<Begin Segment 32>

AH: The last year that you played as an active ballplayer, you sensed, I think as you alluded to, that you were losing it a bit.

WY: Yeah.

AH: And how does that, number one, show itself up in your career, and how does it affect you sort of emotionally, psychologically and everything, to be at the top of your game? Really, you had over .300 the year before that.

WY: Yeah, yeah.

AH: And then it's falling off the table a bit.

WY: You know, I tell you... when I used to play, all the years that I used to hit .300, I used to come home, some nights I'd come home and I go, I don't get a hit. And I would come home, I would stay in my room, and every pitch that the pitcher throws, I remember, and I'd say, "The first time I bat, the pitcher was better than I am." Okay. "The second time I bat..." but my wife and my maid could not come in my room until I called them because I would concentrate for that game that night and see what I did wrong that I didn't get a hit. So when, then after, when I was on my way out, those days, I knew that I had it. I knew I was a good ball player, good hitter. But, towards the end of my career now, the tenth year when I got fired and all that, I knew that I didn't have it anymore. So I would come home, I had 0 for 4, and I'll be laughing because I knew that I didn't have it anymore. [Laughs] So my wife was so relieved that, she thought that I'd be worried so much that I'd come home and I'm on my way out. But I knew at that time that I didn't have it. So I come home and I was normal because when I, when I, all my years when I was really good like that, my wife and the maid could not come in the room until I called them. I was real stubborn. I'd bring everything home. Some ballplayers, they don't do that. When they had the game, is there, but, when they come home, they're a different person. But me, I always brought my work home. So I was always, so I wasn't fair with my wife. But this is my way, and I was always the time that I always used to worry about things.

AH: Did you do that as a coach, too?

WY: Yeah, I always used to worry. As a manager, when I was a manager, sometimes I couldn't sleep at night. Sometimes I'd be dreaming. One time, I remember, as a manager I kicked the wall, and think, "Gee, how come my leg's so sore?" I put the light on, my toes, all the feeling all came out. And the next day, I go down to the playing field, one of my guys fighting, and I cut, I had to cut my shoes, like the spikes, so my toe would come out. And my, the captain is fighting on the field, I had to run out and try stop it because I don't want him to get kicked out of the game. And I, like this, ran. [Ed. note: Pantomimes limping.]

AH: Some people who were good players are not good coaches or good managers, and there's a different skill set and things. Were you a good coach immediately, or did it take you a number of years? And what did it entail to be a coach as opposed to a player?

WY: To me, coming from -- I'm bragging, but I thought I was a good coach because I knew how to relate to my players. I knew how to, the mistakes, what they did right, what they did wrong. I can work with them and I know how to get the best out of them. That's why one time, in my thirty-eighth year in baseball, one of the writers came to me and said they want to interview me. And the writer told me, "How come you, you been in baseball thirty-eight straight years?" In Japan, see, when you're with a company so long or a team so long, they think that, in Japan, they do this, it's just like you always praising the higher-ups so they give you a job, see. And so the writer told me, "Maybe you're the type that you try to always butter up the guys up there and that's the reason why you get a job." And I said, "No, I'm not that type." I said, "The only reason why I'm here thirty-eight years is because I know my job, and that's the reason why." When I get, when my contract expires, other teams, two or three teams want me, and they come ask me. And so I jump from one team to another.

AH: Were you mostly a hitting coach?

WY: Hitting, base run, I do everything -- hitting, base running, sliding. Because I did everything. Outfield, I used to coach the outfield. That's why. that's why they wanted me, because I did everything when I used to play before. Some guys, if they're hitters, they're only a hitting coach. But me, I'm the type that when I used to play, I did everything.

AH: So your fundamentals were sound as a player, and that translated into being able to communicate things to other players, younger players.

WY: So when I, see, when I became a manager, I think the team that I, won the batting -- I mean, won the championship and all that because when I became a manager, what I did is, the first thing I became a manager, I studied my players, I took all my twenty-five players, I studied them, try to see each individual, what kind of attitude they have. So there were about seven guys, they think different. One guy, no guts. So I realized that this guy, no guts, you cannot scold him. Always, even he makes an error, or he strikes out, you have to praise him all the time. So once they get, once he has his confidence, he's going to do good for you. There's another guy, maybe you cannot scold. I had two guys that you cannot scold. You scold them, they quit and they go home. But all these guys, some guys, had two other guys, you can scold them, scold them, go through one ear, come out the other; they didn't care. But some guys you scold and they get so mad. And you, see, this is how I used to work my players in those days. But they kind of respected me because when it come to sliding or bunting or whatever, I went there and teach 'em myself.

AH: And you did this as a manager as well as a coach?

WY: Yeah. Because other coaches cannot teach the way I can. So I can, I know that I am better than they are, so I would go there and actually teach them.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.