Deanna visits the Hideki Matsui Baseball Museum, January 5, 2008

Sign for Matsui at the Terai train station.
Front view of the museum.
Info board with bus times and whatnot.
Statue of Matsui as a young child batting right-handed.

Entry hall to the museum.
Pitching machine used by Matsui's coach in high school.
Bats, gloves, and awards from elementary school.
Elementary school display case, more pictures.

Matsui's uniforms from elementary school, middle school, high school, the Yomiuri Giants, and the New York Yankees.
Museum logo on a wall.
Glove from high school (and the signature says "Seiryo HS, Matsui Hideki")
Display of pictures, awards, etc from high school.

Koshien plates and medals from Matsui's time at Seiryo.
Commemorative ball from the 1992 Summer Koshien.
Bigger commemorative ball from the 1992 summer Koshien.
Balls from various games in high school.

Various badges and awards from high school.
Closeup of the 1991 Koshien plate, where Seiryo made Best 4.
Closeup of a few balls (you can clearly see that two of them are his 12th and 17th homeruns in some season)
Matsui's "dream" starts extending after high school.

Awards from his high school several years after graduation.
Matsui at his graduation time.
A poem about the 1992 Koshien.
Items from a series played between Japanese and Korean high school baseball players in 1992.

Matsui's jersey from the All-Japan HS team.
Signatures of the 1991 All-Japan team. (Matsui's is 3rd from the left.)
Signatures of the 1992 All-Japan team. (Matsui was apparently #13.)
Various awards and certificates.

The proclamation about Hideki Matsui Day on March 3, 2004 in New York City.
A special service prize from the city of Neagari, 2005.
More awards from the city of Neagari.
Sports award Matsui received in junior high school.

Hideki's Square, a section of the museum.
A shelf full of books that have been written about Matsui.
View of half of "Hideki's Square" from the inside.
Video booth where you can watch various homeruns and other such footage of his career.

Letter from the US Embassy thanking Matsui for helping to send off Japanese players going to America.
Various Matsui measurements.
English "translations" of baseball words, although naturally the English is written in katakana, not English letters.
Another Matsui statue.

A lesson using a story about Matsui in "Power on English 1".
Matsui timeline, part 1.
Matsui timeline, part 2.
Matsui timeline, part 3.

Matsui timeline, part 4.
The bats Mizuho made for Matsui during his NPB career.
His MLB bats.
Matsui's childhood video wall.

Bat, glove, and shoes used by Matsui in 2007.
Bat, glove, and shoes used by Matsui in 2007, closeup.
Wall starting from when Matsui joined the "Glorious" Giants team. Ahem.
Matsui's "Player of the Year" awards.

Signatures from Shigeo Nagashima when Matsui joined the Giants.
Ball signed by Shigeo Nagashima.
Matsui shaking hands with Shigeo Nagashima.
Various trophies during his Giants career.

Matsui's "player of the week" awards from IBM.
MVP awards.
Yet more awards.
Japan Series MVP award, 2000.

2000 Japan Series winning team.
First home run ball hit in the Osaka Dome.
All-star game participation awards.
1994 Giants team signatures.

Matsui after hitting his 300th home run in Japan.
Various Giants-era items.
Monthly MVP plaques.
Shoriki Award from 2000. (Given to a person who makes a big difference in Japanese baseball.)

Closeup of monthly MVP from July 1996.
1996 All-Star game award.
Picture of Matsui after being the HR and RBI king in 1998.
Another shot of the big wall of Giants stuff.

MVP award from when the Yankees played games in Japan in 2004.
Back of the MLB MVP award.
Various milestone baseballs from his career.
Baseballs again, close up.

2000th career hit, which got him into the Meikyukai... against the Mariners' Jarrod Washburn.
First Yankees home run ball.
Matsui's 100th MLB home run ball, naturally off of ex-Mariner Gil Meche. (They spelled it wrong on the ball.)
MVP corner, part 1.

MVP corner, part 2.
MVP corner, part 3.
Japanese Professional Sports awards.
Pro sports award, closer up.

Matsui's NPB golden gloves.
The list of the Japanese All-Century team.
Matsui's plaque for being on that All-Century team.
List of all the awards and statistics Matsui amassed during his time on the Giants.

Photo of Matsui getting his Meikyukai jacket from Masaichi Kaneda.
The Meikyukai hat.
I couldn't get a good picture of the jacket, but here's the logo on the pocket.
Matsui's Best Nine awards.

Commemorative prizes for various home run milestones.
Sept 2001 Monthly MVP plaque.
Trophies and ribbons for winning various batting titles.
More ribbons for the batting titles.

2001 Central League batting average leader award.
Many batting awards.
Matsui in the majors.
Matsui in the majors.

Equipment and pictures from Matsui's 2007 season.
Major league all-star rings from 2003-2004.
This is how Japanese people see America. No, just kidding.
Picture of Matsui at Yankee Stadium.

Display of some new awards and such added after the 2007 season.
Sharp AL Player of the Month award, July 2007.
Another Player of the Month award.
Other MLB memorabilia.

Matsui with Joe Torre and Roger Clemens.
Models of Matsui's feet. A size 29! Yikes.
AL Champion ring, 2003.
A home run ball hit by Matsui in the 2003 World Series.

Matsui's off-season activities.
More about Matsui's off-season activities.
Some stuff Matsui received from other MLB players.
Signed bats from various MLB players.

Signed bats from some... er... big MLB hitters. (You can even read the inscriptions from Sosa and Bonds.)
The Matsui Home Run Road part of the museum.
Pictures of each of his home runs.
Closer up of some of the Home Run shots.

End of the Home Run Road.
Yankees home run cards.
They have lists of all of his home runs by year. Here's 1997, on the Giants.
And here's 2004, on the Yankees.

The movie area by the entrance, plus his yearly statistics. (The exit and entrance are fairly close together.)
Drawing by Matsui when he was 6 years old. "I want to become a baseball player," he wrote.
"I will continue to work hard to fulfill my dreams. Please continue cheering and supporting me. Thank you very much." (Matsui's message by the exit.)
Me, by the Matsui statue in the entry hall.

Entry hall and store and whatnot.
View of the parking lot from the museum entrance. It was starting to rain.