Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State has a ‘Night to Remember’
2/21/2017 9:28:00 AM | Baseball, General
Satoshi “Fibber “Hirayama surprised with jersey retirement on evening that celebrated the history of Japanese-American baseball
A special night that came on the heels of the annual Day of Remembrance, which was the 75th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt singing Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 – a presidential decree that led to the World War II-era incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans.
The baseball gods let it be known that this night would not be cast away by rain. The sun shined on Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium and the current Bulldogs donned throwback jerseys, replicas of the uniforms worn by the legendary Fresno Athletic Club.
Your 'Dogs are ready for A Night to Remember! pic.twitter.com/c2259YxizA
— Fresno St. Bulldogs (@FSAthletics) February 21, 2017
"I want to thank Fresno State, athletics director Jim Bartko, all the fans that support our history, especially Coach Batesole and the World Series Champion Fresno State Bulldogs, that are honoring these bridge builders and these ambassadors of American baseball tonight wearing the uniforms the Fresno Athletics Club wore in 1924, 1927 and 1937 as our American ambassadors to this great game," said Kerry Yo Nakagawa of the Nisei Baseball Research Project. "Tonight I know that these elders and pioneers that are with us in spirit are very proud of you."
Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama and Kenso "Howard" Zenimura, Japanese-American baseball living legends that played for the Bulldogs in the early 1950's, were honored in part of a pregame ceremony in front of 1,814, a ceremony that ultimately led the surprise for Hirayama that Fresno State would be retiring the No. 3 jersey he wore for the Bulldogs.
"We are honored to support the past and the present, and [Fibber] is a great part of our history," said Fresno State Director of Athletics Jim Bartko. "75 years ago yesterday our lives changed but he never stopped. If you look up behind home plate this number will be retired there forever in perpetuity in honor of this guy right here."
In 1950 Pete Beiden won his first conference championship with the two gentlemen in front of the crowd at Monday evening's game. In 1951 Hirayama and Zenimura led Fresno State to its best winning percentage in school history at 36-4, and only one of the losses was to a college team. The rest were against professional teams. Fibber was a junior in 1951 and stole a school record 36 bases in 40 games while Howard hit for a remarkable .424 batting average. That 1951 team was not invited to the NCAA postseason that year, but the system was corrected in 1952 and Hirayama led the 'Dogs to their first appearance in program history the next season, a year he stole 33 bases.
"It's really a thrill, it really is," said the 87-year-old Hirayama, who had a birthday last Friday. "I never thought it would happen. It was the last thing in my mind, that my number would ever be retired."
And with all ill memories that could be tucked away, it's not at the forefront of what Hirayama reflects on when looking back.
"I don't think about those bad things anymore", said Hirayama. "Because you can only go so far with something like that. Whereas the good memories like this tonight, I'll never forget this, it's really a thrill."
But history cannot be forgotten and in 1942 when Japanese-Americans on the west coast were forced to relocate to internment camps further inland, baseball was what deflected the bad that surrounded the situation.
"I really enjoyed camp at first because all I did was play baseball and football," said Hirayama. "Never went to school or anything. So I really enjoyed it. I'm not much of a student anyway, but I can remember my Dad being scared and I remember we were in this one little apartment which had one potbelly stove in it and I can remember the sandstorms that used to come through and we could not see across the barracks … it scared me to death, when I first went to camp I really enjoyed it, because I didn't know anything about it."
At the Gila River camp in Arizona, Fresno's Kenichi Zenimura, the "father of Japanese-American baseball," put his two sons to work cobbling together a makeshift diamond in that desert wasteland. After their freedom was restored, Howard and Harvey Zenimura would join Fibber Hirayama as builders of Pete Beiden's championship legacy at Fresno State.
"Having Fibber out there today was fantastic," said head coach Mike Batesole. "What a beautiful man and a gentleman. What he's been through and to come out smiling on the other end of it … that says a lot." Including Jack Hannah, another Bulldog Hall of Famer who performed the national anthem, along with Hirayama and Zenimura, Batesole said, "Those are the kind of guys that we need to have around our ballpark and around our players. That's the kind of example of a way to fight and live your life that our guys need to see."
The evening began with Kent Sakamoto, an all-conference first baseman for the Bulldogs in 2006, teaming with Hirayama on a ceremonial first pitch relay to the plate. Sakamoto's grandparents met each other at the Poston Internment Camp in Arizona, the same camp where Hirayama was held. That baseball exchanged by two ex-Bulldogs proved symbolic of a history passed from one generation to another, a legacy this "Night to Remember" proves will never be forgotten.
"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.
