December 19th in Yankees History


This was the date in 2002 that Hideki Matsui and the Yankees agreed on the contract that brought the Japanese star to the Bronx. Coming off a 50 home run season in his native country, "Godzilla" would flash his talent in pinstripes for the next seven seasons, capped by earning MVP honors in the 2009 World Series.

During 20 pro seasons, split equally between Japan and the USA, Matsui hit 507 home runs – 332 in NPB and 175 in MLB.

More importantly, along with Ichiro, he helped strengthen the baseball ties between our two countries.
A small sidebar: four years later on December 19th, 2006, the Yankees officially landed another Japanese free agent. To be kind, things did not work out as well with Kei Igawa. The consolation prize for not signing Daisuke Matsuzaka, posted a 2-4 record with a devilishly bad 6.66 ERA over parts of two seasons.

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