Hideki Matsui’s Yomiuri Years: Godzilla in Tokyo, 1993 to 2002

Hideki Matsui batting (MLB era
Photo: Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Legends › Hideki Matsui's Yomiuri Years: Godzilla in Tokyo, 1993 to 2002

Before he was a New York Yankee, Hideki Matsui was the biggest star on the biggest team in Japan. He played ten years for the Yomiuri Giants. He hit 332 home runs. He won three MVP awards. He won three Japan Series.

His nickname was “Godzilla.” In his last year in Japan, he hit 50 home runs.

This page is about those ten years. We start with his school days and the famous five walks. Then we go year by year. We end with why he left for New York.

Here’s the thing. Most fans in the US met Matsui in 2003. But by then, he had already done it all in Japan.

New to Japanese baseball? Start with how NPB works. For more great players, see our legends page.

Quick Facts

  • Born: June 12, 1974, in Neagari, Ishikawa. The town is now part of Nomi.
  • Bats: Left. Throws: Right.
  • High school: Seiryo High School, in Kanazawa.
  • Drafted: First round, by the Giants, in 1992.
  • Number: 55.
  • NPB team: Yomiuri Giants, 1993 to 2002.
  • NPB numbers: 1,268 games, 1,390 hits, 332 home runs, 889 RBI and a .304 average.
  • MVP awards: 1996, 2000 and 2002.
  • Japan Series titles: 1994, 2000 and 2002.
  • Next stop: The New York Yankees, in 2003.
  • Hall of Fame: Japan’s Hall of Fame, in 2018.

Growing Up

Matsui was born in a small town called Neagari, in Ishikawa. It later joined with other towns to form the city of Nomi.

When he was little, he batted right-handed. But he was too good. He played with his older brother and his brother’s friends. His brother told him to bat left-handed or stop playing. So he switched. He batted left-handed for the rest of his life.

Seiryo High School

Matsui went to Seiryo High School in Kanazawa. It was a strong baseball school.

He played in four national tournaments at Koshien Stadium. One was in spring. Three were in summer. To learn about those tournaments, see our guide to Koshien explained.

The Five Walks

The most famous game of his school days came on August 16, 1992. It was in the summer tournament at Koshien. Seiryo played Meitoku Gijuku, a school from Kochi.

Meitoku did not want Matsui to beat them. So they walked him on purpose. They did it five times in a row. He never got a pitch to swing at.

The plan worked. Seiryo lost.

But people all over Japan were upset. Many said it was not fair play. The group that runs high school baseball even held a press event about it.

What people remembered most was how Matsui acted. He did not get mad. He did not throw his bat. He just walked to first base, five times. Writer Robert Whiting said that Matsui’s calm way won him great praise. A high school baseball official said all students should learn from him.

To read about the park where it happened, see our Koshien Stadium history page.

The 1992 Draft

Matsui was the top player in the 1992 draft. Four teams picked him in the first round. They were the Giants, the Hanshin Tigers, the Chunichi Dragons and the Daiei Hawks.

When more than one team picks the same player, they draw lots. Read how it works in our guide to the NPB draft.

The draft was on November 21, 1992. The man who drew the winning lot for the Giants was Shigeo Nagashima. Nagashima was a Giants legend. He had just come back to manage the team.

Matsui grew up a Tigers fan. But Nagashima called him on the phone. Matsui was moved by the call. He agreed to join the Giants.

His signing bonus was 120 million yen. His first-year pay was 7.2 million yen.

Nagashima and Matsui

Nagashima did a lot to shape Matsui.

He picked Matsui’s name out of the draft. He called him to ask him to join. He moved him from third base to the outfield. He later made him the cleanup hitter.

In 1999, Matsui got hurt. Nagashima wanted to keep Matsui’s streak of games alive. So for a few weeks, he put Matsui in for just one inning at a time.

Number 55

The Giants gave Matsui the number 55.

That number meant a lot. In 1964, Sadaharu Oh hit 55 home runs for the Giants. It was the Japanese record for one season. Read more on our Sadaharu Oh page.

So the number showed what the team hoped Matsui would be.

From Third Base to the Outfield

In high school, Matsui played third base. Nagashima moved him to the outfield.

In his first spring camp, Matsui hit long balls out of the park. On the second day, he hit 13 balls over the fence in one batting practice. A coach said he had never seen a high school kid like him.

But he still started the season in the minors.

1993: First Year

Matsui played his first game on May 1, 1993. The next day, he hit his first home run. It came at the Tokyo Dome against the Yakult Swallows. The pitcher was Shingo Takatsu.

He played 57 games that year. He hit .223 with 11 home runs.

1994: The First Title

In 1994, Matsui became a regular. He hit .294 with 20 home runs.

The Giants won the Central League. Then they won the Japan Series. It was Matsui’s first title.

That fall, there was no World Series in the US. The MLB players were on strike. So some US writers paid more attention to the Japan Series. That was how many Americans first heard of Matsui.

1995: Growing

In 1995, Matsui hit .283 with 22 home runs and 80 RBI. He was getting stronger each year.

1996: The Breakout

In 1996, Matsui became a star. He hit .314 with 38 home runs and 99 RBI.

The Giants won the league. Matsui won his first MVP award.

He just missed the home run title. Takeshi Yamasaki of the Dragons beat him by one.

1997: The MK Cannon

In 1997, the Giants added a big slugger. Kazuhiro Kiyohara joined from the Seibu Lions. People called the two of them the “MK Cannon.” M was for Matsui. K was for Kiyohara.

Matsui hit 37 home runs. But again, he lost the home run title by one. Dwayne Hosey of the Swallows beat him.

He did draw 100 walks. Pitchers were scared of him.

1998: His First Titles

In 1998, Matsui hurt his knee in spring camp. He started slow.

But he came on strong. He ended with 34 home runs and 100 RBI. He led the league in both. He also had the best on-base mark in the league.

They were the first batting titles of his career.

1999: 42 Home Runs

In 1999, Matsui hit 42 home runs. It was the most of his career so far.

He got hurt in the summer. But he kept his streak of games going. The manager let him play just one inning a game for a while.

He lost the home run title to Roberto Petagine of the Swallows. Petagine had two more.

2000: MVP and Champion

The year 2000 was a big one.

Matsui batted fourth in every game. He hit .316 with 42 home runs and 108 RBI. All three were the best of his career so far. He led the league in home runs and RBI.

The Giants won the league. Then they played the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Japan Series. The Hawks were run by Sadaharu Oh. The Giants were run by Nagashima. People called it the “ON Series.”

The Giants won. Matsui was named MVP of the series. He also won his second MVP award for the season.

2001: A Batting Title

In 2001, Matsui hit .333. It was the best in the league. It was his first batting title.

He also hit 36 home runs and drove in 104 runs.

On May 3, 2001, he played in his 1,000th game in a row.

That winter, the Giants offered him a huge long-term deal. He said no. He signed for just one more year.

2002: Fifty Home Runs

In 2002, Matsui had his best year.

In the first half, he did not hit many home runs. But in the second half, he went on a tear. He hit 32 home runs in 64 games.

He ended the year with:

  • Home runs: 50.
  • RBI: 107.
  • Average: .334.

He led the league in home runs and RBI. He just missed the batting title. That went to Kosuke Fukudome of the Dragons.

He was the first Giant to hit 50 home runs since Sadaharu Oh in 1977.

The Giants won the league. Then they swept the Seibu Lions in the Japan Series, four games to none. Matsui won his third MVP award.

His Ten Years, Season by Season

Year Games Average Home runs RBI
1993 57 .223 11 27
1994 130 .294 20 66
1995 131 .283 22 80
1996 130 .314 38 99
1997 135 .298 37 103
1998 135 .292 34 100
1999 135 .304 42 95
2000 135 .316 42 108
2001 140 .333 36 104
2002 140 .334 50 107
Total 1,268 .304 332 889

For the stat leaders in each year, see our title holders page. The home run leaders page shows his best years.

What Made Him Great at the Plate

Matsui hit for power. But he did much more than that.

He had a good eye. He did not chase bad pitches. Look at his walks in his best years:

  • 1997: 100 walks.
  • 1998: 104 walks.
  • 2000: 106 walks.
  • 2001: 120 walks.
  • 2002: 114 walks.

In 2001 and 2002, he got on base more than 46 percent of the time. That means he reached base almost one time in every two trips to the plate.

He also hit for a high average. In his last two years, he hit .333 and .334.

And he was steady. He did not have one big year and then fade. From 1996 to 2002, he hit at least 34 home runs every year.

MVP in Three Places

In 2000, Matsui did something rare. He had won MVP in the regular season. He had won MVP in an All-Star Game. And now he won MVP in the Japan Series.

Only a few players had won MVP in all three. Before Matsui, there were five. They were Tetsuharu Kawakami, Hiroshi Oshita, Yutaka Fukumoto, Thomas O’Malley and Atsuya Furuta. Matsui was the sixth.

The Streak

From 1993 to 2002, Matsui did not miss a game for a long time. He played in 1,250 games in a row for the Giants. At the time, it was the second-longest streak in Japan.

He kept it going even when he was hurt.

His Awards in Japan

  • MVP: 1996, 2000 and 2002.
  • Japan Series MVP: 2000.
  • Japan Series champion: 1994, 2000 and 2002.
  • Home run titles: 1998, 2000 and 2002.
  • RBI titles: 1998, 2000 and 2002.
  • Batting title: 2001.
  • Best Nine: Eight years in a row, 1995 to 2002. Read more on our Best Nine Award page.
  • All-Star: Nine years in a row, 1994 to 2002.
  • Matsutaro Shoriki Award: 2000.

Why “Godzilla”?

In Japan, Matsui was called Godzilla.

The name did not start as a nice one. It was a tease about his skin when he was young. But it stuck. Over time, it came to mean his huge power.

He even made a short cameo in a Godzilla movie in 2002.

Leaving for New York

In 2002, Matsui became a free agent. That meant he could sign with any team. Read about how players move to MLB in our guide to NPB players in MLB.

The Giants wanted him to stay. By then, Tatsunori Hara was the manager. Matsui met with Hara on October 11. He met with a team leader on October 16. He also had a long talk with Nagashima. All of them asked him to stay.

Matsui thought about it for a long time. He waited until after the Japan Series to decide.

On November 1, 2002, he said he would go to MLB. He said he felt like people might call him a traitor. But he hoped that one day they would say it was good that he went.

On December 19, 2002, he signed with the New York Yankees. It was a three-year deal for 21 million dollars. A parade was held for him in Tokyo.

What Came Next

In New York, Matsui played seven years for the Yankees. In his first home game, he hit a grand slam.

In 2009, the Yankees won the World Series. Matsui was named MVP of the series. He was the first Japanese player to win it.

He later played for the Angels, the A’s and the Rays. He retired after 2012.

All told, he hit 507 home runs. There were 332 in Japan and 175 in MLB.

In 2018, he was voted into Japan’s Hall of Fame. He got 91.3 percent of the vote.

The Giants Connection

Matsui is part of a long line of Giants sluggers. Before him came Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima. Nagashima drew his name in the draft. Oh’s record gave him his number.

To read about the whole club, see our Yomiuri Giants history page.

Timeline

  • June 12, 1974: Born in Neagari, Ishikawa.
  • August 16, 1992: Walked five times in a row at Koshien.
  • November 21, 1992: Drafted by the Giants after a four-team draw.
  • May 1, 1993: First game for the Giants.
  • May 2, 1993: First home run, off Shingo Takatsu.
  • 1994: First Japan Series title.
  • 1996: First MVP award.
  • 1998: First home run and RBI titles.
  • 2000: MVP, Japan Series MVP and Japan Series title.
  • 2001: Batting title.
  • 2002: 50 home runs, MVP and Japan Series title.
  • November 1, 2002: Says he will go to MLB.
  • December 19, 2002: Signs with the Yankees.
  • 2018: Voted into Japan’s Hall of Fame.

Key Terms

  • NPB: Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s top league.
  • Central League: One of NPB’s two leagues. The Giants play in it.
  • Japan Series: The final series between the two league champs.
  • Free agent: A player who can sign with any team.
  • Koshien: The stadium where Japan’s big high school tournaments are held.

For more words, see our Japanese baseball glossary.

Common Questions

How many home runs did Matsui hit in Japan? 332, all for the Giants.

How many MVP awards did he win in Japan? Three: 1996, 2000 and 2002.

Why did he wear number 55? Because Sadaharu Oh hit 55 home runs in 1964. It was the record at the time.

What happened with the five walks? In 1992, a high school team walked him on purpose five times in a row at Koshien.

How did he get to MLB? He became a free agent after 2002. He signed with the Yankees.

The Bottom Line

Hideki Matsui spent ten years with the Giants. He grew from a teen into the best hitter in Japan.

He won three MVP awards. He won three Japan Series. He hit 50 home runs in his last year. And he did it all with a calm, quiet style.

Then he took that style to New York. In 2013, he and Nagashima got the People’s Honour Award together. As of the 2025 season, he is in Japan’s Hall of Fame. For fans in Japan, he will always be Godzilla of the Giants.

For other great players, go back to our legends page.

Sources