pittsburgh pirates spring training camp

•1935• •1937• •1938• •1939• •1940• •1941• •1942• •1946• •1949• •1950• •1951• •1952•

"Pirates' games at Perris Hill with my Pop was special. He wanted me to be a good player like he was, and like my cousins were. When they chose up teams I wasn't last, but I was happy to be out in right field...just hoping nobody would hit it out there." [ben sakoguchi]

February 1941 ^ Locker room, Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino California Left to right: Pittsburgh Pirates manager Frankie Frisch, veteran coach Honus Wagner, scout Hollis Thurston, coach John Gooch, coach Jake Flowers (in cap at right) and coach Mike Kelly

February 1941 ^ Ballplayers help Pirates' coach, Honus Wagner, celebrate his 67th birthday during Spring Training in San Bernardino, California Left to right, front: Debs Garms, Honus Wagner, Joseph Schultz and Eddie Leip Back row, left to right: Eddie Stewart, Lloyd Dietz, Bill Clemensen, Rip Sewell and Oadis Swigart

1940 ^ Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh Pirates batting coach

c. 1905 ^ Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop

Ben Sakoguchi acrylic on canvas 2008 ^ (referencing the February 2007 sale of the "Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner" baseball card)

c.1940 ^ Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino California (view from Perris Hill)

c.1940 ^ Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs at Perris Hill Park

c.1940 ^ Night baseball at Perris Hill Park

• In 1934 the Pittsburgh Pirates were training in Paso Robles, California, at baseball grounds owned by the Paso Robles Fair & Athletic Association

c.1936 ^ Perris Hill Park baseball field (view from Perris Hill) Facilities were constructed with SERA (State Emergency Relief Administration) & WPA (Works Progress Administration) labor

"Pacific High School, where I went, was built [in 1953] on the other side of the hill from the ballpark...they made us run up the hill as punishment when we goofed off in Gym class...student body voted to be called the 'Pacific Pirates'." [ben sakoguchi]

February 1935 ^ President of the Pittsburgh Pirates, William Benswanger with his son, Billy

March 1935 ^ Red Lucas at bat...Perris Hill in background

March 1935 ^ Ralph Birkofer swings...Perris Hill in background

1935 ^ Bucs at Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino

• In 1936 the Pirates trained at Tech Field in San Antonio, Texas

Ben Sakoguchi acrylic on canvas 2008 ^

1940 ^ Bucs at Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino

1941 ^ Bucs at Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino

March 1941 ^ Vincent DiMaggio & Frank Kalin at Perris Hill park

1941 ^ Ralph Kiner at Perris Hill park

• SEE clips of Pittsburgh Pirates training at Perris Hill Park in 1941

1941 ^

1942 ^ Bucs at Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino

• For the duration of World War II (1943-45) the Pirates trained at McCulloch Park in Muncie, Indiana

1946 ^ Ralph Kiner at Perris Hill Park

• In 1947 the Pirates trained at Flamingo Field in Miami Beach, Florida

• In 1948 the Pirates trained at Gilmore Field in Hollywood, California

The ballpark at Perris Hill was renamed Fiscalini Field in 1993

1950 ^ Bucs at Perris Hill Park, San Bernardino

1951 ^ Ralph Kiner at Perris Hill park

March 1952 ^ Ralph Kiner at Perris Hill park

• In 1953 the Pirates trained at the Estadio del Cerro in Havana, Cuba. They never returned to Perris Hill Park, but remained the "home team" for many San Bernardino baseball fans.

February 1929 ^ Nineteen-year-old George Sakoguchi 'at bat' in San Bernardino, California

"My Pop really loved Baseball...not movies, music, other sports...he just LOVED BASEBALL." [ben sakoguchi]

c. 1943 ^ George Sakoguchi 'benched' behind barbed wire, Poston, Arizona (sitting on an orange crate)

c. 1943 ^ Internee softball team at War Relocation Authority Camp, Poston Arizona

March 22, 1949 ^ Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cleveland Indians at Perris Hill Park (George Sakoguchi's view from the bleachers)

"I remember going with him to that game, and how excited he was.... Remember, that was MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, and no one could get it on the West Coast at that time." [ben sakoguchi]

March 1951 ^ Wally Westlake peels an orange at Perris Hill Park (sitting on an orange crate)

Pirates' shortstop "Arky" Vaughan on the back of Wheaties box (1937)

Ralph Kiner Wheaties ad ^ (in a 1951 comic book)

• SEE clip of 1951 Wheaties Cereal commercial featuring Pirates' champion slugger Ralph Kiner

1951 ^

"The Pirates were still 'his team' even after they left San Bernardino...my Pop would listen on the radio in the back of the store...he was always talking about Ralph Kiner." [ben sakoguchi]

September 1955 ^ Three years after George Sakoguchi stopped being classified as an "alien ineligible for citizenship," and three months after he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, he visits the fishing village of Wabuka in Wakayama-ken, Japan (which he had left as a child in 1922).