JAPAN: BASEBALL - Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kei Igawa, two top Japanese baseball players, who recently signed up with rival Major League teams cross paths at Narita International Airport

Record ID: 461716

  • Title: JAPAN: BASEBALL - Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kei Igawa, two top Japanese baseball players, who recently signed up with rival Major League teams cross paths at Narita International Airport
  • Date: 12th January 2007
  • Summary: PRESS SURROUND KEI IGAWA, PITCHER WHO RECENTLY SIGNED UP WITH THE NEW YORK YANKEES (SOUNDBITE)(Japanese) IGAWA SAYING: "The first thing I need to do is work on my English" MEDIA SURROUNDING IGAWA IGAWA MOVES AWAY FROM THE PRESS WIDE OF AIRPORT IGAWA WALKING BACK TO THE AIRPORT
  • Embargoed: 27th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA6J1XPAK06VVXY5H7JEHNF9VWN
  • Story Text: Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who made history as the most expensive Japanese player to enter Major League Baseball last year, headed off to the United States on Thursday (January 11) after a brief home leave before joining the Boston Red Sox on a record-breaking deal worth a total 103.1 million U.S. dollars.
    Matsuzaka left Narita International Airport amid a large crowd of Japanese media who have followed his every move since he signed up with the Boston Red Sox in December 2006.
    Pitcher Matsuzaka recorded 200 strikeouts last season and has a 108-60 career record. He has spent eight years as the Seibu Lions top pitcher and led the team to a championship in 2004.
    He was named Most Valuable Player at this year's inaugural World Baseball Classic after pitching Japan to the title.
    In Japan, Matsuzaka has thrilled fans who see his success in the United States as assured and a sign of strong Asian presence in the United States.
    "We are also moving to the United States to live now. I think its delightful that Japanese and Asian people can move out there now and become famous and make some money," said Yuki Chris, a Japanese national married of a U.S. citizen and on their way to Florida.
    "Of course I am hoping he will win all his games but some one like Matsuzaka, I think, will be capable of winning 15 games at least," said Japanese national and baseball fan Masaharu Hoshino, before leaving on holiday to Hawaii.
    Eight year old Rito Hasegawa, a Japanese national and resident of San Diego, was no less enthusiastic even if he was not very aware of Matsuzaka's position.
    "I hope he hits a lot of homeruns...about one hundred," he told Reuters despite being told Matsuzaka was a pitcher.
    Bostonians swiftly coined a nickname for Matsuzaka -- "Dice-K" or simply "Dice" -- a wordplay on the Japanese pronunciation of his first name. Local Web sites lit up with messages welcoming him and imploring him to help Boston crush arch-rival the New York Yankees.
    Coincidentally his rival Kei Igawa, 27, was also at the airport on his way back from signing a deal with the New York Yankees.
    He told press at the airport that his first task will be to improve his English.
    "The first thing I need to do is work on my English," he said.
    A left-hander, Igawa impressed U.S. media with a speech prepared in English on Monday (January 8) after the Yankees signed him up for a five year, 20 million U.S. dollars contract.
    He is said to be the fifth fastest pitcher in Japanese baseball history. Igawa had an impressive season with Hanshin in 2006, when was 14-9 with a 2.97 earned run average in 29 starts. Igawa tied for the league lead with 194 strikeouts and ranked second in the league in wins and complete games, while placing third in the circuit with 209 innings pitched and seventh in earned run average.
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