WHY MATSUI'S 500th BRINGS BACK MEMORIES

(Photo: Getty)
He may not be a New York Yankee any more, but to me he’s a Yankee for life. Hideki Matsui took over New York like no other and the international sensation translated well from Japanese baseball to America’s pastime, continuing to hit home runs here after having such a successful career in Japan where he played for the Yomiuri Giants.

Hideki Matsui hit his 500^th home run for the Oakland Athletics 2 nights ago and at that moment, everyone in Japan cheered loud enough to hear them in New York and Oakland for that matter. It amazing that there's always so much hype for huge home run milestones, but the announcers in this video kept it tame probably because the home runs weren't all in this league. Who knows. Anyway, check it out:

Matsui was a silent leader on the Yankees. While his English wasn’t at all good, he spoke with his bat and did it in style...bombs, bombs, bombs. It all started with his first home run in the Bronx, a Grand Slam and why would you expect anything less from Godzilla? The next few years on the Yankees he continued his tear of home runs and it was right about the time my sons started asking me about baseball and asked me who Godzilla was. I remember I was in my TV room and I showed them a picture of Hideki Matsui and then I had to go through the whole explanation about how before Matsui was Godzilla, there was the sci-fi Japanese Godzilla and I showed them the toy character and all of that. Next thing you know, we were watching a few Godzilla movies and yes, when Matsui would come to the plate, there was nothing funnier than watching a 6 and 5 year old cheer for “Godzilla” when he stepped in the batters box. I remember thinking "Wow", because at that moment, Japanese Hideki Matsui translated to two American kids in the United States. He may have been Japanese, but baseball is universal and it was so evident at that moment. Matsui was in fact larger than life, just like that giant lizard.

Matsui is a private guy and I knew that when I was lucky enough to meet him last year. I met him, shook his hand and I only had to show him my baseball. He smiled, he signed it and returned it to me and I thanked him. It was a brief, yet, important meeting for me. That baseball sits on my kid’s shelf as a reminder that Godzilla is one of the best international baseball players of all time. My boys love it and when he ended his contract in the Bronx, I remember my oldest son asked me why the Yankees would ever let him walk away, he was sad. I had to explain contracts and all that stuff and of course, it's never easy to explain that to a kid, but after all that, we moved on. I at least kept him updated when Hideki moved on to the Angels and then to the Athletics. It's fun for them to see Matsui in a different uniform. My oldest says "Dad, he doesn't look like an Athletic, he still looks like a Yankee." I get that, I really do. When the Athletics play the Yankees, it’s a treat to see Matsui play. You never want the opposing team to do well against the Yankees, but I’m not going to lie, my sons and I will openly root for Matsui, how can you not?

When Matsui was with the Yomiuri Giants, he cranked out 332 home runs. While in the Bronx, he knocked 140. Add 28 to that between the Angels and Athletics and that gives you 500 homers and relief I’m sure for Matsui.

The Associated Press had a quote from Matsui about the achivement. He said “I’m happy to get it over with, and it is even better that it helped us win a game. It isn’t like I’ve been aiming for this, because I don’t really combine numbers from Japan and here. To me, they are two separate leagues.”

Hideki, it’s a huge achievement and you may not combine the 2, but let’s be honest, not too many people hit 500 home runs in a career. Congratulations and enjoy it Godzilla, just enjoy it, my boys do.

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