Bill Staples

Bill Staples Jr., Chandler, Ariz. :: has a new biography out titled Kenichi Zenimura, Japanese American Baseball Pioneer (McFarland). Zenimura worked to export the American style of baseball to Japan and established a 32-team Nisei league at Arizona’s Gila River Internment Camp during World War II. Bill, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and a board member of the Nisei Baseball Research Project, says Zenimura’s story is about more than baseball — “it’s about the timeless and shared human condition.” The book was named an official Arizona Centennial Legacy Project by the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission, in conjunction with Arizona's 2012 centennial. The award recognizes the internment of Japanese Americans and Zeni's efforts during the war as among the most significant events in Arizona history in the past 100 years.