The following is an interview with Robert Fitts, author of Wally Yonamine: The Man who Changed Japanese Baseball. The book is published by University of Nebraska Press and is now available at Amazon.com or at WallyYonamine.com.

EWC:What attracted you to the story of Wally Yonamine to the degree that you wanted to write a book on him?

RF:I like to joke that Wally Yonamine is the reason I don’t have a job. I was a professional archaeologist specializing in 19th century New York City when I first met Wally in 2003. I had planned to write only a short article when I sat down to interview him at his pearl shop in Tokyo. After listening to his riveting tales of Japanese baseball, a idea came to me.

With Wally’s help, I interviewed nearly 30 other former players and edited them into narratives, similar to Lawrence Ritter’s Glory of Their Times. This became my first book, Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game. While writing Remembering, I got to know Wally reasonably well and I enjoyed hanging out with him. He’s the nicest person that you will ever meet and he’s full of information and stories about Japanese baseball.

Of course, most fans of Japanese baseball know a little about Wally but for those who don’t, here are the basic facts: Wally Yonamine was born in 1925 on a Maui sugar plantation to poor Japanese immigrants. He became a high school football star and after turning down an offer from the Pittsburgh Steelers, signed a two year contract with the San Francisco 49ers. In 1947, he became the first Japanese-American to play for a NFL franchise. This was just a year after many Japanese-Americans returned from the internment camps, so Wally became a hero—a symbol that the group could assimilate into mainstream American culture. But life wasn’t always easy in pro football. Anti-Japanese sentiment was still high and Wally had to endure insults and physical abuse from the opposition. After the 1947 football season, Yonamine broke his hand playing baseball and the 49ers released him.

Wally spent a few years playing minor league football, semi-pro baseball and spent one year in the Pioneer League before signing with the Yomiuri Giants in 1951. As the first American star to arrive after World War 2 and he had to overcome hostile fans, difficult living conditions, and adapt to a foreign culture. He succeeded and stayed in Japan as a player, coach, and manager for 37 years. He also won three batting titles, a MVP award and was elected to the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.

The basics of Yonamine’s story have been told in a few magazine articles and on the web, but a detailed account of his experiences isn’t available in English. So the day after completing the manuscript, I called Wally in Hawaii and asked if I could write his biography. The book took about three years to write.

EWC:You obviously had a background and deep interest in studying Yonamine prior to this book, but what did you find out while you were writing this that surprised you?

RF: Two things surprised me. The first, and this sounds petty but it is important, is the amount of inaccurate information about Japanese baseball on the web and even in published articles. There are many stories that just get repeated without being verified. By going back to the newspaper accounts and talking to the players involved, I was able to find out what really happened.

The second thing that continually surprised me is how important Yonamine was to Japanese baseball. Because he is American, Yonamine doesn’t get a lot of press in Japan. For example, baseball card collectors will notice that he doesn’t show up in the Giants greats sets very often even through he was their best player in the 1950s. Because he is so friendly and down to earth, I would often forget that I was hanging out with a Hall of Famer. But people do know him. After getting out of a taxi in Tokyo, the driver asked if that was “The Wally Yonamine.” Sometimes people would approach us in Hawaii to ask for his autograph.

EWC:Some people call Yonamine the Nisei Jackie Robinson. What did Yonamine endure in his efforts to play in Japan that makes the comparison fair?

RF:Like Robinson, Yonamine was a pioneer in breaking down ethnic barriers. Both had to endure hostile fans without complaint and win over their fellow ball players. If they failed either on or off the field, other members of their ethnic groups would not receive offers to play. Wally had to endure the taunts of opposing fans as well as their missiles. He was even threatened by the yakuza at one point.

EWC: How is the book organized? Where does it start and where does it end?

RF: The book focuses on Wally’s entire life. His childhood, growing up poor on a sugar plantation, was important. It drove his success on the playing fields. Wally says, “I never wanted to work in the cane fields again so I always tried my best, always pushed myself.” I also spend a few chapters on his football and minor league baseball careers. Of course, most of the book is about Japanese baseball. Readers will get to see Japanese baseball from an inside perspective. Really, there are two main themes. 1- how a shy young man overcame adversity to grow into a superstar and celebrity and 2- how this same man and his family adapted to a foreign culture.

EWC: Who do you interview in the book?

RF:I conducted about 40 interviews for the book. These included family members, friends, ball players, and historians. One of the great things about writing about a nice guy like Wally is that everybody I asked was happy to help. People like, Don Newcombe, gave me their home phone number and spent time answering my questions.

EWC:Can you describe Yonamine’s style of play for readers who aren’t familiar with his career? Is there anyone you can compare is style of play to in MLB and/or NPB?

RF: Wally Yonamine was two different people. Off the field, he is nice, polite, gentle. On the field, he was aggressive and rough—although always a gentleman (he rarely got into arguments or fights as a player).

As a player, he was most like Jackie Robinson. Like Robinson, he adapted his football skills to the diamond. Wally would take out second basemen (a BIG NO NO in Japan back then), and bowl over catchers. As he told me, “If they were in my way, I would just knock them down.” He ran the base paths very aggressively and once stole all three bases in the same inning. In that same game, he also stole home twice! With the bat, he was a spray hitter who used his head. He studied opposing pitchers and varied his batting to attack their weaknesses. He was an expert bunter, but unlike the Japanese he would bunt for hits rather than just sacrifices. He also introduced the drag bunt and the hook slide to Japan.

Before Wally, the Japanese played a passive game—rarely going from first to third, not running out bunts or grounders, not breaking up double plays, etc. Yonamine showed the Japanese the advantages of playing aggressively and changed the way they played the game.