Former New York Yankee Hideki Matsui is to throw the ceremonial first ... the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays in MLB. Before moving to the United States, he was a three-time Japanese ...

As for the Rays, the team still owns the bottom cellar ... He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation ...

Hideki Matsui broke the mold of Japanese baseball players moving to MLB when he arrived on the scene for the Yankees in 2003. He was not a light hitting outfielder or a pitcher with an unusual windup.

The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger crushed his 176th career homer in the third inning, breaking Hideki Matsui’s record for the most home runs hit by a Japanese-born player in Major League Baseball.