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LD: Who was influential in your baseball years?

HT: Baseball group?

LD: On your team, in the Japanese team, was there someone, was the coach particularly helpful to you?

HT: Yes. He was real nice, good coach too, name of Frank Fukuda, Fukuda-sensei. He was a school, Japanese school teacher also, and he was really into baseball, and he loved to teach golfing, not golfing, baseball and odori. You know, when he was hired, he was hired to teach Japanese, you know. Some of the parents were complaining that that's all, his priority is the baseball and odori, you know. When are my kids going to learn how to speak Japanese? But evidently, he was not ousted, but then he went from Montavilla, came to our, stayed there for a while, and later on, he went to Wapato, yeah. But he was really a good coach. In fact, we had one good period they even took to Nihon. We figured he was good enough to be a pro. It was Joe Okuda, yeah. So we had a good pitcher when he was playing with us, you know. Yeah, so he went to Nihon, and he played there for a couple years, and then he came back to go to California. Of course, we all played. And then like I said, five boys so we played... in fact, Dad was the best supporter in those days, you know. We used to farm, but so in the farm, when we start the games they'd all come, the community come and watch us play every Sunday. And as the season progressed, as you got busy on the farm, one by one, they drop back. But then Dad wasn't until the last one. Dad and the Kato family, they had five boys also, yeah. So we kept playing, so I'll never forget, as I think about that now, I'll never forget Dad because we get up in the berry season, baseball's a priority, yeah. We went to get up, come on, let's get up early and do some work and then go play baseball and come back. So I think we did lose some crops on that. [Laughs] But baseball, it was really nice, yeah.

LD: Did a baseball team ever come from Japan, and what was your memory of that?

HT: Yeah, that's one of my memories that I had that there was a team from, called Hirosho that came from Hiroshima, and I think they were the first team I know that came from Nihon. I think probably the, one of the two that ever came to Portland. After that, they didn't come, but we were fortunate enough to play against them, you see, a Portland team, you know. I was pretty active in those days, and I was on that particular team that we had. They were all graduated from high school already. But then I was still in high school, but then I always played, and I was the youngest one in the team, you know. We played this Hirosho team, and I know that we lost. I don't know if it was two to one or two to something. We lost and I'll never forget the incident that I was playing first base and then I don't know if I should tell you all these baseball stories. But this particular play, there was a man on first, and then they hit a grounder to me, so it was an automatic double play. So you know, I field the ball, and then I threw to second. Well, there was nobody there, and I couldn't stop it so that meant that they both were safe, you see. So then that eventually led to their scoring, and that was the difference in the game. And of course, after the game was all over they had a party for them, treated them to a Chinese dinner. And then, of course, there again, I was young, so my dad, we just went home, you know. We didn't get to go, but I heard later on that that was the turning point of that game that I was responsible, you know. And I says, hey, you're supposed to have a man cover second, not me, you know. So, but in that particular game too, our team, we got four hits, and I got two of them, so I feel real proud about that. So whether we lose or not, it's important to win. But then if you can't win, so I have some good experience with that team, you know. To play at Vaughn Street, it's a professional field. That was something else too. We used to play out in open field, you know. That was a nice memory that, in fact, I have a nice picture of that team, you know.

LD: Why was it so special to play at Vaughn Street? I would like you to just tell us a little more about that.

HT: Well, that Vaughn Street was a, that's where the professionals played, see. Of course, no one ever got to play there let alone, even go see there. In those days, we weren't affluent to go to see those games. But just to be there and to think about playing there it was something, you see. Yeah, I'll never forget that. But baseball like I said was our life you might say like the whole family, the priority over the whole house.

LD: Before we leave the subject, are there any other stories about your high school team or your Japanese team that you want to share that you remember about teammates or games?

HT: Well, like high school I played on the team, too. There again, I'm left handed, so naturally, I played first base in high school. High school, I'm not that tall. Hakujins are taller, but then I still played first. We did okay, but we'd always look forward during the summers, we used to have Fourth of July tournament in Seattle that we'd go to. It's just an annual thing, and that was something we always look forward to, but we weren't that successful at it. Anyway, we always had a good time up there, yeah. And in Portland we used to, when our team used to play in the different hakujin teams, the American team, and then we'd always, we didn't hardly ever win. But the coach said you got to play against better teams to improve, so that was an excuse. We enjoyed playing baseball. And like I said, like you mentioned about playing on the Vaughn Street, it was something special.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.