He was the regal Yankee they knew as Godzilla when he arrived to much Yankee pomp and circumstance 11 ¹/₂ years ago. He was never the Japanese Bambino, but he wore the pinstripes well, so clutch and so classy and so tough and so professional Derek Jeter considered him one of his favorite teammates.
And there 40-year-old Hideki Matsui was Sunday, soaking up the love at his first Old-Timers’ Day, getting ready to watch Masahiro Tanaka live for the first time.
Someone asked Matsui what impressed him about Tanaka, and he said through his translator: “His command and his ability to just pull it off and fight it out. That’s what really stands out about his character.”
It is difficult to believe Matsui flopping in George Steinbrenner’s Bronx the way Hideki Irabu did would have impacted any Yankee lust for Tanaka, but Joe Torre does not underestimate the impact No. 55’′s success might have had on Tanaka’s decision to follow the $155 million to The Bronx.
“When I was a player, we had Japanese players, but they were sort of token players,” Torre said. “Matsui was nothing but class. And the fact that he had a good experience, evidenced by the fact that he lives here. … That’s pretty cool. You go there, and you’re Babe Ruth. You come here, and it was like he knew it was going to be different, and he was ready to accept it. Even though you don’t know somebody intimately, watch them play, and you know you’re going to like them. That was Matsui.”
Matsui graciously acted as a Yankees ambassador to woo Tanaka to The Bronx.
“I was a part of an introductory video that was given to him,” Matsui said.
Although Matsui, the Babe Ruth of humility, discounts any influence he might have had, the fact is when Godzilla talks, Japanese baseball players listen.
“I had promoted the greatness of this organization, what the Yankees is all about, but that was really the extent of it,” Matsui said.
That might be akin to Michael Jordan recruiting for North Carolina.
And Torre might still be managing if he had Tanaka as an ace.
“We could have found a place for him, I think,” Torre said, and smiled. “I met the young man at Derek [Jeter’s] dinner, and he just looks like has a good look in his eye. I’ve watched him pitch a number of times on TV, and he just has a nice presence on the mound. They have a good one there.”
Torre, standing on the field before the Old-Timers’ game, began elaborating on Tanaka’s presence: “He reminds me of a bunch of guys that go out and pitch, and will just sort of have the focus in a very…”
That’s when he spotted Matsui.
“Hey, Matty!,” he shouted.
Torre continued his thought: “…in a very comfortable way.”
Matsui arrived to hug his Hall of Fame manager and engage in some brief small talk.
“We were talking about you,” Torre told Matsui, who was smiling. Torre patted Matsui on the chest and said: “Class. And he likes Italian food. We run into each other all the time.”
Matsui left, and I asked Torre whom he was reminded of when he witnessed Tanaka’s focus.
“There are a lot of them: Your Bob Gibsons, your Koufaxes — that’s what I see,” he said. “This guy’s real. He’s not a flash in the pan, he’s not somebody trying to impress you with how hard he throws. He pitches. Maybe this is a reason why we’re having so many Tommy John surgeries. Everybody’s in love with the speed gun. Let the ball come out of your hand. Let it do what it wants, ’cause you’re going to wind up with more movement, which is more important than velocity.”
How does Goose Gossage spell relief? T-a-n-a-k-a.
“He’s a guy that’s a throwback to the way starters used to be,” Gossage said on the day his Monument Park plaque was unveiled. “He prides himself on finishing what he starts. He’s not looking over his shoulder to the bullpen to come in and save his games. He’s been a one-man show.
“He should be a great one.”
Tanaka would have had the chops to deal with The Boss’ expectations. Matsui had the benefit of Torre acting as a buffer.
“Just satisfy us,” Torre recalled telling Matsui. And Matsui sure satisfied them. There was that Opening Day grand slam at the Stadium in 2003 and that double off Pedro Martinez in the eighth inning of the 2003 ALCS and that MVP swan song in the 2009 World Series against the Phillies. There was that .292 average and there were those 140 home runs and 597 RBIs in pinstripes.
“There were a few years I played after Joe had left … maybe I wouldn’t have been where I am and played this long with the Yankees if not for him,” Matsui said of Torre.
Torre recalled a spring training conversation with the late Don Zimmer: “The only thing I knew about Matsui was all the numbers, how many home runs he hit over in Japan, and I remember around the batting cage just like this in spring training, and Zim, as only Zim could do, he says, ‘Ask him if he can hit-and-run.’ Fifty home-run guy. So through the interpreter I asked him, ‘Can you hit-and-run?’ He says, ‘Anytime you want.’ That was his response. And he became our best hit-and-run guy.”
Who has to be proud that Yankee Stadium is The Land of Another Rising Son.