CBC: New Heritage Canada video features highs and lows of Japanese baseball pioneers
From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on February 20, 2019:
A new Heritage Minute is sharing the story of a pioneering baseball team in British Columbia and the government policy that tore it apart.
Composed of Japanese Canadian players, the Vancouver Asahi initially struggled against their larger Caucasian competitors and were even booed by baseball fans, said Grace Eiko Thomson, who has spent many years telling the team’s story through a variety of projects.
The Asahi adopted a new playing style in the early 1920s, focusing on strategies like bunting and base stealing, and soon surged to success, winning various championships across the Pacific Northwest.
Eiko Thomson was a child when the team was rising to prominence, and she remembers going to the field with her father to watch them practice. It was an era when Japanese-Canadians faced harsh discrimination in their communities, but she said baseball gave the Asahi a unique opportunity.
Watch the full video here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/asahi-highlighted-in-heritage-minute-1.5026119
Originally published: February 20, 2019. Last Updated: February 20, 2019.