Player Spotlight: Hideki Matsui
Hideki Matsui was born in Neagari, Ishikawa, Japan. Matsui was formerly a right-handed batter before making the switch when he played baseball with his older brother. He started his professional baseball career in the Japan Central League. He spent 10 years with the Yomiuri Giants beginning at the young age of 19. He racked up many great years with the Giants winning 3 Japan Series Championships in 1994, 2000, and in his final season in 2002. He also was the MVP of the Japan Central League in 1994, 2000, and 2002. Matsui was a highly rated Free Agent coming from Japan in the 2002 off-season. The Yankees signed Hideki on December 19th, 2002 to a 3-year 21 million dollar contract.
In his first season with the Yankees, he had a solid season finishing with a .287 AVG, 16 HRs, 106 RBIs, and a .788 OPS. In Matsui’s first regular season game at Yankee Stadium with the New York Yankees, he hit a Grand Slam off Joe Mays in the bottom of the 5th inning to put the Yankees up 7–1 against the Minnesota Twins turning Yankee Stadium into a frenzy. Matsui continued to put up quality years with the Yankees with his best season being in 2004, finishing with a .298 batting average, 31 home runs, 108 RBIs, and OPS of .912. Then in 2009 when the Yankees won the World Series, he was named World Series MVP, plating 13 at-bats with a .615 AVG, 3 home runs, and 8 RBIs in the 6 games where he found every moment to be clutch.
After his time with the Yankees, he signed with the Los Angeles Angels and spent one season there in 2010. The following season he signed with the Oakland Athletics, and then the Tampa Bay Rays which was a minor league contract in 2012. Matsui retired on July 28th, 2013 with the New York Yankees ending an unbelievable career that spanned 20 years in both the Japanese Baseball League and the MLB.
