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AH: Sometimes you have your life transformed as much by somebody who you're in opposition to than somebody who you're in harmony with. And you had some wonderful teammates, and we've talked about them. And you had another teammate who was a wonderful ballplayer but, with respect to his relationships with you, they weren't particularly favorable and it may be that it wasn't favorable with other members of the team. But, we've talked a little bit about him already, Tetsuharu Kawakami. So, could you kind of explain the chemistry between the two of you and how that played out over the course of your time with the Giants?

WY: Well, lot of times, you know, it's just like Mickey Mantle or, what you call... who was it, the other guy?

AH: Roger Maris?

WY: Roger Maris. You know, they say that maybe they might hate each other. But it's just a matter of, just like Nagashima and Oh, they're just rivals. I mean, like Kawakami and I, we're trying to win the batting title and either he's going to win it or I'm going to win it. But when I went to Japan in '51, the first thing I thought of was, "Who's the best hitter on the Giants team?" And if I can beat the best hitter on the team, then I have a chance of winning the batting title. So I found out that Kawakami was the best hitter. So, when I go to spring training, started spring training, I tried to work as hard as I can so that I can beat him. And the eight years that he and I were teammates, he won it three times, and I won it three times. But, a lot of times, the media, they say things that kind of make it real bad for the players. And so now Kawakami, Mr. Kawakami and I, the way the media writes, it's just like we hate each other. But actually, when a guy, a guy like me, coming from Hawaii going to Japan, I went to Japan to make a living. I had to feed my wife and kids and I didn't care what the other players did. The main thing is for me to do well so I can get good paycheck and have my family, the kids can go to college and all that. But you can't help with the media, too. They want to get something going, things like that. But, every spring that I would go to camp, I would say, "I'm going to beat him," because if I beat him I know that I'm going to be the batting title, I get to be, win the batting champ. So that really helped me in my career.

So even when I was with the Giants -- I was with the Giants ten years -- I would come back, maybe I would be hitting .300 or winning the batting title. I would come back to Hawaii and arrive in Honolulu, and then the next flight I would go back to Maui and see the old house where I used to live or the cane field I used to cut grass about twelve, fourteen years old. And that would give me incentive to try harder, so that when I go back the following year, then I have a good chance of beating Kawakami and winning the batting title. And I think that, not only baseball player, but I guess no matter, whatever job you go into, you got to go and you got to be hungry, I think. If you're not hungry, I think you're not going to make it.

Just like my son, he's a chairman for Bering Point in Japan. He has a thousand guys working under him and all that. But, I remember one time, my son told me that the only reason why he's a workaholic because he used to see Jane and I work the way we work all our lives, and that's the reason why he works so hard. But this is something that, you know, in baseball, you see a lot of these young kids today, they make good money, which I think is great for them to make good money. But some of them, they forget where they came from. I saw as, when they were kids they really struggled and they didn't have money. But now that they have lot of money, they forget when they were kids, you know. So even like the kids in the States and Japan, even Japan like that, lot of these kids, sometimes I think, "Boy, they sure forget where their roots were." What they should do and what they can do and try to help other people. So I remember, my daughter, twelve years ago she had leukemia. And she was cured and she had a treatment at UCLA. And Dr. Nimer looked after her, and she's completely cured today.

AH: Which daughter is that?

WY: Amy. And then Dr. Nimer told me one time that he wished that he had $10,000 so he can do research, and that was always in my mind. So after my daughter was cured and all that, then I always remembered what Dr. Nimer told me. So I started a leukemia foundation at Sloan-Kettering and UCLA also. So, I donated some money to Sloan-Kettering because of Dr. Nimer because he wanted to do research. You know, and like, when my daughter had, when she had leukemia, she had... not acute, but -- when you have acute, it's so hard, but when you have chronic leukemia, now they have a, just a pill that can cure you. Before, when my daughter had leukemia, my son was a donor, was a complete, he was the one that helped my daughter get well. But today, if you have a chronic leukemia, they can help you. Just one pill, I heard that they can cure. But if you have acute, then it's a little different. So, so when Dr. Nimer told me about something like that, I said I want to donate money to the Sloan-Kettering or UCLA so they can have a... what you call, medicine that can help. So that really, today, when you see that they have something like that, can cure people that have chronic leukemia, I think it's so good. But see, lot of the ball players today, they make good money. I think some of them, they should consider donating money to things like that.

AH: Some do and some don't.

WY: Yeah.

AH: We started out by talking here about Tetsuharu and Kawakami.

WH: Oh. [Laughs]

AH: And I think what you were saying, though, is that Kawakami pushed you to play hard and to maximize your talents. And in some ways that converted, really, into a more successful career which, which converts into more money and then start thinking about when you're going to support your family and things. It goes all the way to the end, and it's not only supporting your family, it's supporting society. And something like leukemia brings home the point that it's not just a problem with your own daughter, but generally, so you're giving back. The stories that I read about your relationship with Kawakami end in a situation whereby he becomes the manager and then promptly trades you away. Now, you could look at your career at that time was starting to fade a bit, too, that your average was going down. So it was either a prudent move on his part, and it wasn't based upon simply personal animus, or it was, that he just wanted to get rid of you. You were a thorn in his side or what. So, how do you feel about that situation?

WY: Well, when, after ten years, the Giants, when I was with the Giants, my average was .316. And I played one year with Chunichi and my average came down to .311. But I have the highest batting average with the Giants. Kawakami had .313, but my average with the Giants is .316.

AH: Career average.

WY: Average, yeah. And Sadaharu Oh told me that. I didn't know that, but Sadaharu told me that I have the best average with the Giants. But when I played with Kawakami like that, sometimes I think the biggest mistake he made was, sometimes he used to needle me a lot. After the game, if I would go 0 for 4 and he would get two or three hits, we'd go and take a shower and he would needle me a lot, and I used to get so mad. But I didn't say anything because he's the old-timer, I'm the rookie. So I used to just tell myself, "I'm going to beat you. I'm going to beat you." And then, that's the reason why it gave me more drive to, then I want to beat him. But he, he was a real good hitter. The only thing at that time, defensive, defensively, he wasn't that good a defensive player. But as far as hitting, he was a, he did that batting stand and he looked like a million dollars right there.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.