Wally Yonamine
- Yomiuri Giants (1951-1960)
- Chunichi Dragons (1961-1962, Manager 1972-1977)
Wallace Kaname " Wally " Yonamine (Japanese 「ウォーリー」与 那 岭 要, " Uōrī " Yonamine Kaname; * June 24, 1925 in Maui, Hawaii Territory, † February 28, 2011 in Honolulu, Hawaii) was an American - American football player, baseball player and coach. The outfielder was the first American postwar Japanese professional baseball in the 1950s, a star player with the Yomiuri Giants and the Chunichi Dragons manager of the 1970s. In 1994 he was included in the Yakyu dendo, the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
Yonamine was a Nisei, so a Japanese American second generation. His father came from Nakagusuku, Okinawa Prefecture, his mother from Hiroshima Prefecture. After the Second World War, he first played professional football: The San Francisco 49ers in AAFC he had in their second season in 1947 three missions as a running back and was the first Asian American in today's NFL. After a wrist injury sent him away the 49ers in 1948 and moved to Yonamine baseball.
After a short time at the Salt Lake Bees, a C minor-league team, which was associated with the San Francisco Seals, and AJA baseball in Hawaii at Asahi club, a symbol of the Japanese- Hawaiian community, Yonamine 1951 by scouts was the Yomiuri Giants discovered. During the season, he was signed up, had his first 54 appearances in the Central League and won the first of four championships with the Giants, the second " golden era " of the team. By 1957, he had in any season batting averages over .300, three times (1954, 1956 and 1957), the highest in the league. In 1957 he was honored as MVP of the Central League. In 1952 he was inducted seven times in a row in the Best Nine and arrested eight times in a row at the All- Star Games in part. Most Yonamine was with his strong Bunts, effective baserunning and aggressive slides behind Chiba Shigeru used to point 2 of the lineups. After the season in 1960, when the Giants missed the Nippon Series for the first time in six years, he moved to the Chunichi Dragons, where he but after only 83 missions ended his career in two years. A valid record to date from his time as a player are eleven stolen home bases.
From 1969 Yonamine worked as Hitting Coach, first on for the Dragons, as of 1967 for the Tōkyō Orion before it three years later as a head coach again returned to Chunichi. At the end of the 1971 season ended manager Shigeru Mizuhara ended his career and Yonamine became his successor. After two third places he succeeded in 1974 to break the nine -year series of the Giants to lead the Dragons to the league title and thus the first Nippon -Series attendance for 20 years. However, the Chunichi Lotte Orions subject under Kaneda Masaichi with 2-4. In 1977 he resigned as Dragons manager and continued to work as a coach for several teams, most recently from 1985 Nippon Ham Fighters for.
After the 1988 season Yonamine returned to the United States and lived in his native Hawaii. In 1994 he was elected to the Hall of Fame. In the 2000s, he returned a few more times to Japan for an appearance in the Pro Yakyu Masters League and a symbolic opening game. In 2011 he died in Honolulu on prostate cancer.