<Begin Segment 29>

AH: When you were playing with the Giants, they were perennial champions. And everybody else, as you already established, would throw their best pitcher at them and really shoot to beat them. There were some particular players on the Giants when you were playing that were themselves very, very big stars, and so it was a star-studded line-up. And one of the people that you mentioned already was Bessho. Did you call him Akita or did you call him Takehiko, because I have both names for him.

WY: Well, we usually, see, in Japan, we don't call him by their first name. We always called them by their, like, Bessho-san.

AH: So Bessho.

WY: I don't say Bessho, but I used the san -- Bessho-san. See, he's, he's older than I am and he's a veteran, so I always called him Bessho-san. Or Kawakami-san.

AH: Now, he had been playing there before you got there for the Giants.

WY: Yes, yes.

AH: And can you tell me a little bit about him?

WY: Well, Bessho, he came, he was with the Nankai Hawks before, and in a trade, the Giants picked him up. And Bessho was a hell of a pitcher -- very good pitcher. I think today if he were to go to the mainland, I mean, go to the major leagues, I think he'd be one good pitcher. He was, he had a good fastball, just like American. Like Walter Craig-type, he can come with the fastball and good curve, good control. So Bessho was a real good, pretty good hitter, too.

AH: And was he a friend of yours, or was he just, because he was older, you just deferred to him?

WY: No, I know Bessho was always nice to me. I respect that guy because he was really nice to me.

AH: What about Shigeo Nagashima?

WY: Nagashima is, to me, I think, he's one of my closest friend. I don't know how he feels towards me, but as far as I'm concerned, I like Nagashima real well because he and I played together for three years, and we used to hang around a lot. And he'd come to Hawaii and we get together. I go to Japan, when I go to Japan when he was managing, I always go to the Dome and visit with him. So I'm pretty close to Nagashima.

AH: He's characterized in this article as probably the most popular Japanese player of all time.

WY: Oh, yes.

AH: Would you agree with that?

WY: He's more popular than the prime minister. [Laughs]

AH: 444 home runs. A .305 batting average, which is a little less than yours. And he won the Most Valuable Player award six times. So he was a hell of a ballplayer, wasn't he?

WY: He was a real, he was a good ballplayer. See, what he, when he was at Rikkyo University, I was with the Giants already. And he told us that... see, when I signed with the Giants and they started to write about me and how I played and all that, so he said he used to come and watch me play because he just wanted to see what kind of ballplayer I was. And naturally, I could do everything. He'd run, pitch -- I mean, he'd run and everything, defense. So when he saw me play, he said, "I want to be just like Wally Yonamine," because a lot of times in Japan, lot of these guys, if you can hit, you're a lousy defensive player, or you're a lousy base runner. But, he wanted to be somebody that, more all-around. So he told me that, and he really, I always taught him -- one time, I even taught him how to slide. [Laughs]

AH: Of course, the one person that everybody knows in the world probably, of Japanese baseball, is Sadaharu Oh. And he hit 868 career home runs, which is almost twice as much as Nagashima, and yet Nagashima is described here as the most popular Japanese player of all time. What accounts for that difference, do you think?

WY: Well, I think, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't say this. But, I think maybe, see, Sadaharu Oh, the father is Chinese, Taiwan, the mother is Japanese. And a lot of times, the Japanese, when you're half-breed or you're a foreigner, they don't think as much as a Japanese. And maybe that has something to do with that.

AH: He's a pretty nice person?

WY: Oh, a wonderful guy, nice guy. Gentleman, you know, you never can find another nicer guy than that.

AH: The years that you overlapped with him were not his best years. It seemed like he was not hitting well. And later on, of course, he matured into not only a great home run hitter but a person who hit for a very high average -- almost like the Babe Ruth type of thing. When he was struggling during that period, do you remember the situation when he first came up and when he was having years that were not so outstanding?

WY: See, when he first came up, Sadaharu Oh and I played two years together. And at that time, he was playing first base and a lot of times he would strike out and I would take his place at first base. I was playing center field and the manager wanted me to play first base because he was striking out a lot. And then, but he developed to become a real good hitter. I mean, he would swing the bat maybe 5-, 700 times a night. Just swing, swing. And he really made himself to be a real fantastic hitter. And then towards the end of the career, during batting practice, he would hit about thirty in the stands. But they would just lob the ball in, he could hit it all. But I remember telling Sadaharu Oh, every day he would come and take batting practice, and I would tell him, "Why don't you rest? Keep your strength for the game." But he would just, he can't rest because that's how he was brought up. From day one, when he started to come with the Giants, he used to practice, practice, practice. After about eighteen or twenty years after, he just cannot, even he can't hit. He cannot sit down and think that he's going to hit, so he had to go out and work out. But I know that during the game he started doing the right things, because the he'll be lunging or he would bail out, because when the pitcher throw him a good fast ball, he would lunge because if he stays there, he could get jammed. So, all those things, and I've seen that, that's the reason why I told Sadaharu Oh that, "Take a rest," because if he get, he rests, maybe he'd get a faster bat and the hands would come out. But he just couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that.

AH: Now, a person who was apparently at odds with you for a long time and had it in for you, even, was quite a great ballplayer, Tetsuharu Kawakami.

WY: Yeah.

AH: So tell me a little bit about him. I mean, I know that as manager, he got eleven pennants in fourteen years before losing one to you. And then, but in addition, here he has a batting average, a career average a couple of points higher than you, .313. Had 181 home runs and was leading the league in hitting quite a few times. So, what about him as a person?

WY: Well, Mr. Kawakami was, see, he and I were sort of rivals. When I went with the Giants, whether he was going to win the batting title or I was going to win the batting title. See, when I first went to the Giants, right off I looked at the players and I said, "Who's the best hitter on the team?" because I had to get somebody that I could work so that they give me more incentive to do better. So, when I went to the Giants, I found out that he was the best hitter. So, I didn't say anything to anybody. But when I went to spring training and all that, in my heart I said, "I got to beat that guy. In order for me to win the batting title, I got to beat that guy." So even in spring training, I always work, work double as much as he does, practice as much as he can so that I can beat him.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.