The man in the suit, labeled Lau Tan could be Lai Tan, Lai Tin, Loi Tin, I think. Akana is Lang Akana.
thediamondangle.com/archive/ … aitin.html
[quote]
I first discovered Lai Tan while reading a copy of the New York Times from 1914. The headline said: “Chinese for White Sox.” According to the story. Jimmy Callahan, manager of the White Sox, had agreed to take Lai Tin [sometimes spelled Tan] of Honolulu’s Chinese team to spring training and offer him a shot at making the White Sox. If Lai Tin made the cut he would “enjoy the unique honor of being the first Celestial to play on a National or American League team.” Celestial was a racial term of the time, used to describe Chinese (members of the Celestial Kingdom) and often other Asians.
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On the 23rd the two squads faced off at Comiskey Park. The Chinese walked 17 batters, but something not even mentioned in the game report had to have been the gem of the day. In the box score Lang Akana is credited with an unassisted triple play! "
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A quick survey of newspaper reports from 1915 White Sox spring training show no mention of the infielder. Several weeks after finding Lai Tin, Harry Callahan was sacked as the manager of the White Sox and replaced by Pants Rowland, who would himself be fired after the 1918 season. It is easy to believe that when Callahan’s ties to the White Sox were cut, Lai Tin’s chances went down the drain.
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A sadder case is that of Lang Akana, the man who turned the unassisted triple play in Comiskey Park. He was signed by the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in late 1914, but manager Walter McCredie released Akana in January 1915 at the request of his players. In the January 16 Chicago Defender, McCredie said, “His skin is too dark. The Coast Leaguers who played in Honolulu on that recent barnstorming trip came back vowing boycott. I have received a couple of letters from players telling me Akana is as dark as Jack Johnson, so I guess I will have to give him a release.” [/quote]
Jack Johnson is the first African American heavy weight boxing champion.
There are players obviously more of Japanese and Hawaiian lineage on the team. Akana is probably one of those.
By the way, Chinese Hawaiian baseball was the best in terms of Asian playing baseball in the US for the early part of 1900s, but there are so little information on this. There are tons of Japanese American baseball stories on the internet…
