<Begin Segment 9>

SY: They were all... you stayed friends with all of these people on the baseball team?

FO: Mostly, yeah. Because there's one guy, Dick Walsh, he made all-city while we were evacuated, but he went, he became some kind of business partners with the Brooklyn Dodgers. And when the Brooklyn Dodgers came to L.A., he was their advance man, and he scouted the stadium location and things like that.

SY: So it sounds like you had a pretty good baseball team, then, at L.A. High?

FO: No, I was just average, but I was the only Japanese guy on there.

SY: You were.

FO: Yeah, there was a couple of, the Kasai brothers in the lower class, the tenth grade class and stuff like that. But Dick and I kept our friendship up, and he, when he came and started the Brooklyn Dodgers' move and things like that, we kept in touch.

SY: This was way, this was way after the war?

FO: Yes.

SY: It was, it was... did you lose track of him during the war and then...

FO: Yeah. I lost track of him. I lost track of everybody.

SY: And then after the war, how did you end up with --

FO: Well, I read his name, so I called him up, and he remembered me. The reason why we were, Dick and I became good friends was the fact that we used to have a tournament called the Dorsey Tournament, four teams from our area, Western League, played against each other in this tournament.

SY: This is in high school?

FO: Yeah. And there was a fellow by the name of Mauch, Gene Mauch, that I played with in junior high school. And Gene Mauch was on third base. Dick and I were sitting on the bench, and I told Dick, "Mauch's gonna try to steal home." So we both went up to the fence and yelled at our catcher that Mauch's gonna try to steal home." And the coach told me, "You two, get back and be quiet." So we looked at each other and we kind of smiled. And sure enough, Mauch stole home. And boy, the coach wouldn't even look at us.

SY: So you stayed friends from that. [Laughs]

FO: Yeah, so Dick and I became friends, and we still laugh about it, but he died last year. But we met again when, after the war, and I was active in the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, and he came to promote the Brooklyn Dodgers, and then they were trying to start this Angel team.

SY: Oh, right.

FO: And I'm Angels, right? So he came to speak, and I hadn't seen him in years. And I says, "Hey, Dick." And he looked at me, and says, "Hey, what are you doing here, Frank?" I says, "I'm the treasurer of the Anaheim Chamber." So we had a little reunion and laughed about our playing days.

SY: That's amazing. And you hadn't seen each other since before the war?

FO: Yeah. But...

SY: So you actually had some good friendships that you formed when you were in high school.

FO: Yeah. Generally speaking, if you're a sports player, you get close to the people that you play with. But Dick and I are, I don't know why, but we became very close. And then when we evacuated, we got the notice... am I getting too ahead of the story too much?

SY: No, no, no. This is good. We were talking about how it happened.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.