SEATTLE — Don Wakamatsu is proud to be the first Asian-American manager in major- league history. He's also keenly aware of what his grandparents endured, generations before he took over the Seattle Mariners.
During World War II, the United States government moved his Japanese ancestors across the country from one internment camp to another. Wakamatsu's father, an ironworker, was born in one.
"I'm proud to represent some of what they went through in their lifetime," Wakamatsu said. "If I can set a future steppingstone for Japanese-Americans and just the equality in baseball, I'm glad to bear that torch."
A fourth-generation Japanese-American, the former Oakland bench coach and catcher at Arizona State was introduced Wednesday as the new manager of the Mariners.
The team has close ties to Japan, from Hiroshi Yamauchi, its titular head and Japanese billionaire, through All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, the franchise cornerstone.
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The elder Wakamatsus were first sent to live in an internment camp set up in the infield of a horse racing track in Portland, Ore. Then they were moved to Tule Lake, Calif., to Jerome, Ark., and to the Chicago area.
"When they got out, they were offered the barracks to buy. They ended up shipping it to Hood River, Ore.," he said of his grandparents. "As a child, I had no idea I was living in the barracks they were interned in. It blew me away."
This 45-year-old spent five years as a bench coach and third base coach in Texas, then one year as bench coach for the A's before Seattle called. He has never managed above Double-A.
Wakamatsu beat out two former Wildcats for the job, Chip Hale, the Diamondbacks third base coach, and Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills. Other candidates were Boston third base coach DeMarlo Hale, White Sox bench coach and former Mariners infielder Joey Cora, St. Louis third base coach Jose Oquendo and and San Diego Triple-A manager Randy Ready.
Fall League honors ex-Wildcat Donald
Former UA infielder Jason Donald, now a Phillies prospect in the Arizona Fall League, was honored Wednesday night with the Dernell Stenson Sportsmanship Award.
The award is named after a Reds minor-league player who was killed in 2003 during the AFL season.
Inside pitch
● The Royals picked up the leadoff hitter they had been seeking, acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez on Wednesday. Kansas City was 12th among 14 AL teams in runs last season and added power last month, obtaining first baseman Mike Jacobs from Florida.
The switch-hitting Crisp gives the Royals speed at the top of the lineup and a superb defender in center field who has World Series experience.
● Lew Wolff has a way to shorten baseball's postseason: Make the first round best-of-one.
"I'd make it one-game-and-you're-out for the first series," the Athletics owner said Wednesday. "It would be exciting. It would be great."
Wolff said he hasn't brought up his concept with commissioner Bud Selig. "No, I'm afraid to do that," he said.
● Bidders for the Chicago Cubs have until Dec. 1 to submit offers, Major League Baseball said Wednesday after a meeting of its ownership committee.
Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said representatives of four bidders have met in New York in recent weeks with officials from the commissioner's office, MLB's Internet company and the sport's new television network.
The team was put up for sale in April 2007.
