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The story
Ichiro Suzuki, the former MLB star, spoke to reporters in Seattle on the 23rd about Hideki Matsui’s appointment as the new manager of the Yomiuri Giants, saying, “No one but Hideki Matsui could generate this much excitement over a managerial appointment.” The two were once rumored to have a frosty relationship as players, but on 5ch a string of anecdotes claiming they actually got along well after retirement sparked discussion. At the same time, some pointed to Ichiro’s focus on coaching amateurs, his strictness as a coach, and younger generations’ lack of interest in Matsui — highlighting a gap in just how much the manager-appointment news is really resonating.
Ichiro voices hopes for new manager Matsui
Following Hideki Matsui’s appointment as the new manager of the pro baseball Yomiuri Giants, Ichiro Suzuki, who starred in Major League Baseball with the Seattle Mariners, spoke to reporters in Seattle on the 23rd.
He voiced his hopes, saying, “No one but Hideki Matsui could generate this much buzz over a managerial appointment.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
There were rumors they didn't get along, but they're actually really close.
I only ever had the image of them not getting along as players — turns out it was the complete opposite
I bet Ichiro treats him like his favorite kouhai (junior teammate)
The two of them were completely different types of players with totally different personalities,
but as stars of the same generation they were constantly compared to each other back then.
Well, against the somewhat complicated personality of senior Ichiro,
the easygoing, laid-back nature of junior Matsui
probably actually makes for a good match.
Ichiro's sharp — if he felt his spotlight got stolen by Ohtani and he faded into irrelevance, he'd probably use Matsui to stay relevant too
There's no bad blood between the two of them
Maybe step away from 5ch for a bit
That was you guys doing that to him on your own! lol
Ichiro wants to coach amateurs
Raising the overall level matters, but I'd like him to focus on the top tier too.
It's precisely because they're amateurs that he can coach them on the basics of mindset —
but if a pro has a low level of commitment, Ichiro's exactly the type to get way too harsh.
He's the guy who even told Matsuzaka — someone he was supposedly on good terms with — "deep down, you don't take baseball seriously."
Ichiro denied making that "you don't take baseball seriously" remark in an interview
https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/honwaka2ch/imgs/2/6/26658554.jpg
If you watch the video, he actually says "even when you get hit" but the subtitles put "when you get tired" instead
Third base: Hideki Matsui
https://hochi.news/images/2026/09/13/20260913-OHT1I51117-C.jpg
That's sloppy-photoshop tier lol
That's just their positions back in their Koshien (high school tournament) days
Maybe it's the grass, but it looks seriously composited.
Young people are totally unimpressed
The trash media (マスゴミ, a "mass media"/"garbage" pun) that showed zero remorse over the Ohtani harassment coverage isn't about to start caring what young people think
Singling out young people doesn't even make sense to begin with
They're totally checked out.
Young people today genuinely go "wait, who's Matsui?"
What has Matsui even been doing all this time?
With the times moving this fast, does anyone really think people care who the next Giants manager is?
It feels a lot like how, in his later years, Nagashima would just briefly show his face in public and only the media would go nuts over it.
Ichiro kept rewriting MLB records and racked up a pile of titles, while Matsui never really left behind a signature record
Actually that was just him stalling for time or dodging injury risk
Just recently, in a game promo, he said he absolutely hated catchers
Which means Mauer — the right-handed-batting catcher who took the batting title back from Ichiro — was actually the strongest
That kind of calculating cheapness just doesn't fit the times anymore
Ichiro's OPS is way too low
During his Yankees years he was even second-to-last in the league at one point
He only gets praised for hit totals, but a quarter of those were infield hits
Even with 262 hits in a season, he didn't even hit 50 extra-base hits
Or were they more at the level of guys like Murakami or Sato-teru (Teruaki Sato) — popular mainly among baseball fans?
Up through Matsui's era, basically every Giants game — home or away — aired in primetime on terrestrial TV. You can't really compare that to today's players.
Ichiro was popular as a commercial star,
but he hadn't "hacked" the mainstream the way Shohei Ohtani has.
Matsui got pushed hard by Nippon TV and became popular that way,
and among baseball fans he was a true superstar.
Those two produced a whole generation of baseball-obsessed kids who batted lefty.
Ohtani was probably one of those kids who followed in their footsteps,
and he went on to become a superstar surpassing both of them —
economically too.
Ichiro was a symbol of the recovery of Kobe, which suffered massive damage in the Great Hanshin Earthquake
Even though they look this close?
Background and key points of this discussion
Ichiro and Matsui were repeatedly pitted against each other by the media during their playing days and portrayed as being like “cat and dog,” so it’s notable that this thread gathered testimony suggesting that contrast was actually a misunderstanding. That said, caution is warranted: as with the “you don’t take baseball seriously” remark aimed at Daisuke Matsuzaka, there have been past cases where broadcast subtitles or editing distorted the original intent of Ichiro’s comments, making it hard to separate fact from fiction in many of the anecdotes circulating online. The thread is also split between voices arguing the Matsui manager appointment is “just a media frenzy with little interest from younger generations” and voices nostalgic for his former status as a national star — suggesting that those unfamiliar with the sheer media exposure and era of the time find it harder to relate.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Ichiro responds with comments following Hideki Matsui’s appointment as the Giants’ new manager!.”
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