Hideki Matsui re-signs with New York Yankees, then retires

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.

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.

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

via Hideki Matsui re-signs with New York Yankees, then retires – MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN.