TOKYO - Former Yomiuri Giants outfielder Hideki Matsui, who also starred for the New York Yankees, was appointed manager of the Central League club on Friday, filling the vacancy left by Shinnosuke Abe's departure in May.
The 52-year-old Matsui, who has no formal managerial experience, was one of Japan's most prolific sluggers, hitting a combined 507 home runs in Japan and the United States.
He takes the reins of a Giants team that finished second in the CL regular season behind the Hanshin Tigers this year but was eliminated by the third-place DeNA BayStars in the Climax Series first stage.
"Starting from now, I want to usher in a new golden age for the Giants," Matsui said at a press conference.
"Honestly, I was happy (when the offer came). For me, the Giants were always in my heart wherever I was. (But) there was conflict when I was taking on the job for real. I couldn't get here without the backing of my family."
After Abe stepped down as manager following his arrest on suspicion of assaulting his teenage daughter, coach Hideki Hashigami took over for the remainder of the season. Prosecutors later decided not to indict Abe, 47, over the alleged assault.
Matsui joined the Giants as a first-round pick in the 1992 draft after starring in the prestigious national high school baseball tournament at Koshien Stadium as a student at Seiryo Senior High School in Ishikawa Prefecture.
He won three home run titles, three RBI titles and one batting title at the club, where he was managed by Japanese baseball and Giants icon Shigeo Nagashima, who died in June last year, in all but one of his 10 seasons.
Matsui will wear the No. 90 jersey, which Nagashima also wore in his first year as Giants manager in 1975 after a storied playing career that included nine consecutive CL and Japan Series titles beginning in 1965.
"It's the number Mr. Nagashima wore after he became the manager right after his retirement. He passed away at 89 and would have been 90 this year," Matsui said of Nagashima, who won five pennants and two Japan Series titles over 15 seasons as Giants manager.
"I wore No. 55 when I was a (Giants) player and finished wearing No. 35 at the end in the United States, which makes 90. It's the most fitting number to make a fresh start."
CL pennant-winning Hanshin Tigers manager and former MLB pitcher Kyuji Fujikawa was among the Japanese baseball figures to welcome the news of Matsui's appointment.
"Godzilla is arriving in Tokyo from New York. I'm happy to find an opponent to face up to," said Fujikawa, whose Tigers edged the Giants for this year's CL title. "The battle between the managers becomes extremely important in the pennant race."
Matsui moved to MLB in 2003 and spent much of his major league career with the Yankees, earning World Series MVP honors in 2009 before retiring in 2012.
In Japan, Matsui batted .304 with 332 home runs and 889 RBIs. In the major leagues, he hit .282 with 175 home runs and 760 RBIs.
