Don Wakamatsu: One of the many overlooked Asian-American athletes

Don Wakamatsu - by Keith Allison on Flickr

Since the rise of Jeremy Lin, many Asian-Americans feel proud to see him discouraging stereotypes. However, there were a lot of Asian-American athletes all around sports in America that did not get as much attention as Lin. One example is Don Wakamatsu, former Major League Baseball player and current bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.

For the majority of Wakamatsu’s career he played in the minor leagues and barely got a chance to be a starter on a Major League Baseball team. This made many people overlook Wakamatsu, but the few Asian-Americans that noticed him viewed him as an example of cultural variety spreading throughout sports. This was important because there were not many professional baseball players from an Asian descent.

Wakamatsu had his first chance in a MLB game on May 22, 1991 against the California Angels for the Chicago White Sox. He felt the pressure from the White Sox fans. In an interview with The Telegraph-Herald he said, “It’s bad enough catching your first game, but to catch a knuckle-ball is added pressure.” Under the pressure Wakamatsu managed to hit a single, where he injured his shoulder. This injury got worse over time and due to that the White Sox released him a few months later. He returned to the minor leagues and spent the last five years of his career playing there, but he did not give up on baseball.

Wakamatsu got back into baseball in 1997 to coach in the minor leagues. In 2003 he was promoted and started coaching in the major league to become the Texas Rangers’ bench coach. In 2008 he was named manager of the Seattle Mariners, making him the first Asian-American manager in MLB. Two years later he was fired and after coaching various teams he was picked up in 2010 by the Blue Jays. Today he still remains as their bench coach.