| biography | Brothers Ty and Kaz were long time all-star players of the legendary Asahi baseball team. The family lived on Powell Street, their father and mother were Kichita and Hatsu. Kitchita was from Funakoshi Mura, Aki gun, Hiroshima ken.
Ty (Kenichi) Suga was considered one of the best, if not the best pitcher in Asahi history. He joined the Asahi baseball organization with Ray Yamamura in 1923 at age 15. He was a southpaw and made his debut in 1925 at age 17 under Harry Miyasaki, who gave Ty his nickname after the legendary Ty Cobb. During his long career with the team (1923-1939), Ty was a consistent winning pitcher and was a big factor in the Asahi’s team championships:
1926, 1930, 1933 - Terminal League Championships,1938- Triple Championships - Burrard, Commercial, and Pacific Northwest league Championships.
During the ‘ghost-town’ days he coached the Lemon Creek All-stars to the Slocan Valley Championships 1942-1943. And after moving to Montreal, founded and coached the Montreal Nisei, the most popular team in the league, reminiscent of the Asahi. In 1949, the Nisei won the City Championships.
Kaz (Kazuo) Suga was considered to be an outstanding pitcher, hitter and stolen base runner. Kaz started off as a bat boy and with Harry Miyasaki’s encouragement was allowed to bat with the pros. He debuted as a pitcher at age 16, in 1934 at Con Jones Park winning 4 games, losing none.
1936-1941 - Batted over .400 every year, .490 being the highest. Tied with Roy Yamamura for Batting Crown in 1938. Won the Team Batting Championship Trophy 5 times - 1937- 1941 inclusive.
1938 - Triple Championship - Burrard, Commercial, Pacific Northwest
1939 - Burrard League Championship, and Received Burrard League medal for winning the championship at a .490 average.
1940 - Burrard League Championship
1937-1941 - Five consecutive Pacific Northwest Championships
1945 - 1953 - played semi -pro ball in Quebec for seven different teams in four leagues
1945 - Played outfield for the Eagles. Won the Atwater Sr. League Championships, and all time All-Star outfielder.
1948 - Played for St. Jean, winning Provincial League Championships, scoring all three runs.
1952- Played for St. Jerome and won the Laurentian League Championships. He played with Bob Weisler, Ralph La Pointe and other baseball greats.
Kaz was invited to join the Montreal Royals, an affiliate of Brooklyn and by scout Jones of the Boston Braves to play professional ball.
Kiyoshi Suga started off as a bat boy in 1932 at age 10. As he got older, he then came to be the official scorer, maintained stats, became the secretary of the club, arranging trips for the team, receptions, correspondence, and the fundraising pre- 1941. After the evacuation, he was on the Lemon Creek All-star team that his brother Ty coached. And in 1944 he was the catcher for the Vernon team. After he moved to Montreal , he was the catcher for the Montreal Nisei also a team founded and coached by his brother Ty.
Kiyoshi was present for the Asahi induction into the Baseball hall of fame on June 28, 2003 to honor the memory of his brothers but also his part in the team’s success. He was able to do an acceptance speech with his colleagues Mickey Maikawa, Ken Kutsukake, Kaye Kaminishi, and Mike Maruno. His speech honored Frank Moritsugu for nominating them to the hall of fame, Jari Osborne who produced the Sleeping Tigers documentary for the National Film board, Pat Adachi, the author of the book “Asahi: A legend in Baseball”, and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2009 in Montreal.
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