<Begin Segment 21>

AI: Well, how, and how did they accept you on the --

AS: Oh, they accepted me.

AI: -- on the Seabrook team? That was... did they, did you ever get any surprised reactions from Nisei who, when they realized that you were from Peru, or that they didn't realize that you were Spanish-speaking?

AS: Well, at the beginning, before I got on the, on the team, they, because one of the Peruvian boy, he got in trouble with a, got in a fight or whatever with a, with a Nisei. So, so we didn't have a good reputation, I guess you can say, so some of them didn't like us. But then after I got on the team we had no problem.

AI: What was your position on the, on the Seabrook team?

AS: I was pitching.

AI: Pitching? So --

AS: That's another thing. Because I never saw... we, in Peru, we never, never played softball, it was all baseball. So then when we went to camp we made our own team, but needed a pitcher. So we said hey, we gotta have a pitcher. So everybody practiced, started practicing pitching. And so, and then I had the best control because you can't, you can't become a pitcher overnight in softball because baseball's all overhand and softball is underhand. And I had the best control so they said, "Okay, you are the pitcher." I said, "Wait a minute." I said, "I don't like to pitch." Says, "No, well, you can't be walking everybody," so he says, "You're gonna be the pitcher." So that's how I became a pitcher. [Laughs]

AI: Oh, that's a funny story. Oh, so you continued being a pitcher ever after, then?

AS: Yeah, uh-huh. Well, I played other positions, too, but, like, like when I, when we had to play doubleheaders, I played some other positions.

AI: Wow. Well, so it sounds like the baseball was a big part of life at, both at camp and at Seabrook?

AS: Uh-huh.

AI: And at Seabrook, well, how did you fit the baseball into, with your work schedule?

AS: See, that's it. You know, because Dick Kunishima was the supervisor. So then when, another thing is we, we had, because there were so many of us available, so the Seabrook, actually the Seabrook team had forty, forty men on the roster. And so if you were on the night shift you couldn't play. So he would divide 'em. So then, just at daytime, just at day game, people on the day shift were able to play. And so then, since Dick was the supervisor, he was my supervisor, I mean, our section. So then around four -- see, because we had to be, we had to be at the ballpark at six. So around four o'clock he would say, "Hey Art, go home, eat. Go home and eat." [Laughs]

AI: Well, that worked out well.

AS: Yeah.

AI: So as you, when you were playing on the Seabrook team then, that means that you played all around the city then, against the other city teams and --

AS: Yeah, we would go to other cities, yeah.

AI: And in the industrial league, where would, where would you play those games?

AS: Same thing. Different leagues, I mean, different, different cities. Or, was the same, same cities but different teams.

AI: Oh. How did the, how did those two leagues compare, the city and the industrial?

AS: The industrial had a better, better, stronger team because they were from big companies, like Seabrook had a big, I mean, strong team. In fact, we used to take Southern New Jersey Championship almost every year.

AI: Is that right? Well, so when you would go out like that, was the Seabrook team, were you all Japanese?

AS: Yeah. Seabrook had all Japanese.

AI: And what kind of reaction would you get when you went out to these other places?

AS: Nothing.

AI: You didn't get a negative reaction?

AS: No.

AI: 'Cause this is very soon after the war.

AS: Yeah, but you know, in the East Coast they, no discrimination, not like the West Coast.

AI: So, that's an interesting question then. I'm just wondering, you know, after you got out of camp and you were at Seabrook, did you experience any kind of prejudice or discrimination?

AS: No.

AI: So that's --

AS: I guess that's the reason why so many Japanese went to the Midwest and the East Coast from camp.

AI: Because that, so at --

AS: They wouldn't discriminate.

AI: I see.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.