, fastball, and curve stymied the Acemen to the tune of just three hits. The Solons, who had to this point been one of the most error-prone teams in the league, fielded flawlessly while their bats generated seven runs against the usually stingy Ace pitcher, Jimmie Tamura. Solon third baseman Yo Takahashi had two hits and two runs scored. In the end, the Solons had handed the Aces their first defeat of the season by a score of 7-1.

The Red Sox continued their poor display of fielding with a second eight-error game that cost them dearly against the Skippers, who edged them by a score of 9-8.

Higa repeated his previous shutout performance, this time against El Santo. Manzaknights T. Kitaoka had three hits in four at-bats to support his pitcher and propel the Knights to a 7-0 victory.

During the Thanksgiving holiday break, Yogores found themselves alone in first place with four wins and no losses. Having been upset by the Solons, the Aces were in second position, tied with the Skippers and Manzaknights, each having three wins and one loss. The Red Sox were in fourth, playing .500 ball with two wins and two losses. The Solons had one victory to date while both the Sears and El Santo clubs had yet to win a game in four tries.

If there was any doubt about the American patriotism of the Japanese American incarcerees, it should be put to rest. Both the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving holidays were widely celebrated, despite the feeling that their government had betrayed them. And both holiday celebrations featured the playing of all-star baseball games.

A special all-star game in which the teams were named “Red” and “White” was played on Thanksgiving. Representing the Red team were the cream of the Yogores, Red Sox, El Santo, and Sears, while the White team was represented by star players from the San Fernando Aces, Skippers, Manzaknights, and Solons. All-star teams were picked by team managers. The rosters were as follows:

 

RED ALL STARS	POSITION
M. Kusaba	shortstop
G. Hattori	second base
T. Mukai	third base
T. Kamoto	right field
S. Morikawa	center field
J. Seko	left field
K. Ishino	catcher
K. Naka	catcher
M. Uragami	first base
E. Ogawa	third base
G. Shimizu	second base
J. Morita	pitcher
M. Murata	pitcher
I. Higashi	pitcher
T. Shimizu	shortstop

WHITE ALL STARS	POSITION
T. Kitaoka	right field
Y. Takahashi	pitcher
J. Yamaguchi	pitcher
Y. Tatsumi	third base
B. Yoshiwara	left field
T. Uyeda	right field
Y. Sawamura	catcher
T. Ito	second base
G. Tamura	shortstop
F. Takade	center field
G. Sugawara	center field
K. Morita	first base
N. Hino	first base
K. Maruki	right field
J. Tamura	pitcher
M. Shimizu	pitcher

 

An estimated 2,500 fans gathered to witness the Red-White all-star game. Jimmie Tamura of the San Fernando Aces, the starting pitcher for the White team, held the Red All-Stars hitless and scoreless through the first three innings. The White team tallied their first run in the second inning thanks to a bevy of errors by the Red squad. Yank Sawamura of the Solons reached base on an error, followed by Fumio Takade getting hit by a pitch. After two more errors, Sawamura scored.

In the fifth inning, the White squad led, 5-1, with Moto Shimizu of the Skippers on in relief of Jimmie Tamura. A series of errors, this time by the White team, allowed the Red team to get within a run at 5-4. A six-run outburst in the sixth inning, though, clinched the game for the White squad, which went on to claim victory by a score of 12-9. However, neither side could be too proud of its efforts, as the White and Red teams combined for 16 errors. M. Kusaba was the hitting star for the Red All-Stars with two hits and two runs scored in two at-bats. Y. Tatsumi and George Tamura each had two hits for the White All-Stars.

Coming out of the Thanksgiving break, the league-leading Yogores matched up with the Skippers. Skippers starting pitcher Junji Tani certainly showed no rust as he twirled a four-hitter to help upset Yogores, 7-3, throwing the league into a four-way tie for first place. To this point in the season, Tani had pitched all 37 innings the Skippers had played and had given up 35 hits. Catcher Wataru Okamoto was the hitting star for the Skippers with three hits to left and two runs scored.

Thomas “Soup” Higa of the Manzaknights must have enjoyed his Thanksgiving meal because he was dealing when the Knights engaged the Solons. Higa pitched a three-hitter giving up just one run as the Knights downed the Solons, 7-1, and grabbed a share of the four-way tie for first place. The Knights’ shortstop, Nob Hino, had two hits, including a triple, and two runs scored in their winning effort.

The San Fernando Aces used the Thanksgiving break to recover from their upset loss to the Solons by getting back into the win column against the Red Sox. Five first-inning hits led to nine runs scored for the Aces, who never looked back in their 12-9 victory. Ace batsmen Sats Mitsui, with four hits, and George Sugawara, with three hits and four runs scored, were the batting stars of the day.

December brought tough winter conditions to the baseball diamond. As the month kicked off, the Aces played Yogores in cold, wind, and dust. Yet hundreds of baseball fans still turned out to witness what was expected to be a tight contest between the two top teams in the league. Runs were aplenty for the Aces thanks to timely hits, walks, and costly errors by Yogores. Aces’ second baseman Mas Nakadaira collected three hits while George Sugawara, Sats Mitsui, Ben Yoshiwara, and Jimmie Tamura each had two hits of their own in what became a 15-4 rout of Yogores.

El Santo was rewarded with their first league victory thanks to the brilliant hurling of pitcher “Rub” Murakami, who threw a two-hitter in a 7-2 win over the Solons. Murakami had debuted a few weeks earlier as the El Santo shortstop but clearly was up to the pitching task on this day.

Despite the cold, baseball had become the most watched event at the Manzanar camp. A report from Community Activities noted that an average of 1,600 spectators came to the local “Wrigley Field” every game.

After the league’s first postponed game due to snowfall, during which Yogores pitcher Isao Higashi was said to have been spotted throwing snowballs until midnight, it was time for the San Pedro Skippers to take on the league-leading San Fernando Aces in the opening game of the Saturday, December 11 doubleheader.

This time it wasn’t snow but rain that proved irksome. Both teams had trouble handling the baseball as evidenced when the two teams made 13 total errors, with the Skippers contributing eight of them. Leading 2-0 in the fifth inning, the Aces iced the game with a four-run barrage thanks to an RBI single from Barry Tamura, a sacrifice fly by his brother Jimmie, and two more runs batted in on a hit from Sats Mitsui. In the end, the Aces maintained their first-place position with a 10-4 win.

In a game against Sears, it was Solons pitcher Bill Horimoto who set a league record, striking out 16 batters in a seven-inning game. Horimoto overpowered the Sears hitters, striking out the side four times. Solon hitters knocked Sears starting pitcher Nagao Ida out of the game after three innings as they cruised to an 8-1 win.

As the year ended, plans were being made to plant a lawn on the baseball diamond after the conclusion of the winter league season to cut down on the dust during play and “improve the diamond to be one of the best, if not the best, among the centers.” Additionally, the Sports Department declared that the winner of the winter baseball season would be awarded a handsome trophy.

Manzaknight ace pitcher Thomas Higa gave his team an early New Year’s treat when the Knights faced off against Yogores at the end of December. Higa held Yogores hitless for the first four frames before finally yielding a hit in the fifth. He allowed just two more hits while his teammates scored seven runs on 10 hits for a 7-1 victory. The game featured some spectacular baserunning from the Knights as K. Maruki walked and then stole third base. A moment later he crossed home plate with a beautiful slide on a passed ball.

On New Year’s Day 1944, the San Fernando Aces and Manzaknights found themselves in a tie at the top of the winter league standings, each team sporting a record of six wins and one loss. In third place were the Skippers with four wins and two losses, followed by Yogores at four wins and three losses, the Red Sox at two wins and four losses, the Solons at two wins and five losses, El Santo with one win and five losses, and Sears, who had lost all five of their contests.

The new year meant a new start for the Red Sox, who came into their contest against the Solons having endured a four-game losing streak. The Sox had their hitting shoes on, pounding out 17 hits enroute to a 13-7 victory. Kane Ishino and Shig Morikawa led the attack for the Red Sox with three hits each. The Red Sox, at this point in the season, led the league in hitting with a team batting average of .289.

The new year also brought a big decision by the board of directors of the baseball association to end the winter league season, which was still in progress, in favor of a four-week elimination tournament that would decide which team would be recognized as the champion of Manzanar for the winter league of 1943-1944.

The opening game of the elimination tournament was a clash of the titans when the San Fernando Aces engaged the Manzaknights. The Tamura brothers exerted their influence as Jimmie Tamura started for the Aces and held the Knights scoreless throughout the game, though the Knights had their chances to push across runs. And they might have done so if not for shortstop George Tamura, who sparkled in the field, making difficult plays look routine, including a beautiful double play in the fourth inning with one out and the bases loaded. George also contributed two hits that drove in the first two Ace runs, while teammates Sats Mitsui and George Sugawara had two and three hits respectively in the 3-0 shutout.

For their elimination game, the Red Sox found themselves opposing Yogores in what was a very tight contest. Yogores grabbed the early lead in the first inning when third baseman George Shimizu reached base on an error and then scored on a double by Max Uragami. Joe Seko’s hit to left proceeded to drive in Uragami. Down by three runs in the third inning, the Red Sox answered to tie the game at 3-3 on hits by Kane Ishino, Shig Tochioka and Ernie Ogawa, coupled with two Yogores errors. The game was again tied 4-4 going into the ninth inning. “General” Yamashita emerged as the hero for the Red Sox in the top of the ninth inning when he clouted a triple to drive in Jimmy Morita, giving the Sox a 5-4 lead that would stand.

In the other half of the elimination bracket, it was Sears matching up with the heavily favored Solons. The game stayed close through six innings, as the Solons maintained a 6-3 lead. But when the seventh and eighth innings came, things quickly unraveled for them, as the “Red-jacketed” men of Sears scored 11 runs, aided by three Solon errors, to put the game out of reach in what became a 14-9 Sears upset victory. K. Ono starred for Sears with three hits in four trips to the plate, while also scoring two runs.

El Santo and the Skippers were the last to play their tournament game, as their initial scheduled meeting was postponed due to high winds. At the time the game was called, El Santo was leading, 1-0, in the third inning. Given a fresh start, it was the Skippers who came out on top by a score of 6-3 to advance in the tournament. Skipper pitcher Junji Tani was the star of the game, holding El Santo scoreless for the first six innings. Though the Skippers only had five hits, they managed to bunch them together when needed. Fumio Takade had two of the five hits for the Skips.

The elimination tournament semifinals featured matchups between the Aces and Red Sox, and Sears and the Skippers. It was the Sox who started out on fire against the Aces, scoring five runs in the first inning, highlighted by Yamashita’s triple and Kane Ishino’s double. But the Sox lead didn’t hold when the floodgates opened for the Aces, who poured forth six runs in the top of the eighth inning. The Acemen batted around in the eighth thanks to hits from Mas Nakadaira and Sugawara along with three errors by the Sox.

The Sears-Skippers game needed extra innings to decide a winner, which seemed unfathomable for most of the game. Sears pitcher Teiji Ohara was masterful as he held the Skippers hitless for 8 1/3 innings, though they did manage to score two runs. Meanwhile, the Sears batters appeared to do everything well, including a beautiful squeeze bunt by catcher Keiji Eto that brought D. Murata home. Sensing victory with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Sears players lost their composure. Six walks, two hits, and two errors ensued, allowing the Skippers to tie the game at 10-10, forcing extra frames. Sears scored a run in the top of the 10th inning. Sears pitcher Mamoru Murata, who had relieved Ohara in the ninth, retired the Skippers in order in the bottom of the 10th, sending the Cinderella Sears squad to the tournament finals to face the juggernaut Aces.

If there was any doubt as to the popularity and importance of baseball to the incarcerees at Manzanar, it should be noted that on February 16, 1944, the front page of the Manzanar Free Press splashed the headline “Aces Eliminate Sears Nine 13-3 to Capture Baseball Pennant.” Over 2,000 fans came to the ballpark where they witnessed a commanding performance by the Aces, who had been the tournament favorites after dominating both the practice league and winter league seasons.

The Aces scored 13 runs on 11 hits while fielding their positions relatively cleanly, committing only two errors. Sears fell apart in the third inning when an error loaded the bases for Ben Yoshiwara, who stroked a hit to center to drive in Mitsui and Hino while moving George Tamura to third base. The next batter, Mas Nakadaira, walked, followed by Tamura coming home on a passed ball. Three more free passes later and the Aces were up 6-0 with only one hit. The story was similar in the fifth inning when George Sugawara doubled to score Billy Sugawara, while the Aces added two more runs on two errors, a couple of walks and a wild pitch. The Aces scored three more times in the seventh inning. Hits by George Tamura, Mas Nakadaira, Billy Sugawara, and Jimmie Tamura provided the offense for the Aces in the seventh, for a 13-3 lead that stood.

After the victory, the Aces’ squad lined up and Henry Kinoshita received the large pennant from presenter Frank Kurahashi, while player-coach Tak Takahashi received the trophy on behalf of the team.

After the conclusion of the 1943-1944 season, baseball at Manzanar wouldn’t quite be the same. Earlier, in February 1943, the US government had issued a “loyalty questionnaire” to the camp incarcerees. The questionnaire asked if they would serve in combat and if they would swear unqualified allegiance to the United States. Those who answered “Yes” were considered loyal and became eligible for indefinite leave outside the West Coast military areas. Those who answered “No” were sent to a segregation center at Tule Lake, California. Based on their responses, several of the Manzanar baseball teams lost the services of a few of their most excellent players who were relocated to Tule Lake. Meanwhile, other prime-age athletes were lured away from camp on furlough, whereby they could travel to Idaho or Oregon to work the beet fields or pick fruit.

When the call went out to register teams for the 1945 men’s baseball season, only five teams registered. Those five teams played an eight-game schedule between January and April. The Sears 7-11 team emerged as champions with a record of seven wins and one loss. Highlights of the 1945 season included the incredible hitting of Ben Yoshiwara, who captured the batting crown with a .580 batting average for the Red Sox. Jim Morita recovered from an appendectomy to sparkle both on the mound and at the plate for the Solons.

RUSS SPEILLER has been a SABR member since 2023 and could not be more grateful to the writers, editors, and consultants who contributed to this book. Having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Russ lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his incredible family. He has contributed to numerous SABR books, the BioProject, and Turnstyle magazine. This is his first time leading the construction of a SABR book and he is appreciative of the SABR publications board for choosing to greenlight this effort. He really hopes you all enjoy and learn from How We Played the Game. To read more of Russ’ work, please visit russspeiller.substack.com.

 

SOURCES

Unless otherwise noted, all information used to construct summaries was compiled using game summaries and the comments of the sports editors of the Manzanar Free Press newspaper, accessed via digitized copies of the paper found online at the Library of Congress.

https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84025948/?st=calendar&year=1943.

https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84025948/?st=calendar&year=1944.

https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84025948/?st=calendar&year=1945.