NBRP Salutes Don Wakamatsu:
First Asian-American Manager in MLB History

Note: The following article is an excerpt from the book "Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball" by author, historian and filmmaker Kerry Yo Nakagawa. In 1996 Nakagawa founded the Nisei Baseball Research Project (NBRP; www.niseibaseball.com) to preserve the history of Japanese-American Baseball. Similar to African-Americans prior to 1947, Japanese-Americans were excluded from white major league teams. As a long-time supporter of the NBRP, Don Wakamatsu wrote the following on the photo below: "To Kerry, Thank You for the Recognition and Keeping our dreams alive. Best Wishes, Don Wakamatsu."

Wilbur Donald Wakamatsu was born February 22, 1963, in Hood River, Oregon. His great-grandparents were fruit growers from Fukuoka, Japan. His grandparents were also earth people and his mother Ruth was a dental assistant and his father James was an iron worker superintendent. He played all the youth sports starting with little league. “I was the baby Huey of my teams. I was bigger than everyone and usually slower too,” remembered Wakamatsu. He also played for the Buddhist church teams as a youth and remembers as a 10 year old going to his first big league ballgame. “A neighbor of ours took us local kids to a Oakland A’s game. This when they were world champions. Walking into the stadium and seeing the field was an awesome site. That’s when you really start dreaming about being a major leaguer, says Don.

The Burkovich Furniture store was a sponsor of the Oakland area under 15 all-stars. Ray Luce, the coach of the team was always looking for young talent to showcase his team.Don remembers, “We would play almost 100 games in the summertime, sometimes playing two double-headers in one day. Ray pretty much figured we were all-stars and let us just play. Sometimes I’d even catch him napping in the dugout. But it gave us great opportunities to get as many at-bats as possible.”

As he grew older and stronger, he filled out his frame with muscle and speed. He became an all-star at Hayward High School. Coach Jim Bisenius was a major influence in Don’s prep days. “These are real important times in your life because of recruiters and scouts. Jim always put in a good word for me and it made a difference,” said Don. Wakamatsu then got a scholarship to attend Arizona State, (ASU). Head coach Jim Brock and catching coach Gary Tuck really went to work refining Dons skills. His Jr. year he was picked a all-Pac 10 All-American. “Not only did I have great coaches, but I played with some outstanding athletes. Barry Bonds was on our team, Odobe McDowell was a great player, we were stacked,” said Don.

All the hard work finally paid off when Don received a telegram and a phone call informing him that he was chosen in the 10th round to the Chicago White Sox. Don started his journey to the majors with the Billings, Montana Rookie Ball League. He then went to Florida’s ‘A’ league for two years then to the Midwest ‘AA’ in Chattanooga, Tennessee.Wakamatsu’s last stop before the majors was at the Vancouver Canadian ‘AAA’ team. After six years of minor league baseball, Don made it to the Chicago White Sox organization. “When you decide you want to make baseball a professional career, success does not come easy. You have to have a tremendous work ethic, handle pressure, be very business like in your approach and have the natural ability, says Wakamatsu.

Don credits White Sox catching coach Jeff Torborg as a major influence early in his career. Some of Don’s special moments with the Sox include veteran player Carlton Fisk telling Don not to be anxious about getting his first major league hit. Carlton was 0-25 before getting his first. Don’s first at bat was against the Anaheim Angels. Don took a slider down and away and drove it to right field for his first big league hit. “After getting the hit, Dave Winfield on the other team tapped me on the shin guard and said, “I hope you get 2,000 more.” He was a class guy,” said Wakamatsu. Another milestone was watching Dave Henderson take off and then setting up and firing a rope to second to throw out Henderson. Throwing guys out when knuckelball pitcher Charlie Hough is fluttering them at you can be an adventure for many catchers.

Unfortunately like many players the rigors of the game caught up with Don and elbow surgery plus a foot injury slowed Don’s progress down dramatically. During Don’s rehab in the minors, he ended up being a player and coach. Don enjoyed the rigors of coaching and through word of mouth and the baseball grapevine, was recommended when the Diamondbacks in Arizona began their search for new coaching positions.General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr. and Coach Buck Showalter of the Diamondbacks met with Don and they chose their new minor league coach. In Wakamatsu’s first year in 1998 he was named Manager of the year for the California League. Don’s parents once asked when he was going to take on a straight job? Don’s response was, “I haven’t had to work a day yet, why start now.I have played baseball my whole life, I’m good at this and I have never had to change jobs.”

In 1999, Don began managing the ‘AA’ El Paso Diablos, another Arizona Diamondbacks farm team. As the elder statesman for the your young players coming up, Don extends more thoughts on his craft, “Your on the bus 15-16 hours, you have to sometimes eat at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, five players to a room; but you get to see the world, experience the crowd cheering you on and get paid for playing a game you have done since you were a kid. I’m still love baseball and intend to for a long time.”

Don and his wife Laura have three children that are Gosei, (fifth generation) and if Don’s wish comes true, one day one of his son’s will take the field as major league’s first Yonsei big league player.

**

On November 19, 2008, Don Wakamatsu was named the manager of the Seattle Mariners, making him the first Asian-American manager in MLB history.