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Matsui Heads for the Bronx: Frog, Prince or Toad?

Hideki Matsui showing off his new Yankee uniform. Photo by AP.

By Brian Kluepfel | Special to AsianWeek | Book profile following

What most baseball experts saw as an inevitable conclusion was reached in December when Japanese slugger Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui signed a three-year contract with the New York Yankees. Matsui hit 50 home runs for the Yomiuri Giants last season, and like other recent imports to Major League Baseball, the three-time MVP had nothing more to prove to his countrymen.

Matsui will receive $6 million next season and salary upgrades of $1 million per year in 2004 and 2005. He is expected to play left field, a position that the Yankees are clearing out in anticipation of his arrival. Matsui’s signing is one of many moves made by an aging team that failed to reach the World Series last year for the first time in four seasons.

Matsui is expected to provide yet another barometer of exactly how Japanese stars measure up in the United States. The Yankees can only hope he does not flame out as ingloriously as Hideki Irabu. Hurler Irabu signed with the Bronx Bombers in 1997 and did just that, bombing out after three seasons. Although he showed flashes of brilliance, Irabu will always be remembered by fans as the man Yankee owner/dictator George Steinbrenner called a “fat toad” when the pitcher failed to cover first base in an exhibition game. Further Irabu adventures included a drinking binge the night before a scheduled start for Montreal in 2001. The Texas Rangers released Irabu in November and Mr. Toad’s wild ride in America finally ended.

Of course, the success of Hideo Nomo, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki far outweigh the failure of Irabu (a good summary of Japanese and Asian major leaguers can be found at japaneseballplayers.com). Sasaki has become one of the game’s steadiest relievers in three seasons for Seattle, averaging 40 saves, while his teammate Ichiro has been a superstar from day one: batting champion, Gold Glove winner, All Star, Most Valuable Player.

One thing Ichiro does not do, however, is hit for power. Homeruns, as Hall of Fame slugger Reggie Jackson noted, are “what put fannies in the seats,” and as Jackson did before him, the New York faithful hope lefty Matsui — who hit 334 homeruns in 10 Japanese seasons — will take advantage of the short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium. The Big Apple is where legends are made; let’s hope that “Godzilla” makes a mighty impact.

Getting Bookish

What with all the hoopla surrounding the latest Asian import to “America’s Favorite Pastime,” I thought I’d get some background on the subject. Taking in a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia by Joseph Reaves (2002, University of Nebraska Press) gives a somewhat interesting account of the game’s introduction and culturalization in Japan, China, the Philippines, Korea and Taiwan.

The book is full of interesting anecdotes about the game’s introduction into Asia, which coincided with the expansion of U.S. influence around the globe. While Americans used the sport to ingratiate themselves with the locals, the reader learns, politicians like Sun Yat-sen and latter-day Korean leader Chun Doo Hwan learned to manipulate the people through the use of the game. It’s pointed out that both Sun Yat-sen and Marshal He Yong of the People’s Liberation Army thought baseball training provided a dual purpose — throwing a baseball improved one’s aim with a grenade.

Americans used the game as both a tool of diplomacy and espionage. During a 1934 barnstorming tour by a U.S. all-star team, catcher Moe Berg made his way to the rooftop of a Tokyo hospital and took movie film that was later used by American (not Bronx) bombers.

Later, the game served as a spiritual balm for a broken nation. Ex-player and San Francisco legend Lefty O’Doul, who brought the San Francisco Seals on a 10-game tour in 1949 that drew over 400,000 fans, recalled how baseball raised the spirits of Japanese decimated by the aftereffects of World War II. General Douglas MacArthur, himself a decent player in his early days, diverted large amounts of money to rebuilding baseball in the postwar years. In fact, the United States politicians were so aware of the game’s influence that they considered flying Babe Ruth to Guam in 1945 and asking him to appeal, on the radio, for Japan’s surrender.

We learn many interesting tidbits: Filipinos originally didn’t take to baseball because playing in the sun made one’s skin darker and roughened up one’s hands — servants’ characteristics. In both Korea and Japan, the amateur game is as popular, perhaps more so, than the professional league. Saduhara Oh, Japan’s all-time home run king, was never extremely popular in Japan because he is ethnically Taiwanese.

Unfortunately, Taking in a Game was adapted from a master’s thesis written by the author for Hong Kong University, and often it reads too much like academic fodder.

Reaves has done his homework, but it could have been better distilled for readability’s sake. It’s interesting, but at $29.95, you might want to wait for the paperback.