The former Yankees World Series MVP returns to the club where he spent the first ten seasons of his career, replacing interim manager Hideki Hashigami.
Hideki Matsui is heading home. The Yomiuri Giants introduced the 52-year-old former Yankees slugger as their new manager on Friday, bringing him back to the Tokyo-based club that drafted him as a teenager and where he played from 1993 through 2002.
Matsui takes over for interim manager Hideki Hashigami, who had been running the team since May. Hashigami stepped in after Shinnosuke Abe resigned following his arrest on allegations that he assaulted his daughter. Japanese authorities did not indict Abe.
During his decade with the Giants, Matsui batted .304 with 332 home runs, establishing himself as one of the most feared left-handed hitters in Japan before moving on to a career with the Yankees that included World Series MVP honors. Now he returns to the organization that developed him, taking charge of a Giants team looking to move past the turmoil of the Abe situation and settle into a new era under a familiar face.