This beautiful announcer booth has been completed!
Dan and his outstanding team of volunteers and Manzanar's stalwart staff built this lovely addition to the site between August 2025 and January 2026.
Team: Construction Superviser Chris Siddens; Arborist Dave Goto; Facilities Mgr. Jon Harris; Archeologist Jeff Burton; Crew Gil Larimore. Volunteer Captain Sho Yamada; volunteers Greta Langhenry, Alexander Iko, Billy Taing, Chouen Mean. Special thanks to Toyo Miyatake Studios; Nous Engineering; High Country Lumber; The Fund for People in Parks; LPA Design Studios; plus Roger Myoraku and Janet & Dana Leis for housing Dan and Sho during construction!
GRAND OPENING ~ OCTOBER 2026
Yes, we were cancelled in 2025 due to the government shutdown.
But - watch this space for details as the season approaches!
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"In this place of sadness, injustice and pain, we will do something joyful, righteous and healing.
We will play baseball."
HISTORY
Japanese people have been passionate about baseball for over 150 years, ever since its introduction to Japan in the 1870s. When Japanese immigrants began coming to America they brought their love of the game with them, passing it on to their American-born children, the Nisei generation. Prior to WWII, Japanese American baseball flourished up and down the west coast in big cities and small farm towns alike. On December 7, 1941 that world was shattered as loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry became identified as "the enemy".
Manzanar National Historic Site was the first of ten major Japanese American "internment camps" constructed in the early months of 1942. Located in the Owens Valley 225 miles north of Los Angeles, Manzanar held over 10,000 Japanese American people. Throughout the ten camps over 120,000 people, most of them American citizens, were imprisoned without due process of law in the largest mass incarceration in United States history.
The camps devastated Japanese American communities, but one aspect of pre-war life they were able to hang on to was baseball. Even through incarceration their passion for the game remained strong. The National Pastime took on powerful symbolic meaning, and the baseball diamond became a sacred space to enact a quintessential American ritual. In the words of Manzanar incarceree Takeo Suo:
"Putting on a baseball uniform was like wearing the American flag."
TODAY
Through its historical re-enactment doubleheader played on Manzanar's lovingly restored ballfield, the Manzanar Baseball Project honors Japanese Americans who found a way to play the game they loved in spite of injustice.
This project is a tribute to the spirit and determination of the Japanese American community, the power of baseball to uplift and unite people, and the importance of safeguarding the rights and principles enshrined in our Constitution.
BRINGING JAPANESE AMERICAN HISTORY TO LIFE
Join us on this journey to preserve, celebrate, and share the unique role of baseball in helping the Japanese American community to persevere through wartime incarceration.
Let's swing for the fences (or tumbleweeds) and make this project a home run!
EXHIBITION DOUBLEHEADER
(Great Leap's project)
2024's invitation-only inaugural doubleheader was a powerful, unforgettable experience for the lucky few in attendance.
The 2026 Grand Opening (targeted for mid-October) will be open to the public, and we expect an even more impactful day of baseball, community spirit, and social justice!
Watch this space for all the details as the Fall season approaches!
Great Leap extends heartfelt thanks to our incredible partners and the many generous donors who supported the 2024 doubleheader.
* Manzanar National Historic Site
* SoCal Nisei Athletic Union Baseball League
* NorCal Japanese American Baseball League
* History For Hire Prop House
* California Wellness Foundation
* Japanese American National Museum
* Independence Volunteer Fire Department
* Los Angeles Dodgers
* 18th Street Arts Center
* Highways Performance Space
* Owens Valley Unified School District
* Los Angeles DWP
* Mike Boulia
* Venice Japanese American Memorial Monument Committee
BALLFIELD RESTORATION (Manzanar's project)
Spearheaded by performance artist Dan Kwong, restoration of the ballfield—including backstop, foul-line fencing, bleachers, and player benches — was successfully completed in Summer 2024. In 2025 Dan and his dedicated crew restored the next major feature: a 22-foot-tall announcer booth, the most challenging structure in the project. Next in line is scoreboard restoration, hopefully completed in time for the Grand Opening Doubleheader in October 2026.
All restoration efforts are based on a handful of archival photographs and have been under the guidance of Construction Supervisor Chris Siddens, with consultation from Manzanar archaeologist Jeff Burton and support from the Manzanar staff.
THANK YOU to the major community partners who have generously donated funds, materials, and expertise for field restoration:
The Fund for People in Parks
Gwynne Pugh Urban Studio
Herrick Steel
High Country Lumber
LPA Design Studios
Nous Engineering
Telacu Construction
Toyo Miyatake Studio
