Researcher/Author
Preserve the history of
Japanese American baseball
BILL STAPLES, JR. is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) in Arizona with a passion for researching and telling the untold stories of the “international pastime.” His areas of expertise include Japanese American and Negro Leagues baseball history as a context for exploring the themes of civil rights, cross-cultural relations and globalization.
He is a board member for both the Nisei Baseball Research Project and Japanese American Citizens League-Arizona Chapter, chairman of the SABR Asian Baseball Committee, and research contributor to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
Bill lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife and two children, where he proudly served on the City of Chandler Parks & Recreation Board. In 2006 his proposal to name Nozomi Park was approved by the Chandler City Council. “Nozomi” is the Japanese word for “hope” and was selected to honor Japanese Americans interned in Arizona during WWII and the role baseball played in helping to create a sense of normalcy behind barbed wire.
Bill Staples Jr., Researcher/Author