May 30, 1946, issue of The Nisei Weekender announces the creation of the “Weekender League,” an all-Japanese softball league in New York City. Less than three months after the final War Relocation Authority closed in Tule Lake, California, in March 1946, the Weekender League was born. The league took its name after The Nisei Weekender, a New York newspaper for Japanese Americans. An issue of the newspaper published on May 30, 1946, describes the formation of the league: “Excitement reached a fever pitch as the local baseball-conscious community eagerly watched the 11th-hour formation of seven well-matched softball teams.” The seven teams in the Weekender League were funded by Japanese American businesses and local religious organizations, and they competed for a silver trophy donated by the Hokubei Shimpo, the first New York newspaper to publish in Japanese after World War II. The second picture is of an unknown player for the New York L’il Giants, a Japanese American amateur team, practicing at Riverside Playground in Manhattan in 1948.

The opening pitch for the league’s inaugural game was thrown by Dr. Masahiko “Ralph” Takami (1912-1967). Ralph was the son of Dr. Toyohiko Campbell Takami (1872-1945), a New York issei who founded the Japanese Mutual Aid Association in 1907 (renamed the Japanese Association in 1914, and now the Japanese American Association of New York). Growing up in an affluent circle of city-goers, Ralph and his brother Morihiko “Mori” (1915 -1993) were schoolmates with the Topping brothers, Daniel R. “Dan” Topping and Henry J. “Bob” Topping Jr at the Lawrenceville School. Baseball ran serendipitously through Ralph’s social circle; Dan Topping served as co-owner of the Yankees between 1945-1964 and President between 1948-1966.