TAMPA, Fla. — For one day, at least, Hideki Matsui lived up to the hype.
Making his spring training debut for the New York Yankees on Thursday, the slugger displayed the power and steely nerves that made him a superstar in Japan.
Matsui hit a two-run home run in his second at-bat with the Yankees, rocketing a fastball from Cincinnati Reds left-hander Jimmy Anderson over the right-field fence at Legends Field.
“I’m very happy that I could play like this in the first game of the preseason,” Matsui said through his interpreter, Roger Kahlon.
Matsui, who received a three-year contract for $21 million to join the Yankees, had plenty to be happy about, even if rain had scattered the announced crowd of 10,169 at Legends Field.
He went 1-for-3, including a scalding line drive that was caught by Reds second baseman Rainer Olmedo.
Matsui faced a total of 18 pitches, nine of them during his second at-bat. With two strikes, he forced a full count and fouled off three pitches before hitting his home run in the third inning.
“He’s a great player,” Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi said. “There’s no doubt about it. He took a great at-bat today and hit a home run. That’s the part of the game that a lot of people don’t realize — that he is a great hitter. He’s not only got a lot of power, but he’s a great hitter.”
Not only did Matsui impress his new teammates, who stood up to meet him once he reached the dugout after his home run, but he also no doubt satisfied his fans in Japan, where the game was televised live at 3:15 a.m.
Thursday’s game attracted about 130 Japanese journalists, according to Isao Hirooka, a former sports writer who covered Matsui in Japan and was hired by the Yankees specifically to deal with the Japanese media.
Before taking batting practice, the Yankees gathered in right field to stretch and warm up. At 9:46 a.m., as a trainer led the team through a drill designed to stretch players’ right hamstrings, 43 members of the Japanese media contingent stood on the gravel nearby, scribbling notes, taking photographs or shooting videotape that would be beamed back home.
“He was the most popular professional athlete in Japan,” said journalist Yoric Kittaka, who writes for the Kyodo News, a Japanese wire service. “And a guy like this coming over here and playing for the Yankees (is) going to be a great story, I guess, for everyone.”
What everyone wants to know is whether Matsui, 28, can generate the same kind of results in the major leagues as he did in Japan’s Central League, where he won three MVP awards for the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants.
Last year, Matsui hit 50 home runs while compiling a .334 average. He hit at least 34 homers in each of his final seven seasons in Japan.
Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher who played for the Yankees from 1946-63, watched the Yankees’ batting practice beside Manager Joe Torre and bench coach Don Zimmer.
“It looks all right,” Berra said of Matsui’s swing. “We still can’t tell now. Wait till the games start.”