<Begin Segment 24>

AH: So anyway, I'm sorry. I was thinking you were saying that you played for the Warriors again after that year you played for the 49ers. What happened was -- so I can get the sequence straight -- you played for the 49ers, and then you came and you played baseball, you got hurt and then the 49ers wouldn't take you back.

WY: Right.

AH: So then what did you do at that point?

WY: Then I came back to Honolulu, and then I played for the Hawaiian Warriors.

AH: I thought you said you played for the Warriors before you played for the 49ers.

WY: No, no, no.

AH: Okay.

WY: See, I played for the 49ers right out of high school. I went straight and played for the, straight for the 49ers.

AH: Oh, I see. So, now you played --

WY: Then I played one year, I played one year with the 49ers, then when I came back and I played baseball, then I fractured my wrist. And then, after one week, I was there and they released me. And then I came back and played for the Hawaii Warriors.

AH: Oh, so you had great games for the Warriors then, throughout those two years?

WY: Oh, yeah. But then, those days, the Warriors was just like a semi-pro team anyway. And I don't think they would have picked me up anyway. So when, and then I got to meet Lefty O'Doul and then played one year with him in Salt Lake City. And I had a good year; I batted .335 in Salt Lake. So Lefty told me, he said, "Why don't you go to Japan?" So I said, well, I said, "Lefty, you know Japan better than I do." So I took his advice and went to Japan.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.