Overview
The Nisei Baseball Research Project (NBRP) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization founded by Kerry Yo Nakagawa to preserve the history of Japanese American Baseball. In Cooperstown, they have a saying that Baseball is a game of Dreams and Memories. It is for both those reasons that the Nisei Baseball Research Project was developed.
The Genesis of NISEI BASEBALL: DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH, began on May 4, 1996 at the Fresno Art Museum as the first exhibit ever to display the photos, memorabilia, artifacts, and text history of the Nikkei in the world of Baseball. Prewar, Internment, Post-war and the Legacy of the Legends of Japanese American Baseball is all part of this unique inter-active exhibit. Former players, relatives, friends and newly acquired fans of these eras reminisce about these images and precious moments of American baseball history. On July 19, the National Japanese American Historical Society co-sponsored the exhibit to venues in San Francisco,Oakland and San Jose. On July 20, a Tribute to the Legends of the NiseiBaseball League was held before 50,000 sold out fans at 3Com Park. Media coverage from CNN News, Japan Baseball Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, KNBR, NPR and all local and National Japanese American News sources have been tremendously positive.
Our goal and commitment is to bring this traveling exhibit to all major cities that had significant leagues and players.This compelling and historic exhibit has expanded it’s scope to incorporate all regions in California, Seattle, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Hawaii and Japan.
The exhibit has been featured at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown New York, the Sacramento State Capitol Museum, the Arizona Hall of Fame Museum, and in Oregon at Portland Hall of Fame Museum and the Four Rivers Cultural center & Museum in Los Angeles, the San Diego Hall of Champions Museum and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum. Internationally, the exhibit was at the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Tokyo.
Kerry Yo Nakagawa is the author of Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball. He is also the founder and director for the non-profit Nisei Baseball Research Project (NBRP), curator of the Diamonds in the Rough: Japanese Americans in Baseball exhibition which was displayed at the National Museum in the summer of 2000, a consultant to the prestigious Baseball Hall of Fame tour entitled Baseball in America, and an independent producer/filmmaker, actor, researcher, and writer.
