Wally Kaname Yonamine

Wally Kaname Yonamine is a multi-sport professional. Yonamine became the first Asian to play professional football in the United States (he played in the National Football League) and became the first American to play professional baseball in Japan after World War II. However, though he accomplished these great feats, Yonamine faced a lot of adversity, scorn, and obstacles. Because of World War II and the animosity between Americans and the Japanese that came as a result of the war, Yonamine, as a Japanese American, had to adapt to unfamiliar cultures and overcome prejudice against his ancestry in both the Japanese and American
environments/societies.


Yonamine was born on June 24, 1925 in Maui, Hawaii on a poor sugar plantation to Japanese immigrants. After moving to Oahu and leading his high school (Farrington High School) to its first Honolulu city football championship, Yonamine got his first public acclamation as an athlete in 1944. Eventually he was signed by the San Francisco 49ers in 1947 as a running back and became the first ethnic Japanese to play football professionally. However, after being in the NFL for a few years, an injury forced him to end his football career. Thus, unable to play football, Wally Yonamine turned to baseball instead and later became the man that changed Japanese baseball forever.

While playing baseball for the San Francisco Seal’s, the manager urged him to consider playing professional baseball in Japan. In 1951, the Yomiuri Giants signed Yonamine as an outfielder, and he became the first American to play baseball in postwar Japan. He became known as the “Jackie Robinson” of Japanese baseball (Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the states and broke the barrier of having whites only playing baseball). Applying his football skills/mentality to baseball, Yonamine quickly became one of the most dominant players in the league. He would play hard and with immense intensity by stealing bases, running aggressively, doing hard slides, and by knocking down opponents. His tactics changed the way the Japanese would play baseball forever. Before Yonamine came to Japan, the Japanese had a more reserve mentality when it came to playing baseball. So when Yonamine arrived, the Japanese fans didn’t appreciate his hard-hitting tactics. They thought he was too abrasive and aggressive. The fans would hurl rocks and insults at him. However, Yonamine’s dominance proved far too great for the fans’ hatred of him to continue.
In his years as a player, Yonamine is considered to be the greatest leadoff hitter in Japanese baseball history. In his first year alone he had a batting average of .354 (anything above .300 is considered really good). In his career he won three batting championships and in 1957 he was named MVP (most valuable player). After retiring as a player, despite troubles of adapting to Japanese culture, Yonamine stayed in Japan for many years serving as a coach and manager. As a coach, he was responsible for changing how Japanese baseball was played. He taught his players the “American way” (American practices of baseball) such as hard sliding, running out bunts and grounders (hustling), and diving for balls. He taught his players how to be aggressive and assertive.

In 1994, Wally Yonamine was elected to the Japanese Hall of Fame. Even through his old age, Yonamine continued to be a role model. He made contributions to Japanese and American foreign relations. He will forever be a key figure in Asian American history. As both an American and Japanese man, Yonamine was able to make an impact in both countries/societies. In America, Yonamine was able to show his skills in football despite being Asian, and in Japan, he was able to his greatness in baseball through his American knowledge.




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http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/profiles/26/

http://eastwindupchronicle.com/baseball-japan/wally-yonamine/

http://wallyyonamine.com/

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Denise Lee