Hideki Matsui returns to the Giants, this time as manager

Hideki Matsui is returning to the club where he became a star. The Yomiuri Giants confirmed Friday that the former Yankees slugger is their new manager, with No. 90 on his uniform.

Nikkan Sports reported a three-year contract. At the introductory news conference, owner Toshikazu Yamaguchi said Matsui was expected to take charge when the club begins autumn practice on October 30. The appointment is official; that practice date is the owner's stated plan.

The Giants selected Matsui in the first round of the 1992 draft. Over ten seasons with the club, he won three Central League MVP awards and helped it to three Japan Series championships. He joined the Yankees in 2003 and became the first Japanese World Series MVP in 2009.

That New York achievement is one part of a much longer baseball life. His return is to the organization that developed him before he crossed the Pacific, now with responsibility for the players who will write its next chapter.

A familiar name, a different job

The distinction matters. A celebrated playing career can make an appointment meaningful without making its outcome predictable. Managing requires decisions about other players: who gets an opportunity, how instruction reaches them and how a staff responds when a season stops going to plan.

Matsui brings experience of succeeding in both Japanese and American baseball. How he translates that experience into daily leadership is the story still to come. Friday supplies the appointment, not the verdict on his tenure.

For Yankees readers, there is a familiar champion to follow again. For the Giants, the responsibility is more immediate. They have entrusted their team to a former star whose next results will belong to the whole roster.