Satoshi Hirayama


Satoshi "Fibber" Hirayama is a Japanese-American baseball player who played for the Hiroshima Carp in Japan's Central League. Hirayama was an All-Star twice in Japan.
During World War II, Hirayama was interned at the Poston War Relocation Center with his father and two brothers.
Hirayama was a star athlete at Fresno State College, playing both baseball and football, and was voted "Nisei Player of the Year" in 1951. From 1953 to 1955, Hirayama continued his baseball days as a soldier at Fort Ord. After being discharged, Hirayama signed with the Hiroshima Carp in the Japanese Baseball League. Hirayama and teammate Kenichi Zenimura were the first Japanese Americans to play in Japan.
Hirayama won the 2009 Al Radka Award, and is currently the head of the Japanese Baseball Development Program in the Dominican Republic.
The nickname "Fibber" came from his father's attempts to say "February", the month of his birth.