Jimmy Bonner

James Everett Bonner (, ) was an American baseball player who played for Dai Tokyo in the Japanese Baseball League. Joining the team in its inaugural year, he was the first African American to play baseball professionally in Japan, 11 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. once throwing 22 strikeouts in a single game.

On September 8, 1936, Japanese-American businessman Harry H. Kono recruited Bonner to play for Dai Tokyo Baseball Club in the newly formed Japanese Baseball League. Dai Tokyo and the Nagoya Golden Dolphins had suffered from a lack of domestic talent, so they began to look towards the United States. On September 18, Bonner boarded the SS President Pierce bound for Japan, arriving on October 5. His salary was 400 yen a month, in contrast to the 140 yen average for a typical Tokyo Giants player. The Japanese press heralded his arrival with headlines like "Black Pitcher Rushes onto the Scene, Excellent Fielder, Holder of Amazing Strikeout Record." Bonner played several positions, including pitcher and first baseman. His record on defense in Japan was generally disappointing; he was far more successful on the plate, with a batting average of 0.458 in 24 at-bats. In mid-November, Bonner was dismissed after only a month on the team. Historians have come up with a variety of explanations for his poor performance as a pitcher in Japan, including a smaller strike zone due to the lower average height of Japanese men as well as the smaller and more slippery baseballs used in Japan compared to American balls.

Later life and death

After returning to the United States, Bonner became a porter for the Pullman Company while continuing to play baseball semi-professionally. He joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and returned to Pullman after the war, where he worked until his death in 1963.