Canadian Sports Heritage - Athletes of National Historic Significance
Asahi Baseball Team (1914-1945)
Rising Above the Curve Ball
Vancouver Asahi baseball team after training at Hastings Park, 1926.© Japanese Canadian National Museum, courtesy of the Kitagawa Family. Between 1914 and 1945, the Asahi baseball team of Vancouver achieved renown in competitive sports within their own ethnocultural community while earning the respect and admiration of Euro-Canadian opponents, journalists, and spectators. Bridging the gap between the Issei (first generation) and Nisei (second generation) Japanese Canadians, the Asahi's athletic and sportsmanlike performances inspired both Japanese- and Euro-Canadians, and became a symbol of the Japanese Canadians’ struggle for equality and respect.
Vancouver’s Japanese-Canadians established their first baseball club in 1910, just a few years after the appearance of a similar team in Victoria. Both teams were known as the Nippons, and they competed against one another regularly. The Vancouver team reorganized in 1914 and was renamed the Asahi (Rising Sun). Over the next three decades the team achieved renown in competitive sports, and their sportsmanlike performances inspired both Japanese and Euro-Canadian spectators alike. The Asahi team became a symbol of the Japanese Canadians’ struggle for equality and respect.
In 1918 the community pulled together its best players to compete against Euro-Canadian teams and all-Japanese teams in the United States. The Asahi adopted an intelligent but exciting style of play that emphasized offensive play and decreased the impact of player height.
The Asahi players were groomed for sportsmanship, especially so that they would reflect well on their community. In this objective they succeeded admirably and won praise from many quarters for their sportsmanlike conduct on the field. Another of the important legacies of the Asahi team was that it bridged the gap between the Issei and Nisei generations. Owing to systemic racial prejudice, the first-generation Japanese Canadians tended to look towards Japan while the Nisei's experience and aspirations were firmly rooted in Canada. Later, baseball was the basis of a common bond between Japanese Canadians that helped keep their community together in internment camps during the dislocation of the Second World, and at new settlement locations after the war.
The Vancouver Asahi Baseball Team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. They were declared a National Historic Event in 2008.