One of the reasons I’m more supportive of immigrants than most politically incorrect Americans is the positive impact the Vietnamese who settled in the Crawford High School attendance area made.
The Vietnamese refugees had no desire for America to become like the communist land they fled. They worked hard, and many of them became business owners who provide quality goods and services at reasonable prices.
The immigration of the Vietnamese and other hard-working refugees is not without its drawbacks. The immigrants want to be Americans and the immigrant kids want to play the game they play in America, but that’s not the game they played as small children or the game their fathers coached. Certain Crawford High School athletic teams became glorified physical education classes.
The adverse impact on win-loss records will likely be short-term. Many of those immigrant kids are now parents, and their children learn the game they play in America as small children while some of the parents have become coaches. That doesn’t always benefit Crawford athletics, since many Americans of Vietnamese descent have integrated with Americans elsewhere. Some of my Vietnamese friends from Crawford have children who played athletics for other schools. Kien Vu, who currently plays minor league baseball in the Cincinnati Reds organization, attended Point Loma High School rather than Crawford before playing at Arizona State University and being drafted by the Reds last year. The only two Vietnamese-Americans who have played Major League Baseball so far are descended from an American military father and a Vietnamese mother, but eventually Vietnamese-Americans will be playing in the majors.
The attitude of the Vietnamese immigrants and their children is excellent. Some Vietnamese-Americans cause trouble, but most of them are great citizens. It’s rare for a Vietnamese-American to steal something to get attention.
Kien Vu didn’t steal a base to get attention. He stole a base to win a ballgame. The circumstances of that steal gave him national attention among those who follow minor league baseball, and that steal would win more than just a ballgame.
After starting his professional career with ten hitless at-bats, Vu recovered to end 2025 with a .273 batting average along with four home runs and nine stolen bases in 23 games. He began 2026 with the Reds’ Midwest League farm team in Dayton.
Dayton was the home team June 11. The game had a 4-4 score in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Vu was on third base. The Fort Wayne pitcher combined a long delivery with a look downward. Vu noticed the pitcher’s inattention and stole home to win the game.
It should be noted that Fort Wayne is the Padres’ affiliate in that league. Kien Vu didn’t give the farm club of his hometown team a break; he did what was best for what was his current team.
Whether subsequent batters would have driven in Vu is speculative, but Vu won the game. Dayton won the Eastern Division’s first half by one game, so Vu’s steal won not only a game but also the division championship.
The Reds made it harder for Vu later in June. They promoted him to their Class AA affiliate in Chattanooga. Vu will need to adjust to that higher level of competition, but he earned that opportunity.
How Vu performs in Class AA and Class AAA will determine whether he will become the first true Vietnamese-American to play Major League Baseball. That would make him an inspiration for descendants of Vietnamese immigrants. Even if that doesn’t happen the national news of Kien Vu’s steal of home is a sign that the Vietnamese-Americans have joined descendants of other immigrants in playing the game they play in America. Kien Vu’s steal will likely cause additional Vietnamese-Americans to take up baseball, which would benefit the Crawford High School program but more importantly would enhance the connection between Vietnamese-Americans and the rest of America.
