Hideki Matsui: Top Yankee accomplishments for Japanese Hall of Famer

Hideki Matsui was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday. Let’s look back at Godzilla’s top accomplishments as a New York Yankee.

Congratulations to Hideki Matsui! The former New York Yankee was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday, receiving 91.3% of the votes (336 of 368 votes).

Matsui is the youngest player to be elected into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame at 43 years old and is one of just six Japanese players to be inducted in the first year on the ballot.

This should come as no shock to anyone as Matsui had an incredible career in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Over ten seasons, Matsui hit .304 with 332 home runs and 889 RBI. He made nine consecutive All-Star teams, was a three-time Central League MVP, and three-time Japan Series champion.

As great as Matsui’s accomplishments are, most of us remember him for his time with the New York Yankees.

In the MLB, Matsui hit .282 with 175 home runs and 760 RBI in seven seasons with the Yankees and one season with each of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland A’s, and Tampa Bay Rays.

Let’s look back at Matsui’s top accomplishments during his time with the Yankees:

Hideki Matsui introduces himself to Yankee Stadium with a grand slam

After coming over to the MLB in 2003, Matsui quickly made his name known in the Bronx.

Matsui delivered an RBI-single in his first career at-bat on the road but made a bigger splash in his home debut.

“Godzilla” hit a grand slam in the fifth inning, becoming the first Yankee to hit a grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium.

Hideki Matsui puts up Rookie of the Year numbers but gets robbed of award

Matsui had no problem adjusting to major league pitching. As a rookie in 2003, Matsui hit .287 with 16 home runs and 106 RBI.

That stat line seems like that of an obvious Rookie of the Year but “Godzilla” finished second to Angel Berroa. Matsui wasn’t included on two ballots because of his age and experience playing professional baseball in Japan.

Despite not winning AL ROY, Matsui had a great first season in the MLB and gave Yankee fans something to be excited about.

The World Series stage is no problem for Hideki Matsui

In Game 2 of the 2003 World Series, Matsui continued his flair for the dramatic. “Godzilla” crushed a 3-0 pitch to dead center field to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

The blast made Matsui the first Japanese player to hit a home run in the World Series.

As it would turn out, Matsui was just getting started with his postseason heroics, which we’ll get into in a little bit.

Hideki Matsui: Japanese Iron Man

Matsui played his first three seasons with the Yankees without missing a game, compiling a streak of 518 straight games, the longest streak of consecutive games played to start an MLB career.

Those 518 games were on top of 1,250 consecutive games with the Yomiuri Giants, totaling 1,768 straight professional baseball games.

Hideki Matsui makes more MLB history

In 2007, Matsui went deep for his 100th major league home run, becoming the first Japanese player in MLB history to hit the century mark for long balls.

As we said earlier, Matsui finished his big league career with 175 dingers and totaled 507 professional home runs between the NPB and MLB.

Hideki Matsui destroys the Boston Red Sox

As every New York Yankee fan knows, the most important thing aside from winning championships is beating the Red Sox.

In August of 2009, Matsui took it to Boston, launching two home runs into the bullpen at Fenway Park and driving in seven runs.

New York’s entire offense was clicking that day as the Yankees won the game 20-11 but Matsui stood out. He was the only player to go deep and no one came close to his seven RBI (Mark Teixeira had the second most RBI with three).

Whenever the Yankees destroy the Red Sox, it’s a good day.

Hideki Matsui brings home the Yankees’ 27th World Series title

The greatest moment in Matsui’s Yankee career is undoubtedly the 2009 World Series.

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“Godzilla” couldn’t be stopped. Matsui went 8-for-13 (.615) with three home runs and eight RBI, including a World Series record-tying six RBI in Game 6.

The New York Yankees would go on to win the 2009 World Series in six games and Matsui would win World Series MVP.

Matsui also became just the third player in MLB history to hit over .500 with three home runs in the same World Series, joining Yankee greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

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Hideki Matsui had an accomplished career with the New York Yankees after a phenomenal career with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan.

Matsui deserves the recognition he received by being elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and he has a very real chance of getting elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States in the near future.

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Hideki Matsui: Top Yankee accomplishments for the Japanese Hall of Famer

By Sean Dyer | Jan 16, 2018