Table of Contents

Dedication 7

Acknowledgments 8

Special Acknowledgment 13

Chapter 1 14

Introduction 14

The Reason 14

Baseball and Diversity 15

Summary 18

Chapter 2 22

Baseball in Asia 22

Introduction 22

Part I History 22

China 23

Japan 24

Taiwan 27

Korea 28

Philippines 29

Other Asian Nations 30

Part II Performance 31

Little League 31

The Olympics 32

World Baseball Classic 33

Asian Games 33

Summary 34

Chapter 3 35

The Curious Case of Honolulu Johnny and the Prince 35

Introduction 35

Honolulu Johnny 35

The Prince 40

Summary 44

Chapter 4 46

Bobby Balcena: The Asian-American Jackie Robinson 46

Summary 50

Chapter 5 51

The 1960s 51

Introduction 51

Masanori Murakami 52

Tony Solaita 55

Summary 62

Chapter 6 64

The 1970s 64

Introduction 64

Wendell Kim 65

Lenn Sakata 67

Ryan Kurosaki 73

Summary 74

Batting Statistics for the 1970s 75

Chapter 7 76

The 1980s 76

Introduction 76

Atlee Hammaker 77

Summary 88

Chapter 8 90

The 1990s 90

Introduction 90

Benny Agbayani 90

Danny Graves 93

Johnny Damon 97

Wilbur Wakamatsu 106

Onan Masaoka 107

Summary 108

The 2000s 110

Introduction 110

Kurt Suzuki 111

Travis Ishikawa 113

Brandon League 114

Billy Sadler 115

Shane Komine 115

Charlie Zink 116

Dane and Bronson Sardinha 117

Shane Victorino 121

Jeremy Guthrie 123

Clay Rapada 124

Geno Espineli 130

Tim Lincecum 130

Chris Aguila 132

Wes Littleton 132

Matt Tuiasosopo 133

Brandon Villafuerte 133

Jason Bartlett 133

Summary 134

Chapter 10 137

The 2010s 137

Introduction 137

Hank Conger 138

Rob Refsnyder 139

Sean Manaea 142

Tommy Pham 142

Darwin Barney 143

Kolten Wong 144

Addison Russell 145

Summary 147

Chapter 11 149

The Future of Asian Pacific American Baseball 149

Introduction 149

Diversity in the MLB 149

Diversity Initiatives 151

Hall of Fame 154

Future 154

Appendices 156

Endnotes 162

References 178