Wally Yonamine holds out his left wrist and rubs it as you might a magic lantern if seeking a wish.

His wish on this day — and practically whenever an NFL season has rolled these last 59 years — would be to know what kind of professional football career he might have had if not for the broken wrist that kept him from fulfilling the second year of a historic contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 1948.

It is one of the ironies of his 81-year-old life that the Maui native, whose Hall of Fame baseball career in Japan made it possible to achieve the financial independence that allows him to underwrite the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association baseball championships and other charitable baseball ventures, is still smitten by his first sporting love.

How strong the attachment remains will likely be visible in his eyes when the 49ers honor Yonamine and Joe Perry, two of their pioneers, Sept. 24 in pre-game ceremonies at Monster Park in San Francisco before the game with Philadelphia.

The club will name an award — the Perry/Yonamine Unity Award — after the two. Perry, who went on to rush for 9,723 yards, second only to Jim Brown when he retired in 1963, was the team's first African-American player. Yonamine, who was a running back/defensive back in 1947, was, the club says, the first Asian in pro football and would have been Perry's teammate in 1948.

Multi-sport talents were Yonamine's ticket out of the plantation town of Olowalu, taking him to Lahainaluna and eventually Farrington High. But it was to be football, he figured, that would get him to college and provide a living after World War II. For it was football, during his high school and Army days, that had won him a scholarship to play at Ohio State in 1947.

"But this scout for the 49ers had seen me play against the University of Portland (for a Hawai'i all-star team) and San Francisco made me a huge offer, $14,000 — $7,000 a year for two years — to play for them," Yonamine said. "That was a lot of money in those days, so I turned down Ohio State and signed with the 49ers."

Yonamine averaged 3.9 yards per carry and 14.5 yards per punt return as a rookie backup on a team that featured Hall of Fame quarterback Frankie Albert and went 8-4-2 in the All-American Conference.

Then Yonamine looked forward to 1948, when a knowledge of the offense and better conditioning fostered hope of a breakout season. "I was real confident about that year coming up," he said.

Right up until the time, two weeks before reporting to training camp, he broke his left wrist sliding while playing for the Asahis baseball team here. "My contract said I had to report physically fit," Yonamine said. "And I showed up with my wrist in a cast, so they released me and saved the $7,000."

Yonamine played for the Hawaiian Warriors football team, and a year later signed to play the outfield for the San Francisco Seals, eventually launching a 38-year career in Japan as a player, coach and manager. In time, Yonamine said, he would look upon the wrist injury as something of a blessing in disguise.

"I tell people I think it must have been the Lord's plan for me to play baseball," Yonamine said. "Everything turned out for the best."

What he sometimes asks himself while watching NFL games is: "How would I have done if I'd stayed in football?" Yonamine admits. "I wonder what might have happened if I hadn't broken that wrist."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.