Matsui in dreamland after Yankees' World Series win

Friday 06th November, 04:28 PM JST

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timorborder at 06:10 PM JST - 6th November

Matsui's value with to the yanks extends beyond the diamond, with him pulling in a fair bit of money in merchandising. There is also the behind-the-scenes tie-up between the Giants here in Japan and the Yankees. The only reason Matsui got to go to the US was he had the official blessing of Yomiuri.

Anyway, I reckon the yanks will keep Matsui, bad knees and all, until he retires.
victimcrat at 06:35 PM JST - 6th November

Hey, Congrats to the old guy. MVP at 35 is a feat to be celebrated.
pawatan at 07:37 PM JST - 6th November

I still think he comes back to Japan next year. What more does he need out of the US? He can play as a DH in the pacific league with near-infinite prestige.
KobeKid at 07:54 PM JST - 6th November

I've read that Matsui is talking about getting into good enough shape to play in the outfield again. A true class act, he is loved in NY.

Sadly, this is going to be all over the news for the next week (at least) and become beyond obnoxious.

stuff a sock in it and turn off the TV, this is a big friggin' deal and deserves as much coverage as local media sees fit
PepinGalarga at 08:14 PM JST - 6th November

I saw him play a couple years ago and he was amazing. He can't get any higher than this. He may opt to gracefully come back to Japan and finish with Giants or Hanshin. I hope he stays with the Yankees for sure. Yankees need clutch hitters. This is the first year in a long time that all the stars came through in the postseason.
ca1ic0cat at 10:09 PM JST - 6th November

If I was Matsui I would spend the winter in Japan for sure. Maybe think about retiring and buying a nice house overlooking Kamakura....

Was a great series for him. 8 out of 13 is really good.
Sarge at 10:14 PM JST - 6th November

If I was Matsui I would spend the winter in Hawaii for sure. Maybe think about retiring and buying a nice house overlooking Waikiki.
sammuraisteve at 12:11 AM JST - 7th November

After watching the Letterman clips with some Japanese friends, they all made comments like "That's embarrassing!", "That's sad!". Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada sat and chatted with Letterman for a good ten minutes and then Matsui walked in at the end with the trophy. I'm not sure if he can't speak any English at all or the producers just couldn't be bothered having a translator on hand but it was pretty sad for the World Series MVP to be left out in the cold like that.

Part of me feels like 'learn some freakin' English buddy!' but then again how hard would it be to use a translator. I've seen tonnes of clips and hi-lights and there sure aren't many interviews with the MVP.

Yeah, yeah, he's great player so he doesn't have to speak English but I think both he and all baseball fans would get so much more out of this experience if he would just say something like "I'm so happy. This is a great experience! A dream come true." Blah, blah blah.

I'm left asking why both he and Ichiro won't speak any English during interviews. Are they told not to by their agents? Is it bad for their image? As one who has spent two decades trying to encourage and motivate young Japanese learners of English, I think it would mean so much more if they could say a few words in the language of the country that pays them $10 million a year.
pathat at 12:48 AM JST - 7th November

I still think he comes back to Japan next year. What more does he need out of the US? He can play as a DH in the pacific league with near-infinite prestige.

No, he won't. What motivation would there be for him to finish his career in NPB's PL? He loves playing in NY and being as free as possible of the intrusions of the Japanese mass media, which never left him alone while with the Giants, and most certainly wouldn't if he were to return to Japan again and play, especially with a change in marital status.

"Matsui's value with to the yanks extends beyond the diamond, with him pulling in a fair bit of money in merchandising. There is also the behind-the-scenes tie-up between the Giants here in Japan and the Yankees."

Yes

"He may opt to gracefully come back to Japan and finish with Giants or Hanshin."

There is no DH in NPB's CL and it's nearly impossible to imagine him playing 100+ games in the OF with his wrecked knees with not a few of the games on artificial turf.

Hideki Matsui does not need a return to NPB to finish off his career. What he needs to do is finish his last few years in MLB, and continue living a bit of a human life, one that he hardly ever had as a star with the Yomiuri Giants.

Congratulations Hideki Matsui, please stay in the U.S. and enjoy baseball and the rest of your life!
mrmiyagi at 01:18 AM JST - 7th November

> I'm left asking why both he and Ichiro won't speak any English during interviews. Are they told not to by their agents? Is it bad for their image? As one who has spent two decades trying to encourage and motivate young Japanese learners of English, I think it would mean so much more if they could say a few words in the language of the country that pays them $10 million a year.<

a lot of that is due to how they came into the MLB... they were already established professionals... because of this, no player really felt the need to take them under their wings... when Ichiro came in, he was basically treated like a veteran (despite the usual September hazing ritual)... I remember Lou Piniella saying at the time that Ichiro had Jay Buhner teaching him English, and Jose Paniagua teaching him Spanish (sarcasm there)...

for a better illustration, take Seattle Mariners ace, Felix Hernandez... during his call-up year and first full-season, he was speaking primarily in Spanish... mind you, he was 19 at the time... finally, the other latin players got on him and forced him to speak in English (one being Cardinals pitcher, Joel Piniero)...

Even Alex Rodriguez... when he came up as a 19yo, Randy Johnson and Jay Buhner were constantly getting on him for the smallest things...

Ichiro and Matsui never had this kind of discipline in the MLB...
sfjp330 at 04:00 AM JST - 7th November

Well, Yankees need Matsui’s knees to be fine and Posada to be able to catch to affect the length of the lineup. The 2010 Yanks cannot have them sharing the DH role. It also would mean Matsui is might be finished as a Yankee because Posada is signed through 2011 and would have to be the full-time DH. Matsui could be a goner anyway, because the Yanks desperately want to get younger and more flexible on the roster, and might want to keep the DH slot open – even under the best circumstances – for Posada, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and their other aging entities.
Hotbox08 at 08:03 PM JST - 7th November

Part of me feels like 'learn some freakin' English buddy!'

I guess not every athlete can be like a Hidetoshi Nakata (who never had an interpreter in his life, and always spoke did his interviews in fluent Italian and English).
Kwaabish at 02:47 AM JST - 8th November

I'm left asking why both he and Ichiro won't speak any English during interviews. Are they told not to by their agents? Is it bad for their image? As one who has spent two decades trying to encourage and motivate young Japanese learners of English, I think it would mean so much more if they could say a few words in the language of the country that pays them $10 million a year.

Actually, I've heard both of them in the States, and they speak pretty decent English. Ichiro is better than Matsui, but they speak without interpreters on the field and during their private times. I'm sure you've heard by now that Ichiro leads the AL team during the pep talk in the Allstar game locker room.

Both players have stated that they prefer to use the translators during inetrviews so that there's nothing "lost in translation" by them. I'm sure it's so that the players themselves cannot be blamed for any negative comments also and they could use the interpreter as an additional level of insulation. There's plenty of other MLB players that would be much better off if they had this luxury...

Plus, Matsui has also humorously added that he did not want to take away or eliminate Roger Kahlon's job position.
Junnama at 02:41 PM JST - 8th November

stuff a sock in it and turn off the TV, this is a big friggin' deal and deserves as much coverage as local media sees fit

I had no idea people voicing their opinions was so upsetting. Perhaps you can ignore my posts in the same way that I should ignore the TV.

Anyway, it isn't a big deal that Matsui won the MVP really... It's a bit award for having a great 4-7 game stretch. I think David Eckstein and Pat Borders won the award in the past. Can anybody name last year's world series MVP without checking wikipedia? That will be completely ignored in media overdrive, which always to me give Japan the appearance of having "small man's disease".

What is a big deal is Matsui is a great player and a good guy all around, but he media fawning only diminishes his accomplishments in my opinion.
guest at 03:13 PM JST - 8th November

Matsui deserves all this and more, he is a hero, NY, and America, loved him from day one, due to his good attitude and work ethic. He did his home country, Japan, proud. Godzilla rocks! Japanese people love baseball, why shouldn't they be proud of a national hero, and terrific example of a Japanese person? He isn't paid to speak English, and obviously has no need to learn as its not slowing him down, and, after all, he is the MVP of the World Series! anyway, half of America cant speak English, who cares?