Hideki Matsui, known as 'Godzilla,' has been appointed as the new manager of the Yomiuri Giants, returning to his former team after 24 years.
Asahi Shimbun reported on October 23 that Matsui will take over as the new manager of Yomiuri. He is currently serving as a special advisor to the general manager of the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Yomiuri's previous manager, Shinnosuke Abe, resigned in May after being arrested on assault charges. Since then, Hideki Hashigami, the team's hitting coach, has been acting as interim manager for the remainder of the season. Abe was later not prosecuted. Yomiuri finished the regular season in second place but was eliminated in the first stage of the Climax Series postseason.
Matsui, a native of Ishikawa Prefecture, made a name for himself during his high school years at Seiryo High School, where he participated in the Summer Koshien tournament three consecutive years. In his senior year, he gained attention by reaching base five times on intentional walks in a second-round game against Meitoku Gijuku High School.
He was selected first overall by Yomiuri in the 1992 fall draft and played for the team for ten years, winning the batting title once and the home run and RBI titles three times each. He contributed to four league championships and was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times.
In 2003, Matsui moved to the New York Yankees, making his MLB debut, and was named World Series MVP in 2009. By the time he retired in 2012, he had accumulated 2,643 hits, 507 home runs, and 1,649 RBIs in both MLB and NPB.
After his playing career, he received the People's Honor Award in 2013 alongside the late Shigeo Nagashima, a former Yomiuri manager, and was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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