松井 FA申請

契約の最終年を終えた、ヤンキースの松井選手が今週月曜日ＦＡ申請した。３５歳の松井にとっておおくの野球人生が残っているわけではない。

新契約のポイントは、DHではなく、守備にもつく当たり前の野球選手として契約してくれるチームを選ぶことである。

そんな中、松井の代理人であるテレム氏が緊急声明を発表したと産経新聞が伝えた。英語の勉強を兼ね紹介してみたい。

Arn Tellem
Principal, Wasserman Media Group

Hideki Matsui: An Ageless Talent

There's a restaurant in Manhattan's garment district that's practically a gustatory shrine to one of my baseball clients, Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees. The walls of Go! Go! Curry are
festooned with Matsui autographs, caricatures, photographs and newspaper headlines trumpeting his last name, 松井. Matsui is held in totemic esteem at this Japanese curry house, so much so that the joint's very name derives from his jersey number. "Go" is five in Japanese and 55 is what Matsui wears on his pinstriped back. The restaurant even offers 55-cent discount coupons on days after he hits a home run. For those of you without a scorecard, Godzilla hit 28 homers during the regular season, and four more in the post-season.

Despite not starting a single game at Citizens Bank Park, a National League stadium at which the designated hitter is not allowed, Matsui slammed three World Series homers and a record-tying eight RBIs. In the second inning of Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, his two-run shot off Philadelphia's Pedro Martinez put the Yanks ahead for good. The ball clanged off an advertisement on the facing of the second deck in right field -- appropriately, a sign for Komatsu, a Japanese company that makes mining and construction equipment.

No hitter had ever done more damage in the Fall Classic in such a limited role. Matsui posted the third-highest average for a player with at least 10 at-bats in the Series, and the second-highest slugging percentage to Lou Gehrig. After Godzilla's thunderous footfalls helped level Philly, hundreds of Yankees fans converged on Go! Go! Curry to pay tribute to the first Japanese-born Series MVP. The Neagari native who became everybody's all-American accomplished all this in New York, the melting pot where immigrants come to pursue a better life. By embracing Matsui, New Yorkers have once again shown that though ball clubs are named for cities and states, they transcend geography. Teams may not be where we find our heroes today, but, as Matsui has demonstrated, it's where we find heroic situations we can all dream of, argue about or simply watch together in amazement. That's the game's unifying force.

Matsui filed for free-agency on Monday, and sportswriters have speculatedthat he doesn't figure into the Yanks' future plans. A 35-year-old DH, they argue, doesn't make sense for such a veteran team.

As his agent, I take a different view. The ageless Matsui has shown not just that he can still hit, but that he can hit with consistency and aplomb. During the regular season, he ranked second among DHs in homers, and third in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and walks. No left-handed hitter homered more off southpaws. Matsui combines the late-inning heroics of Yankees great Tommy (Old Reliable) Henrich and the superb professionalism of Paul O'Neill. He's a complete player who always has taken pride in contributing to all facets of the game.

Matsui's immense popularity in Japan gives the Yanks strong financial incentive to re-sign him. He helps bring in millions of dollars annually in marketing and sponsorship revenue. In the seven years since he joined the Bronx Bombers, Matsui has played a pivotal role in establishing the Yankees as a global brand. Six major Japanese companies -- including Toyota, Sony and the Daily Yomiuri newspaper -- have signed on as advertisers, each reportedly adding $1 million or so a year to team coffers. Most of these firms have placed their billboards in right field, often the final resting ground of Godzilla's monstrous clouts, to target the audience of NHK, the Japanese radio and television network. Currently, NHK airs 120 Yankee games a season.

It's not a stretch to say Matsui is as responsible for Japanese interest in the Yankees as Yao Ming is for the NBA in China. Matsui has yet another virtue that goes beyond mere statistics. In an age when athletes mock our reverence daily, he's exemplary in every aspect of his life. In January of 2003, his very first request upon landing in New York was to be taken to the Twin Towers memorial to pay his respects. He did this without publicity or fanfare. He did it because, he said, it was "the right thing to do." After the tsunami hit Indonesia at the end of 2005, Matsui, out his own sense of decency, donated $500,000 to UNICEF. He's one of those rare superstars who recognize the unique role his astonishing talent has given him and the good he can do for others.

Matsui loves New York. He says the last seven years in the Bronx will always have "a special place" in his heart. Fans of Japanese curry take note: Wherever Godzilla winds up, he'll be spawning 55-cent coupons for years to come.

（huffingtonpost.com）

マンハッタンに私の顧客であるニューヨーク・ヤンキースの松井秀喜を称えるレストランがある。「ＧｏＧｏカレー」の店内の壁にはサインや絵、写真、新聞の見だしなど、松井に関する品が飾られている。「Ｇｏ」は日本語で数字の「５」。「５５」は松井のピンストライプの背番号だ。彼が本塁打を打った翌日には５５セントのクーポンも配られる。
　
ＤＨのない敵地で先発出場しなかったにもかかわらず、松井はワールドシリーズで３本塁打、８打点を記録した。ヤンキースタジアムでの第６戦の二回、ペドロ・マルティネスから放った２ランは世界一を決めた。打球は右翼２階席の広告を越えた。広告は「コマツ」の看板。建設機械を扱う日本の企業だ。
　
役割が限定された中で、ここまで活躍したバッターはかつていなかった。松井は１０打席以上立った打者でシリーズ史上３番目に高い打率、ルー・ゲーリックに次ぐ２番目に高い長打率を残した。石川県根上町出身の彼は、“人種のるつぼ”ニューヨークで偉業を成し遂げた。
松井は月曜日にＦＡ申請した。スポーツ記者たちは ３５歳のＤＨは、ただでさえ高齢化したチームにはふさわしくないと主張する。だが、代理人として、私の考えは違う。老いをまったく感じさせず、松井は安定 した数字を残すこと、どんな状況でも冷静に打てることを証明した。ＤＨとして本塁打は２位、長打率、出塁率、四球は３位の数字だ。彼以上に左投手から本塁打した左打者はいない。松井は試合終盤の勝負強さを誇ったヤンキース往年のトミー・ヘンリックと、プロ意識の塊と言われたポール・オニールを合わせたような存在だ。試合に直結する得点に貢献することにプライドを持つ彼は、完成された選手といえる。
　
ヤンキースにとって彼と再契約をすることは付加価値も生む。松井を通してスポンサーやマーケティング関係の収入が球団に毎年、億単位で入る。トヨタ、ソニー、読売新聞など、大手日系企業６社が広告を出しており、球団に毎年１億円以上の収入が入る。現在、ＮＨＫは年間平均１２０試合ものヤンキース戦を放送している。
　
また、松井には野球の成績以上の美徳がある。２００３年１月、彼がニューヨーク到着直後、まず最初にしたことは世界貿易センタービル跡地を訪れたことだった。まったくのプライベートで宣伝ではなかった。「こうすることが正しいこと」と彼は言った。２００５年に津波がインドネシアを直撃した際、松井は５０万ドルをユニセフに寄付した。彼は自分の才能によって与えられた役割に気付いている数少ないスーパースターだ。
　
松井はニューヨークを愛している。彼はこのブロンクスでの７年間は“特別な場所”だと言う。カレー店のファンの皆さん、たとえゴジラがどの球団へ行こうとも、今後も彼は活躍し続ける。そして、５５セントのクーポンを生み続けてくれるはずだ。