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TI: Now, what are some childhood memories that you have, just growing up in that area? Do you have any stories that you can remember?

MB: Not too much. I mean, I went to camp when I was about twelve and then stayed there for three and a half years, and then I was in a boarding school for three years, I returned home for the summer (and transferred to Courtland High School for a year before enrolling at UC Berkeley). Went to the boarding school in New York and then came back for a year. (Narr. note: I went to Japanese school which was about a half block behind our house five days a week after our regular school. The children who lived in the country went on Saturday.)

TI: But before then, I mean just like, like any games? Do you remember any games that you played as, just growing up as a kid?

MB: Oh, right. We played ball. It's, we threw over the Japanese school roof. I forgot what it was called, but anyway, that was a common game, and then you'd catch it and try to go to the other side and tag the other kids.

TI: [Laughs] So describe it, so you have the Japanese school, there was a ball, and one person would throw it over the roof?

MB: Yeah, there're two teams and it was tennis ball or something like, and those buildings are very low, so it was easy to throw over, and we'd wait and see if they caught it or running to catch us.

TI: So the ball would go over, someone would catch it, then they would run around?

MB: Right.

TI: Then they would throw it at someone, or what would they do with the ball?

MB: They'd tag us.

TI: They'd tag, okay. But only if they caught it, I guess.

MB: Yeah.

TI: Okay.

BT: So there was a big baseball diamond in the back of the Buddhist church, right?

MB: Yeah.

BT: And your brothers used to play baseball. Did you used to go watch the games?

MB: Yes. We had professionals from the black teams, various parts of the country, I guess mostly around Chicago, New York, and I don't where they slept 'cause there's no place to stay. I mean, I know the Japanese people wouldn't rent out anything. Maybe they slept outdoors, I don't know. But they would play a few games, and they're real pros and not like the pros now, but they were able to do tricks that surprised us. But they couldn't get into the regular teams, pro --

BT: Now, you're talking about the Negro Leagues, right?

MB: What?

BT: Are you talking about the Negro Leagues or Nisei?

MB: Yeah. No, Negro League that just came to, to make a profit and we paid to get in to see them. But Niseis, yeah, also had a team, and they went throughout California. And my one brother, the third brother, was quite proficient at baseball, and in fact, when he was at Cal, he was a sophomore and had to leave to go to camp, and coach said, "Be sure to contact me when you return." Of course, we didn't return for three and a half years or whatever, and by that time he, he was well known in camp as being a good pitcher, but, and probably could've been a pro had he not had this interruption, and he... well, he didn't finish at Cal. He finished at SF State 'cause he had a family by then, a wife and a child, a wife he married in Japan while he was in the service.

TI: But he was good enough, a good enough baseball player that he was on the Cal baseball team?

MB: Yes, and the coach at Cal said, "Be sure to look me up when you come back."

TI: Now, which brother was this?

MB: Third.

BT: Grove?

MB: Grove.

TI: Grove, okay. And what position did he play?

MB: Position?

TI: Yeah.

MB: I think a (pitcher).

TI: Good. Did you like to go watch him play? So when they played when he was growing up, did you go watch the baseball games?

MB: Yeah, because Japanese teams from northern California would come and compete, and Walnut Grove players went to, not too far, nearby, not long enough, wasn't far away that you had to stay overnight or anything like that.

TI: Yeah, but it's interesting too, you mentioned earlier, so you had, back then they called it the old Negro Leagues, and so it must be like a barnstorming black team came to Walnut Grove and played.

MB: Something like that. (I guess the black team made some money. We paid to see them.)

TI: Do you remember how well the Japanese team played against the black team?

MB: I don't know if they played against them or whether they had two teams playing against each other.

TI: Of, like an exhibition, I see.

MB: But they were very trick oriented. They played with the balls and threw them up and did all these tricks to catch them, and they were showmen. But we had to pay to go watch them.

TI: And they just played in that back baseball field by the...

MB: Yeah, small field.

TI: How about white, white teams? Did very many white teams ever come and play?

MB: No. I don't recall.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.