Fine dining with Hideki
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Mar 11, 2007 
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I just returned from having dinner with Hideki Matsui.
Yes, Godzilla himself. Matsui invited the beat writers out for dinner during his first spring training with the Yankees in 2003. The beat writers reciprocated in 2004 and it has been a tradition ever since. This year we dined at a terrific Italian place in Tampa.
It’s an off-the-record affair, so all I can say is that Matsui is as gracious and pleasant a guy as you would hope he would be. It really was a delightful evening. The big guy has a great sense of humor.
It’s too bad that this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often. I think if the players knew the writers better and we knew them better, it would make for better coverage.
This is baseball, after all. There doesn’t need to be an adversarial relationship.
That sounds like a great tradition. How many of the beat writers come along for the dinner?
That is really cool. I am glad you had a good time. How is his English? How is it now compared to when he first arrived?
Did he bring Igawa, or is he freezing out the newbie?;)
I’ve always wondered how his English skills truly are as well. He seems to only officially speak to the press through an interpreter, but he’s been with the team for a while now and he had to have picked up some decent English skills.
http://jaydestro.org/yankees-st/
here are my pics from today including pete and i neat the batting practice cage.
tonight my wife and i took the silly little sports car i rented and went clear across east to orlando to visit citywalk at universal. had a fine filet mignon dinner at emeril’s and walked around. then white knuckled it back to tampa at about 110 mph much to the dismay of my sweaty palmed wife.
gotta say, as a first timer to spring training it was an amazing experience. you get more up front access to the players and a wonderful overall time at the ballpark. i was seated in row j in the 209 section in legend’s field. we had a behind the catcher view of the game and was able to hear the mit crack when a hard pitch was thrown. also was able to hear a-rod yell an explicative quite loudly when he fouled off a ball he was right on top of.
wife and i have decided to make this a regular annual event now as we’ve enjoyed our time so much. we only get to catch one game due to some commitments back home but next time i am absolutely getting a few more games.
btw i am said “jay gordon” pete referred to earlier… and really say that if you all get a chance to come down here and you see pete, say hello. i am sure being down here for so long can get a bit lonely. sure you get to spend time with other writers, but family/friends are important. let’s all try to give pete a friendly hi when we see him.
amazing moments…
tony pena grabbing melky by the shirt and pretending to beat him up.
seeing yogi and joe sitting together chatting.
cashman walking over to the fence near the cage where i was standing and listening in on a convo about someone from hillsborough, nj who was married to his sister.
mariano and gator walking over to the main field complex together.
overall, an amazing day. tomorrow we hit the zoo and then the salvidor dali museum. there are so many yankees fans here in the hotel, everyone has a great attitude and a smile.
just get caught up. we’re all still sure that hughes is going to come up in june and provide “just as much as clemens could” right? right, guys?
it’s cool that matsui has that sort of relationship with the writers. i agree, pete, the coverage would benefit from a more “personal” relationship.
just get caught up = just getting caught up. i was so excited to chide everyone about the hughes/clemens comparisons, i got ahead of myself.
Matsui understands and speaks English pretty well. He used his interpreter for interiews on camera to make sure nothing is lost.
Igawa had a media dinner last month.
Jay: It was cool to see you. Thanks for saying hello.
It sounds like Matsui’s famous porn collection could have been a topic of this “off the record” convo.
Good point. Have any of you guys ever asked Hideki about his porno stash?
Note to Phil Franchise bashers (or at least those folks who are hyperventilating because he did not throw a dozen perfect innings this spring):
Dice-K got lit up by Baltimore today. Guess he is not ready for prime time either…
And Rich – please remember that there are many young people who read this blog. Try to stay on topic.
Given that the dinner was off the record, I don’t think we know whether or not it was on topic.
As for young people, they aren’t stupid.
What Jimbo said. Let’s not go in the gutter here, OK?
My bad. I thought people had more of a sense of humor about something that has been widely reported.
rich,
i think you’ll find that the sense of humor of the majority of this blog’s posters is sorely lacking.
that said, it is supposed to be a family friendly forum. so jimbo made a valid point.
I get it. I’m duly chastened.
Thank you for the pictures Destro.
Pete -
Hideki seems as though he is very carefully trying not to make any mistakes either on the field or off. Does he ever mention family? Guess he has acclaimated quite well if he took you all to an Italian restaurant.
This is a forum? I thought it was a blog comment section.
Anywho, now we know why Hideki is never chastised for leaving tons of men on base during Yankee first round elminations. Maybe A Rod should take the beat writers out too!
(for people who don’t have a sense of humor that was clearly a joke)
Let’s go from one Japanese star to another …. And let’s not concede the AL Cy Young just yet. Dice K apparently got his clock cleaned yesterday. I guess he’s human after all.
Pete- Idea for next poll: Should kasey be blocked?
Kasey was posting here when nobody knew about this blog. He is always welcome.
This is why the hype on Hughes bothered me. Now (some) people feel obligated to knock him down a peg or two when he struggles… in a spring training game. Oy.
Ouch
kasey, please forgive me. I overreacted…still upset ‘cuse is not in the NCAA’s.
Because once u get to know someone it becomes tougher for them to write bad or snarky stories about you.
You end up rooting for them.
“This is baseball, after all. There doesn’t need to be an adversarial relationship.”
unless you are the highest paid player in the game in which case every word out of your mouth is dissected, twisted, and ripped to shreds (general media, not PA necessarily).
Thanks for sharing the pics Jay!
I say this every year, but I do need to get down there one of these springs. The Dali museum sounds fun too.
Matsui the only non-96 Yankee who is on the Roster who attended Joe Torres event acouple months ago.
What a classy guy.
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