Panoramic photo of Japanese American Baseball Teams at the 2nd Annual Baseball Tournament, Stockton, [California]. 1924

Stockton, California, 1924. Unbound. Very Good. Original gelatin silver panoramic photograph. 7.25" x 40" mounted on a 9.75" x 43" backer. Some old spotting at the margins, professional restoration at the left side of the photo where it had previously been folded, with some scuffing still evident and affecting the images of two players and a pennant slightly; v-shaped chip carefully infilled at the left margin, not affecting the photo but affecting a few characters in the line of Japanese writing, on the verso. Hand-dated in 1924 on the margin.

Images of several Japanese American baseball teams who were participating in the 2nd annual Baseball Tournament in Stockton, California in 1924. The team players are lined up on the field, holding pennants with their team names imprinted: the Lodi Y.M.A.; the Stockton Yamato; the San Jose Asahi; the Sacramento Nippon; and the Alameda Athletics.

The stands behind the teams are full of spectators. Sponsors for the teams included the Nippon Sanitarium, the Stockton Times, the Shindo Co., the Tsuruya Co., and the California Grocery Co. respectively. A partial translation of the text appears to offer a caption for the photo, including the words "yakyuu taikai," ie: "big baseball meetup."

According to Ralph Pearce's book "From Asahi to Zebras: Japanese American Baseball in San Jose, California," (San Jose, CA: 2005), "[t]he first Japanese American baseball team in California was the Fujii Club of San Francisco, organized by Chiura Obata in 1903.... Between 1903 and 1915, many Japanese American baseball teams were organized, including teams in Fresno, Florin, Stockton, Sacramento, Lodi and San Jose. These teams were composed primarily of first-generation immigrants (Issei)."

The San Jose Asahi team was organized in the early 1910s, and by 1924, had become "a real team," thanks in part to their manager Henry Yoshihara. The Stockton Yamato Athletic Club was founded in 1920. By 1925, the Sacramento Nippon, the San Jose Asahi, and the Stockton Yamato, joined with other Japanese teams to form the Northern California Japanese Baseball League. Many Nissei (second generation immigrants) filled the ranks of the teams. Veteran sports writer Jack Graham of the San Jose Mercury Herald wrote a number of articles about the Japanese teams, encouraging his readers to see and support them.

At roughly this same time, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, known as the Johnson-Reed Act, strengthening the laws against immigration by people of Asian lineage. Those in the U.S. were already barred from naturalizing, and this act excluded from entry "any alien who by virtue of race or nationality was ineligible for citizenship." Tensions between America and Japan increased as a result. [see: the US Dept. of State's website, "Milestones in History" for information on this act].

In any event a rare survivor of an early California-based Japanese American baseball tournament.