Diamond in the Rough

Ben Railton

5.0 (2)
History
Updated Weekly

Baseball, Bigotry, and the Battle for America, Season Two

Jun 3

Postgame Press Conference

One of my favorite parts of The Celestials’ Last Game, Season One of this podcast, was the post-game press conference episode, where I got to address some listener questions and responses, continue developing my own perspective and ideas, and keep the conversation going in all the best ways. Y’all knew I couldn’t resist the chance to do so again!
May 27

The Ninth Inning: Aftermaths, Legacies, and Where We Go from Here

The story didn’t end when the games did, and neither will ours. Japanese American baseball, activism, and community continued into the months, years, and decades after the incarceration camps closed—and through engaging with a few of those evolving stories, we can likewise continue to model what we can and must learn from these histories and their legacies alike for our own moment and ongoing work.
May 13

The Eighth Inning: Literary Voices, Baseball as Metaphor, & the Story of America

We’ve almost arrived at the conclusion of our game. But before we do, let’s take a literary excursion into talented authors and compelling works that remind us of the presence and power of stories and images in what and how we remember, and of what metaphorical meanings we can make of such shared stories from both the period of Japanese incarceration and our own fraught moment.
May 6

The Seventh Inning: Famous Games, Defining Victories & Losses, and What We Make of the Diamond in the Rough

There are many ways to better remember compelling sports stories and crucial American histories like Japanese American baseball in the incarceration camps, and we’ve moved through a number of them already this season. But there’s nothing quite like the game itself—and engaging with a handful of iconic baseball games and their multilayered contexts and connections can also help us think and talk about the limits and possibilities of doing this work, and why the effort matters so much in our own moment in any case.
Apr 29

The Sixth Inning: Prominent Players, Symbolic Stories, and the Community of Sports

Baseball is very much a team sport, but iconic individual players still stand out—not only for what they can contribute on the field, but also and especially for the symbolic stories and compelling histories they can help us remember. That was potently and inspiringly the case for Japanese American players in incarceration camps, from three brothers to a father and his two sons to a trio of Major League prospects. And it’s certainly been true across American sports history overall as well.
Apr 22

The Fifth Inning: Photographing the Camps, and Resistance through Art & Activist Journalism

Two of America’s most prominent early 20th century photographers visited Manzanar, on distinct and equally fraught missions that nonetheless produced a number of striking images, including of baseball at the camp. Another of the era’s most talented photographers was incarcerated there, using a smuggled and homemade camera to document the camp’s community and resist its worst realities. All legacies we can trace through the art, photography, and activist journalism of both their historical moment and our own.
Apr 15

The Fourth Inning: Building & Populating the Diamond in the Rough, & the Social Significance of Sports

In the most isolated and desolate settings, amidst inhumane and horrific conditions, baseball flourished. It did so thanks to the individual and collective efforts of all those who built, maintained, used, and shared the fields and stadiums, formed the teams and leagues, played and cheered on the games, that extended and deepened the legacy of Japanese American baseball. And in the process, baseball at Manzanar exemplified two of the most longstanding and inspiring social roles of sports, in direct contrast to a familiar and divisive third role.
Apr 8

The Third Inning: Manzanar, Modern Incarceration Camps, & the Worst & Best of American Communities

As immediate assembly centers gave way to long-term incarceration camps, the genuine and horrific realities of the incarceration system became clearer still—but so did the ways in which the incarcerated communities would resist, challenge, and even change those conditions. An evolving and multilayered story that has been powerfully echoed and extended in our own fraught and fragile moment.

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Baseball, Bigotry, and the Battle for America, Season Two

Creator

Ben Railton
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

24
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
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Diamond in the Rough