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| Godzilla Swag |
Hideki Matsui has retired according to Daigo Fujikawa. Godzilla will make the announcement at a press conference in New York, where he still lived. He last played for the Rays this past season and with Oakland and Anaheim since leaving the Yankees after his stellar 2009 World series. Matsui hit .292/.370/.482 (124 wRC+) with 140 total homers in pinstripes, and his best season came back in 2004, when he produced a .298/.390/.522 (140 wRC+) line with 31 homers. He started his Yankee career in 2003 with a Grand Slam in his Yankee stadium debut (video!) and of course ended it by destroying Pedro Martinez in game 6 of the 2009 world series, earning the world series MVP honers.
As most of us know Matsui was an extremely reliable player, ending his consecutive games played streak of 538 games played only by breaking his wrist while sliding in the outfield for a ball in 2006. Hideki was without a doubt a reliable player in the postseason as well, batting .312/.391/.541 (143 wRC+) in the postseason. This is on top of the fact that Matsui was Huge in Japan and before he came to the big apple, he had hit 54 Home Runs and won his third Japan Series Championship and League MVP with the Yomiuri Giants.
Matsui was my all time favorite player since he came over from a Japan, I have a Matsui shirt that I have had since 2004 and a Matsui Jersey sitting in my closet. I do not know if I will ever be a bigger fan of another Yankee player than I was of Matsui and I will always resent that fact that the Yankees did not bring him back in 2010, especially since Nick Johnson busted so bad.
Matsui was a great Yankee. He will go down in history as an excellent teammate, a great person and a True Yankee.
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