When Hideki Matsui Secured His Yankee Legacy

By Sal Maiorana

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Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.

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From the moment Hideki Matsui arrived in New York as one of the most heavily-recruited Japanese players MLB teams had ever chased, there was never a doubt about his stardom.

Similarly to Ichiro Suzuki, who had migrated from Japan to the Seattle Mariners in 2001, Matsui was a massive superstar in his homeland, a slugger who swatted 332 home runs and had a slash line of .304/.413/.583 for an OPS of .996 during 10 spectacular years with the Yomiuri Giants.

He was a nine-time All-Star, a three-time Japan Series champion, a three-time league MVP, and at one point he played in 1,250 consecutive games, second-longest in Japan baseball history. The reason he wore No. 55 for the Giants? That was the single-season Japanese home run record owned by its all-time home run king, Sadaharu Oh.

When the Yankees won the bidding war for Matsui’s services, three years for $21 million, it felt like a bargain. After all, just a year before, the Yankees had signed another left-handed power hitter, Jason Giambi, to a seven-year, $120 million contract, and the 31-year-old Giambi was two years older than the man who brought with him the nickname Godzilla.

The hype around Matsui’s debut with the Yankees was overwhelming as Japanese media descended on Gotham to chronicle his every move. More than 500 reporters were on hand for his introductory press conference in December 2002.

“Talk about feeling pressure?” Giambi told Mark Feinsand in his book The Franchise. “You’re not only going to the Yankees, but you’re basically bringing a whole country with you. He did everything with such grace and honor and presence.”

And despite all that attention and the requisite pressure of proving to American baseball fans, just as Ichiro was doing, that Japanese players could indeed play in MLB, Matsui thrived.

In his very first MLB at bat on March 31, 2003 in Toronto he poked an opposite field single to left to drive home Derek Jeter. He proceeded to hit safely in all six games on the season-opening road trip, and when the Yankees hosted the Twins in their home opener on the brutally cold afternoon of April 8, Matsui put the game away in the fifth inning with a grand slam, the first player in franchise history to hit a grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium.

As Michael Kay piped on the YES broadcast, “What an introduction to Yankee Stadium” as the sellout crowd was going wild.

No doubt, the guy was a star, completely unfazed by the bright lights of the world’s greatest city.

In the Yankees’ dynasty years, Kay often wondered whether traveling with the Yankees was akin to traveling with The Beatles when they journeyed across the pond to America in 1964. And then Matsui came along, and the chaos surrounding the Yankees soared to unprecedented levels.

“This put it all to shame; this was The Beatles, but the Rolling Stones were also there and maybe Bruce Springsteen, as well,” Kay said in The Franchise. “It was just unbelievable the way he was treated; it was past the level of idealization. He was almost like a God. He handled it with equanimity and he never flinched.”

“He was a superstar, but he didn’t know it,” manager Joe Torre said in The Franchise. “He didn’t act like it. That team concept coming from Japan, his unselfishness and respect for the game was evident right away.”

In four of his first five years (the exception was 2006 when he suffered a broken wrist and played only 51 games), Matsui drove in at least 100 runs and his slash line in the 681 games he played was .314/.371/.485 for an OPS of .856.

But there was one thing missing from his resume, the one thing every Yankee star needs to truly be considered a Yankee star: A world championship.

In the unforgettable postseasons of 2003 and 2004, Matsui was a horse. In 2003 he hit safely in 14 of the 17 playoff games with 11 RBI, but the Yankees lost to the Marlins in the World Series; in 2004 he hit three homers, had 13 RBI and an OPS of 1.221 in 11 games, but that was the year of the epic collapse against the Red Sox in the ALCS.

Thereafter, Matsui and the Yankees flamed out in the divisional round three consecutive years, and then they missed the postseason altogether in 2008, a year in which injuries limited Matsui to 93 games. So heading into 2009 - the last on the second contract he had signed with the Yankees - it was pretty clear that this would be the 35-year-old’s final opportunity to check that championship box.

By now Matsui was primarily a DH as his sore knees prevented him playing in the outfield, and not having to play defense not only allowed him to play almost every day, but he could concentrate solely on being the run producer he’d always been.

Into the middle of August, Matsui was having a fine season, but then the Yankees hit the road for a 10-game road trip through Seattle, Oakland, and Boston, and he went on a tear that brought back memories of his first three years in pinstripes when he hit 70 homers, drove in 330 runs, and had an OPS of .853.

Matsui played in seven of the 10 games - he missed three straight because of his ongoing knee problems - and he had six home runs, 15 RBI and an OPS of 1.208 and the Yankees finished that trip with a 7-3 record which stretched their lead over the Red Sox to 7.5 games with just 38 left to play.

“He’s had a very good August and there’s still some time left,” Joe Girardi said. “He’s had some big hits for us, some home runs. He’s been on kind of a home run heater for us lately.”

Matsui began the trip on Aug. 13 in Seattle and went 4-for-5 with two bombs and five RBI, and then closed it when the Yankees went into Fenway Park and took two of three with Matsui producing four homers and nine RBI.

The game on Aug. 21 was the masterpiece as he crushed a pair of three-run homers and also had an RBI groundout to complete a career-best seven-RBI night as the Yankees lashed out 23 hits and embarrassed the Red Sox 20-11, the highest-scoring game ever between the longtime rivals.

“I like the ballpark, I like the atmosphere, and there’s no doubt the fans are very passionate here,” Matsui said of Fenway. “It elevates my concentration level for some reason. To be able to hit like that and win the game, it’s a great feeling.”

Still, Matsui knew there was more to do if he hoped to indeed etch his name into the Yankee pantheon by winning a World Series.

“The positive is that I have been able to stay healthy and my knees haven’t given me too much of a problem, but I honestly feel I can do better,” he said. “As a player you just try to do better than what you’ve done before. All I’m focused on is winning a championship.”