Yeah, I had no idea either.

Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon is best known to New Yorkers as the player who parted ways with the team’s dreaded rival the Boston Red Sox to sign with the Bronx Bombers in 2005. While his Japanese and Taiwanese teammates Hideki Matsui and Chien Ming Wang garner all the attention from the Asian media, Damon feels his ability to play the sport has rendered his Thai background nearly meaningless.

So, what, the relative low ability of Wang and Matsui has enabled them to maintain their Asian backgrounds? Whatever, nice to see this kind of story.

“I don’t know why I wasn’t really characterized,” says Damon. “Sometimes I would be called Bruce Lee and all that stuff going through school, but I think just because I played sports, people didn’t look at me as anything else but as the guy who can hit the baseball and run really fast.”

Um, if you were called Bruce Lee you were “characterized” Johnny. I think you mean “identified” or “recognized.”

Damon’s mother is of Thai descent. He doesn’t speak the language, but he says he’s slowly learning and has started with simple words and phrases.

Even though he’s not generally thought of as an Asian athlete, he takes pride in being an Asian American role model.

“Most of my makeup is Asian and I’m very proud of it,” says Damon. “I believe in a lot of it. My mother always believed in Buddha. Growing up I really didn’t understand it until I got a bit older and now I’m like wow, this is really powerful stuff.”