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This poignant documentary pays tribute to Zeni; however, it is much more than the biography of one man, it is the story of a legacy in which baseball helped transcend bigotry and hatred to bring pride and respect to Japanese-American s who loved the game. Covering over 100 years of history, it is filled with great baseball memories – Produced by NBRP

Powerful story about the impact WWII had on Japanese American families uprooted from their homes and placed into internment camps in 1942. Faced with a country that doubted their loyalty and struggling with their new situation, they turn to baseball as a way to handle their plight and find the strength to stand up for themselves becoming a true symbol of honor and pride.

Four generations of Japanese Americans broke down racial and cultural barriers in California by playing baseball. Behind the barbed wire of concentration camps during World War II, baseball became a tonic of spiritual renewal for disenfranchised Japanese Americans who played America’s pastime while illegally imprisoned.

While the story of the Negro Leagues has been well documented, few baseball fans know about the Japanese American Nisei Leagues, or of their most influential figure, Kenichi Zenimura (1900–1968). A talented player who excelled at all nine positions, Zenimura was also a respected manager and would become the Japanese American community’s baseball ambassador.

English translation of Japanese baseball history classic about the Negro Leagues Philadelphia Royal Giants’ tours of pre-war Japan. Updated with extensive footnotes, and appendices featuring maps, stats, rare photos, player insights, bios and “tour scrapbooks.” Co-authored by Kazuo Sayama and Bill Staples, Jr., foreword by Kenso Zenimura.

“From the first organized Japanese American team in 1903…to the years of internment when baseball was survival…to the time when baseball once again built a bridge across the Pacific, Japanese Americans have played ball.”