長嶋ながしま茂雄しげおさん死去しきょ 松井まつい秀喜ひできさん緊急きんきゅう帰国きこくし弔問ちょうもん 恩師おんしの死しを悼いたむ

Shigeo Nagashima passed away on the 3rd, and in response, Hideki Matsui, who built a close mentor-mentee relationship with him and played for the Giants and in Major League Baseball, returned to Japan from America early in the morning on the 4th to pay his respects at Nagashimas home. He said, I expressed my gratitude for everything he taught me, mourning the death of his mentor.

Mr. Matsui was selected by four teams, including the Giants, in the 1992 draft. That year, Mr. Nagashima, who returned as manager for the first time in 12 years, personally drew the winning lot and secured the negotiation rights, leading Matsui to join the Giants.

After that, under a plan called the Cleanup Hitter 1000-Day Project, Matsui received elite training from Mr. Nagashima, grew into one of the league’s leading power hitters, and spent nine seasons together as manager and player.

After moving to the Major Leagues and joining the Yankees, their mentor-mentee relationship continued, and Matsui became a powerful hitter who made history by hitting a total of 507 home runs in Japan and the U.S. After retiring, both of them received the Peoples Honor Award together in 2013.

Mr. Matsui returned to Haneda Airport from the United States, where he is based, early in the morning on the 4th, following the death of Mr. Nagashima on the 3rd.

Mr. Matsui, dressed in a suit with a black tie, visited Mr. Nagashimas home in Tokyo to pay his respects around 5 a.m. and mourned the death of his mentor.

Mr. Matsui said, Thank you for everything you have given me. Responding to questions from the press, Mr. Matsui spoke about how he felt when he first heard the news of the passing, saying, I was shocked.

On top of that, Above all, I just feel grateful.

If I hadn’t met the manager, if fate hadn’t brought us together, I think my baseball career as Hideki Matsui would have been completely different.

I expressed my gratitude by saying, Thank you for everything you have given me.

And looking to the future, he said, You have taught me so much, but I still cant see how I will pass it on to the next generation. However, there are promises I made to Manager Nagashima while he was alive, and although I cant talk about them here, I want to fulfill those promises.

[Video] Mr. Matsuis Statement Uncut 7 minutes 6 seconds [Main Q&A] Mr. Matsui visited Mr. Nagashimas home at 4:57 a.m. After spending a little over two hours paying his respects, he responded to questions from the press.

Here are the main Q&A.

Q: What kind of time did you spend with Mr. Nagashima? A: Nagashima Ms. Mina said, Please talk, just the two of you.

We spent all our time together, just the two of us, reminiscing about all sorts of memories.

Q: What was Mr. Nagashima like? A: He looked like he was about to open his eyes at any moment.

I felt that it had meaning.

Q What did Mr. Matsui say to you? A There were so many things that I cant even explain them all right now—I talked with him about a lot.

The most important thing is just gratitude.

Meeting the manager—if not for that connection, Hideki Matsui’s baseball career would have been completely different.

It was thanks to fate back then, at the time of the draft, right?

You pulled me.

First, picture that starting point.

I told them thank you for the time we spent together after that, and for everything they gave me.

Q What kind of person is Mr. Nagashima? A I think its difficult to describe what kind of presence he was in just one word.

Mr. Nagashima is just one person, but to me, he has many different sides.

You gave me so much in so many different ways.

In that sense, is it strange to say to have many faces?

That’s what they were to me.

Q What is your best memory? A Its hard to choose just one.

There were really many different sides to Mr. Nagashima, many different situations as a manager, and our relationship as manager and player. Even after he stepped down as manager, I was still playing, so there was that relationship too, and then our relationship after I retired. At each stage, there were different kinds of relationships.

Its difficult, isnt it? To put it into words.

Q: I think Matsui usually had the time he spent practicing swings in mind, but...

I was able to spend various moments with Manager Nagashima at different times.

As I thought, we ended up having a conversation through practice swings.

Through practicing swings, you taught me the most important aspects of being a baseball player.

He taught me the most important thing for a baseball player named Hideki Matsui.

That is the luckiest thing for me, and also the thing I am most grateful for.

Q: In what way do you want to carry on Mr. Nagashimas will? A: He taught me so many things.

Im not sure yet exactly how we will pass things on to the next generation in the future, but since there are also things I promised to Manager Nagashima while he was alive, I cant talk about them here right now, but I do want to fulfill those promises.

When was the last time we met? It was in January.

I think the last time we met was when I had the chance to return to Japan in early January this year.

Q When you heard the news? A I was already shocked.

I was kind of shocked, or rather, it was a bit of a shock.