Matthew B. Rivers - Pitcher, Sacaton, Arizona
Arguably, the best baseball played in Arizona during World War II occurred at the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), in a wartime city known as "Rivers, Arizona." This community was the site of a War Relocation Authority (WRA) camp that held more than 13,000 Japanese Americans, unjustly incarcerated by their own government solely because of their ethnicity. The WRA named the town "Rivers" in honor of Mathew B. Rivers—the name under which he enlisted—who was the first soldier from Arizona killed in World War I. He died in action on May 28, 1918, during the Battle of Cantigny in France, a pivotal moment in the Allied campaign against Germany. Today, he is more widely remembered by his O'odham name, Mathew B. Juan. Born in Sacaton, Arizona, on April 22, 1892, as Mateo Bennett Juan, he's a celebrated hero of the Akimel O'odham people of the GRIC, the State of Arizona and the United States. Though best known for his military sacrifice, Juan was also a stando...
