From Derek Jeter to Mariano Rivera to Alex Rodriguez to CC Sabathia, the Yankees’ Universe is filled with one bright star after another. That makes it easier for players that, while they could be the best player on other teams, who are complimentary parts in the Yankee machine to fade into the background.
Throughout his time with the Yankees, Hideki Matsui has been one of those players. Nicknamed “Godzilla”, Matsui was the king of Japanese baseball when he chose to come to the United States in to play for the Yankees in December 2002. Such was his fame in Japan, and the level of their excitement for their greatest power hitter going to play for the world’s most famous baseball team, a parade was held in downtown Tokyo to celebrate the occasion.
Imagine the pressure that would be hanging over someone’s head in that situation. Is there anything remotely like it in America? It seems very unlikely. Yet that was the situation Matsui found himself in when he arrived in spring training with the Yankees in 2003.
From his first game in Yankee Stadium that season, when he hit a grand slam, Matsui has more than lived up to the considerable hype that preceded his arrival. He’s been a key cog in the Yankees lineup ever since, and for his first few seasons in Yankees pinstripes was a solid left fielder.
But over the past two years, Matsui has become more of an afterthought in the Yankee attack. After being the subject of trade rumors with the San Francisco Giants in the winter of 2007, he then spent much of last season on the disabled list with knee problems. As he entered 2009, with free agency looming at season’s end, the now 35-year-old Matsui seemed to be all but a foregone conclusion to leave the organization as a free agent at season’s end.
It seemed, however, that the only person who didn’t know about that was Matsui himself. All he did this season as the team’s full-time designated hitter was to go out and hit 28 homers and 90 RBI and re-establish himself as a vital member of the Yankees lineup – something that was apparent when his bat was missing from their lineup in the games in Philadelphia in the World Series.
Then came last night’s Game 6, and there would be no way for Matsui’s contributions to be ignored. The lefty slugger set the tone with a massive two-run homer in the third inning off Pedro Martinez, added two more hits and four RBI as the game went along and single-handedly carried the Yankees to their 27th world championship.
“It’s been a long road and a very difficult journey,” Matsui said after accepting the well-deserved World Series MVP trophy. “But I am just happy that, after all these years, we were able to win and reach the goal I had come here for.”
He very well may leave the Yankees as a free agent this offseason, though more likely because they decide not to bring him back than him choosing to go somewhere else. But that won’t change his legacy in New York, and won’t change the way he will rightly be remembered in the Yankees’ rich history.
Seven years ago, Hideki Matsui came to the United States as the biggest star in Japan’s biggest sport, hoping to succeed in baseball’s biggest stage with its most famous team. After years of near-misses and heartbreak, of possible trades and injuries, Godzilla was larger than life on the world’s stage. He took over the deciding game of the World Series, and brought the world championship back to The Bronx for the 27th time.
