Talk:Hideki Matsui

pronunciation

I don't know how to properly type out the pronunciation of his family name. Syllabically, it's ma-tsu-i, not mat-soo-i. I know that's how the American sportcasters pronounce it, but they are wrong. --Feitclub 06:32, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)

You must not be from New York. Michael Kay always pronounces it correctly.

Ncsaint 05:17, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

How about "mah-TSEW-ē". Ken6en 04:47, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

There's a lot of data on the data chart that will go out of date every year. Maybe it would be better to use absolute dates instead, e.g. birthday instead of age. Ken6en 04:47, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

birth place

Hideki Matsui was born in Komatsu. I've been to the museum. (anonymous)

Kind of splitting hairs at this point, but according to the museum website (which is located in Nomi) he was born in Neagari, which merged with neighboring towns to become Nomi. His birthplace is variously listed as Komatsu (the neighboring larger town), Kanazawa (the nearest big city), and Ishikawa (the prefecture). I don't know exactly which hospital he was born at, but he birthplace is usually listed as Neagari, where his parents lived at and still remain. When you pass Neagari by train there's a huge billboard that says "birthplace of Hideki Matsui" Japanese Wikipedia lists his hometown as Neagari too. Anyone begging to differ will surely suffer the wrath of Neagarians...they are REALLY proud of him (it's a small town). Ken6en 06:10, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

intentinal walk

Intentional walk itself was not uncommon in then Japan.--Extrahitz 09:20, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Relavance?

I deleted this paragraph because I failed to find relevance to this article:

"Some years ago, Matsui was quoted by a Japanese newspaper, "I do not like women who smoke." It is generally believed that he was referring to actress Takako Matsu, who although not known as such is a heavy smoker."

If the world would like to remember Matsui for this quote above all other things he has said, someone in the future can restore it to the article. - User:Abisai

Time Asia

From time to time someone adds a link or mentions an article from Time.com Asia edition in which Robert Whiting describes Matsui as a fan of "porno" movies. This article should not be taken seriously. Although Time is famous and respected in the US, it is not famous in Japan. If you check out Whiting, you'll find that he's basically a tabloid newspaper-type sensationalistic gossip writer. I suppose that due to the lack of English speaking reporters in Japan, Time had to resort to these kind of writers for material. In addition, gossip-type entertainment/sports newspapers are very popular in Japan (though not respected as legitamite journalism). The article makes it seem as if Matsui's alleged hobby is common knowledge in Japan, but this is not the case. If it was, it would be all over the media. Since Wikipedia is becoming quite well-known, it would be very irresponsible to allow information from gossip pages to be listed as "facts".

By the way, one user that keeps posting this gossip seems to be from an IP address registered to Lucent in Illinois. If it's a company IP address it's unbelievable that someone would be posting this kind of stuff from a tracable address within the company. If someone posted that IP on the Lucent wikipedia page, for example, lots of people in the company would probably see it and find out who it was. Ken6en 13:06, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

I would like to see a lot more information verifying that, in fact, TIME Asia is a tabloid before I would discount it. Time may not be famous in Asia, but its an internationally respected news provider with reputation and is unlikely -- even in its gossip pages -- to publish unsubstantiated and potentially libelous content. If you would like to discount the information, please provide us with a equally respectable news source that contradicts the pornography trivia.

By the way, I am posting from Columbia University, not work, and I have no embarassment about making changes like this. I'm not a Yankees fan, but I am a fan of Matsui, and was before I learned this about him. I think this trivia is not only interesting but gives some small insight into his personality. Mjgilbert 00:49, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Let's take the opposite approach. If National Enquirer published a story that Hillary Clinton's left foot was transplanted from an ape after a childhood accident, do you think it would be possible to locate a contradictory reference? And don't you think reporters in NY would be asking him about this everyday if he were really so open about it? Let's use some common sense here.

By the way, what I meant about Lucent is not that it's embarassing, but that usually the company wouldn't be happy about employees spending time at work using company resources just to post this kind of gossip on the web. Most people wouldn't want to risk their reputation at work over something silly like this. Ken6en 12:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't think you've responded to my points at all, but I wonder if maybe this isn't a misunderstanding. Here is the actual time article -- http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/heroes/hideki_matsui.html. It involves three reporters collaborating on the piece and its not a quick entry in a trashy gossup column. It's a comphrensive overview of Matsui's career that is over 2500 words long and published in a respected, non-tablid magazine. Time ASIA may or may not be as respected as its western counterpart, but it is a genuine and respected publication and there is absolutely no reason to discount what it says. I'm going to keep resinerting this trivia until (1) I get bored with it, or (2) you find me some evidence, other than your own opinion, that: (a) TIME Asia is, contrary to all appeareances, the equal of the Inquirer, (b) positive evidence that Matsui does not, in fact, have a fascination with pornography.

Or to put it more simply, I believe by finding a trustworthy newssource that asserts a point, and finding no contrary information in a comparably respected source, I have met the bar for Wiki-inclusion. The burden is now on you to demonstrate that the info is false. Mjgilbert 14:06, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Your sole purpose appears to be to post this nonsense, and I have reported you to an admin for corrective action. Wahkeenah 16:41, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I also took you up on your suggestion to "check out Robert Whiting" and it doesn't appear at all that his is a "basically a tabloid newspaper-type sensationalistic (sic) gossip writer." Baseball-reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Robert_Whiting) refers to him as "the foremost English-language writer about Nippon Pro Baseball," he has written at least five award winning books about the subject, (http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/authors/55/2926/index.html) and contributed to:

/The New York Times, The Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, U.S. News/ and /World Report, Readers Digest, Sport/ and /Time/ Magazine. He is also one of the few Westerners to write a regular column in the Japanese press. From 1979-1985, he was a columnist for the Japanese language /Daily Sports./ From 1988 to 1992, he wrote a weekly column for the popular magazine /Shukan Asahi./ From 1990-1993, he was a reporter/commentator for News Station, the #1 rated news program in Japan. He has appeared in numerous documentaries about Japan and on such shows as CNN's Larry King Live, the PBS Macneil-Lehrer News Hour, Nightline, ESPN's Sports Central, HBO's Real Sports and All Things Considered

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/authors/55/2926/index.html

Here is Whiting being interviewed by Boston.com (owned by the Boston Globe) about Daisuke Matsuzaka as a "Japanese Baseball Expert." http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/11/21/robert_whiting_daisuke_matsuzaka_chat_transcript/

In sum I don't see anything here that would support your allegations, and a lot of evidence to the contrary. Mjgilbert 16:41, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

OK, you have an alleged source. Now tell us why it matters, what this guy does on his own time. Wahkeenah 17:28, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm very happy to reply to that. This is a biography, not a sports summary. It's about Matsui as a human being, not just Matsui as a player -- that's why we're interested in his childhood, where he grew up, his early career. Morever this is the trivia section, where interesting (but, by definition, not 'important') information is placed, that readers may enjoy learning about.

Personally, I think this adds a lot of interest to Matsui as a person, and I don't understand why a few of my fellow editors here feel the information ought to be censored. There's nothing wrong with a single, young, adult man being interested in pornography. In fact, I think its admirable that isn't even embarassed about it. I'm not bashing Matsui here, I *like* Matsui.

If you are objecting purely on journalistic/accuracy grounds, then please respond to the points that I've made. I have a real source, not an 'alleged' source. The source is a respected writer, well published, and his claims have been published. I have not seen, anywhere on the internet, anyone attempting to refute this claim. To say that it is "nonsense" is not supportable. If, for example, the New York Times publishes a piece about about a celebrity mentioning that they enjoy putting black pepper on their hotdogs, should we have to find three or four supporting sources on this? Assuming (1) the publication is respectable and has a reputation for journalistic integrity, and (2) the author is likewise respected, and (3) the author has good reason to know about the information they share, and so long, finally, as (4) there are no contradicting sources of comparable weight, then by all principles of journalism and editorship, the fact can be taken as truth until and unless new evidence is found. If this is some elaborate urban legend purportrated by a well known sportswriter in collusion with a major respected publiciation, then please do find evidence of that, and then we can have an entry that corrects the rumor.

In any event, I rephrased the section, making it clear what the source is, even using "according to" language, and providing multiple references. If you're going to keep reverting me on this, why not instead insert your own information afterwards. E.g., "Whiting's claim has been disputed by [____] writing for [____], where it was states that Matsui does not, in fact, enjoy this hobby." Lastly, I first included, but then removed, a link to a Yankees fan site, where you can see that the vast majority of fans embrace this aspect of Matsui, and find it (1) amusing (2) very interesting, and (3) feel that it doesn't diminish in any way their regard for this well liked player.

Mjgilbert 17:45, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Which one is the exact link which proves that Matsui does this stuff? We understand your reasons, and they are justified but I don't know which one is the correct link for the trivia claim. 333cool 02:42, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry that it isn't clear. If you look at the entry itself, its the last reference (ref 4). Originally I had it link to one of the (many) news articles that came out in response to the Time Asia piece. In the last revision I changed it to link directly to the Time article. Refs 2 and 3 are admittedly defensive measures in response to a claim that the author of the article lacked journalistic standing (it turns out he's arguably the foremost authority in America on Japanese baseball).

This is certainly important information to an encyclopedia. What a role model, eh? And if an announcer says Matsui's improving his "stroke", how will we know for sure what he means? Wahkeenah 17:51, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Also, when he injured his wrist and snapped his consecutive games streak, maybe the injury in the game wasn't the real problem. Wahkeenah 04:33, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

or at least the hitting streak wasn't his greatest loss

Language

Does Matsui speak English? I used to assume he did, but then saw an article mention that he was using a translator to talk about whatever the article was about (I can't remember). Anybody know if he speaks English, or does speak some but not fluently enough and thus requires a translator at times? -albrozdude 22:48, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

He speaks very little English. On the Yankees radio network random Yankees say you're listening to the Yankees radio network. Matsui does it too. - Guest