Matsui Retires As A Bronx Bomber, Yankees Honor Former World Series MVP

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Hideki Matsui has re-signed with the New York Yankees and retired with his first major league team.

The 2009 World Series MVP signed a minor league contract Sunday in front of dozens of Japanese and American media and New York general manager Brian Cashman and assistant GM Jean Afterman.

The 39-year-old Matsui then put his signature to his official Major League Baseball retirement papers in an on-field ceremony before the Yankees played Tampa Bay. The slugger nicknamed "Godzilla" first announced his retirement in an all-Japanese news conference in New York last December.

Matsui was beloved by Yankees fans during his seven-year stay in the Bronx.

Several thousand fans lined up outside Yankee Stadium more than three hours before Hideki Matsui bobblehead day. Many were wearing Matsui's No. 55 Yankees jersey.

Derek Jeter handed Matsui a framed commemorative number 55 jersey.

Matsui hit 175 homers and hit .282 in a 10-year major league career, seven with New York.

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