Hideki Matsui Calls It A Career

After spending over twenty years in professional baseball, the last ten in Major League Baseball in the States, the man known as "Godzilla", Hideki Matsui has called it a career. He announced his retirement from the sport at age 38. He earned his nickname for his known pop at the plate, hitting 50 total home runs in his final year playing in Japan before signing with the New York Yankees in 2003. In four of his first five seasons in New York, Matsui drove in over 100 runs. The only year in which he failed to do so was 2006 where injuries limited him to just 51 games that year. He has hit at least 20 home runs in four of his seven years in the Bronx. His biggest performance with the Yankees came in 2009 when his offensive explosion helped lead the Yanks to their 27th World Series title and him earning the Playoff MVP that year. In that World Series, Matsui also became the third player in Major League history to bat .500 or above and hit 3 home runs in the same World Series, joining only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Matsui did not miss a game in his first three seasons with the Yankees, putting together a streak of 518 games played. Before that, he played in 1,250 consecutive games with Yomiuri, for a total professional baseball streak of 1,768. Matsui holds the record for longest streak of consecutive games played to start a Major League Baseball career. So it shows he could play and stay healthy. Once his time with the Yankees ended, Matsui played his final three seasons in the Big Leagues with three different teams, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2010, the Oakland Athletics in 2011, and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012.

Matsui ended his ten year major league career hitting ,282 lifetime, while slugging 175 home runs, driving in 760 runs, and picking up 1,253 hits. Is he a Hall of Famer? In all honesty I don't think he was great enough to go into the hall of fame. But he was indeed a cut above the rest that's for sure. Matsui had a level a class about him that wasn't seen by many baseball players in the game and that's one thing that made him different from not only most outfielders in the game but on his own team. He was also one of the most consistent players in the game.

He didn't have to go out there and be the best player on his team. Matsui just went out and played his game and didn't say a word about it. He just went out and did his job and did it very well. Hideki Matsui, one of the classiest players to step out on a baseball field.