Hideki Matsui

Hideki Matsui 松井 秀喜 Matsui Hideki born June 12 1974 nicknamed Godzilla is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who played baseball in Nippon Professional Baseball NPB and Major League Baseball MLB He batted lefthanded and threw righthanded Matsui played the first 10 seasons of his career in Japan for NPBs Yomiuri Giants During that span he was a ninetime AllStar threetime Japan Series champion and threetime Central League Most Valuable Player MVP In 2003 Matsui transitioned to playing in MLB in North America and spent his first seven seasons there with the New York Yankees As a Yankee he was a twotime AllStar and 2009 World Series champion for which he was named the World Series MVP After becoming a free agent Matsui had oneyear stints with three other MLB teams the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays On July 28 2013 Matsui signed a oneday minor league contract with the Yankees in order to officially retire with the team During his 20year playing career Matsui hit 507 home runs332 in NPB and 175 in MLB In 2018 Matsui was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame Description above from the Wikipedia article Hideki Matsui licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia