Join Russ Speiller and Dan Kwong as they talk about SABR’s Manzanar Baseball Project, life and baseball in the camp, and rebuilding the camp’s baseball field.

After Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 forced more than 125,000 Japanese Americans from their homes and into incarceration camps across the country. At Manzanar, in California’s high desert, over 10,000 people lived behind barbed wire, unsure when freedom would return. Yet even under harsh and unjust conditions, they built community—and baseball and softball became powerful ways to claim joy, dignity, and normalcy. 

Drawing on digitized camp newspapers, oral histories, and new family interviews, Russ Speiller will introduce you to some of the leagues great players and teams while Dan Kwong will follow with an introduction to the Manzanar Baseball Project, an effort to rebuild the Manzanar baseball field, connect generations of Japanese Americans, and honor the spirits of those who played there over 80 years ago.

Register for this free event below:

Asian Baseball Committee meeting

When: Sep 23, 2026 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ur0csJguSRCvbhtDorlASw

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.