REMEMBERING THE VANCOUVER ASAHI

Legendary baseball team endured hardship as team was
disbanded during WWII

Brandon Yip
Senior Columnist

 

his year marks 80 years since the
amateur Japanese-Canadian baseball
team Vancouver Asahi played their
final game at Oppenheimer Park. The
Asahi (meaning “morning sun”) were a
source of pride and a beacon of hope
for the Japanese-Canadian community
in Vancouver, helping their spirits as
they experienced the hardships of
racial discrimination in the early 1900s.
The Asahi played their home games at
Oppenheimer Park (originally known as
Powell Street Grounds) from 1914 to 1941.
The team was not playing baseball merely
for recreation and to pass time; they
played to compete and win. The Asahi
would develop into a very competitive
team winning numerous amateur baseball
titles in several leagues.

The community shutdown to attend
games

In the late 1880s, an influx of Japanese
immigrants arrived in Vancouver noted
by the arrival of Manzo Nagano in May
1877, the first Japanese person to arrive
and settle in Canada. Early Japanese
settlers worked in the lumber, mining,
and fishing industries. Japanese-
Canadians later settled in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside area which was
known as Japantown, Little Tokyo, or
Paueru Gai (Powell Street) located east
of Gastown and north of Chinatown.
Businesses and livelihoods eventually
developed and the game of baseball
would soon capture the attention of
the Japanese-Canadian community—

bringing them together. According to Pat
Adachi's 1992 book, Asahi: A Legend in
Baseball, the team was formed in 1914
by several players, which included three
brothers: Hatsu Mickey Kitagawa, Yo
Horii, and Eddie Kitagawa (Canadian
born). Others included Yosomatsu
Nishizaki and Canadian-born Tom
Matoba who formed the nucleus of

the Asahi; the team was managed by
Matsujiro Miyasaki (1914 to 1917), a local
clothing and food store owner. Dave
Zarum, in his 2019 Sportsnet.ca article
wrote this about the Asahi: “multiple
generations of Japanese-Canadian
families congregated at Oppenheimer
Park near Powell and Main Street.
Businesses closed, schools let out early,
and if there happened to be a Sunday
game the church was empty, too.’

The art of “brain ball”
A turning point for the Asahi occurred in
1922 when Harry Miyasaki, a Powell Street
dry cleaner, took over as team manager.
His objective was to form a team that
could defeat the Anglo-Canadian baseball
clubs and capture the Terminal League
Championship. The Asahi were not known
for their size (the players were significantly
smaller than their Caucasian baseball
counterparts) but the Asahi did not let their
lack of mass be an impediment in their
baseball. To compensate for his team’s
absent height and hitting power, Miyasaki
taught his players to practice bunting,
base running, and “squeeze” plays. These
strategies became known as “brain ball”
and would become their trademark.

In May 1928, the Asahi won a game
by the score of 3 to 1. Many people would

wonder what the significance of a 3 to 1 result was, but it
should be noted that the Asahi did not get a single hit in
this game. Instead they relied on bunts, steals, and errors
by the opposition.

Al Mosher, who was a pitcher for the Downtown
Patricia's ball club, played against the Asahi. He remembered
their speed and how quickly they would get to baseballs
when playing defence. “As far as the defence, they were
the best ball players around,’ Mosher said in the 2003
documentary, Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story. “You
couldn't hit a ball through the infield past them. They were
just like cats onto it” However, Mosher noticed a weakness:
“But the only thing they couldn't do [was] hit worth a lick’

In 1919, the Asahi won their first championship playing
in the amateur Vancouver International League. In 1926,
the team won the Terminal League title and later won three