Heritage Paper

The Greatest Game Ever Played

My family and I live in a small, rotting house located in the poor side of Manoa. When I was born on February 12, 1949 my parents called me Zuiichi which in Japanese means “first” because I am the first generation Japanese in Hawaii. They are the only people to arrive and start a new life in Hawaii from Fukiu Ken, Japan. However, they rarely ever go back to visit their siblings, and only leave on certain occasions. This might be because every time they return to Japan another family member passes away.

Both of my parents cannot speak English fluently, only with a strong Japanese accent. My 5 siblings and I are much more fortunate to be able to speak and write in English. Since my parents have several mouths to feed every night we are very poor. I am the oldest child at 15, and currently attend Roosevelt High School. Both my parents work very hard at their jobs and do the best they can to support us. Ken, my father, works as a carpenter for a small company and brings home most of the “bacon”. Mari, my mother, works at a pineapple cannery as an intermittent in the summer and does laundry for wealthy families when she is not at the factory.

This year as a freshman I was invited to play for my Roosevelt Varsity Baseball team. During pre-season training the members on the team and I play pick up games after school. I am one of the best hitters in the state in my age division, and on that particular day I was voted as one of the two team captains and picked the players for my team. Matt (all state pitcher), the other captain, picked his best friend first. I did the same and picked mine. Since this was a pickup game anyone could play, so after our first choices there was really no one talented enough to choose. So we just picked who ever looked athletic until we were left with the last two participants. The first was Jeff, the school’s only soccer player. Next to him was Alex, one of the school’s ADD (attention deficit disorder) students who repeated his junior year twice.

Matt looked at them up and down and said, “We’re better off on our own. Psh, you can have both of them,” then he laughed and his team walked away.

I could see both of them blush and look at the ground. Then just as they turned around I walked up to them and said, “Just ignore him. Guy’s like that don’t know what they’re talking about. I wanted you to be on my team so don’t worry about it. Just grab a glove and head out to outfield. You’ll do fine. Now, let’s do this!”

At the bottom of the ninth inning my team was down 4-5, and our team was last to bat. Jeff had just hit a slow grounder for the second out, and next to bat was Alex. Alex could barely swing the bat correctly. Then a thought occurred to me, I could easily tell Alex to sit down and I could go and bat. After all, I was the one who hit 4 homeruns to keep us this close, and now there was a man on first. I can easily hit another homerun and win the game for my team and be the player of the day. But instead, I oddly decided that Alex should be the one to bat because this was all just for fun. In spite of everything, I had my chance at glory all day, and now it only seemed fair to share it with others.

So before Alex stepped up to the plate I gave him a confident smile and a quick thumbs-up. He smiled back and gave a shrug in confusion then stepped up to the plate. The first pitch was a hard fastball. Alex took at hard swing… at the fly near his helmet totally forgetting that he was playing baseball. Then Matt threw a winding curveball that nearly hit Alex but was good enough for a strike. At this point all hope seemed lost until Matt said, “look a distraction,” as a quick retort, then suddenly threw the ball toward the plate which was surprising hit by Alex for a single.

Cory who was next up at bat turned to me and said, “Here, Zuiichi, you can bat for me. I’m baseball challenged anyway.”

At that moment I was hit with mixed emotions. I was happy, but yet surprised. I was hesitant, but excited. So without a word I grabbed my wooden bat and stepped up to the plate to face off against Matt. We both smiled instinctively at our challenger. I kicked the dirt under my shoe and prepped my bat near my shoulder. He checked the runners on first and second, then took his signal. He started to wind up and threw a blazing fastball, but I was ready for it and took my swing a little early. The ball was coming so fast I did not need to hit it hard, just make contact, and that day everyone who watched the game saw my game winning homerun that flew way over the fence and into the faculty parking lot. But on that specific day I witnessed something much greater. I observed one of the greatest displays of gamesman in the history of baseball from myself and my teammates.

I demonstrated kindheartedness and compassion and my teammates showed honesty and unselfishness. When I comforted Jeff and Alex after Matt lowered their self-esteem it felt really good, and when I let Alex go up to bat it reminded me of the famous baseball story about a disabled youngster who was invited to play a baseball game. Near the end of the story in the last inning of the game his team let him bat in a win or lose situation knowing that he probably would strike out. But the opposing team recognized that the other team would rather let him bat and lose the game than win. As a result the other team did their best to help him hit the ball and win the game for his team, and the disabled teenager ended up being the hero of the game and both teams lifted him up on their shoulders as a champion.

Cory demonstrated the importance of honesty when he openly admitted that he was not very talented at baseball and let me bat in his place. It took a great amount of courage to express his feelings in front of everyone on the team, and his sacrifice led to the team’s victory. He was the most valuable player when it came to his personality and attitude. Therefore, the moral of this story is to be honest and treat others with respect, but not just because you want to win a game or be a hero. But because you want to be a better person.