| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
advertisement | ||
Monday December 18, 11:35 AMBallplayer Matsuzaka among Newsweek's top newsmakers for 2007(Kyodo) _ Daisuke Matsuzaka, a Japanese professional baseball player who recently struck a $52 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, was among Newsweek's choice of top newsmakers for 2007, the weekly said Sunday on its international edition."But the hard-throwing, 26-year-old right-hander could never have imagined that he would return (to the U.S. field) to such fanfare - and for such a price," the magazine said in an annual "Who's Next" feature on its Dec. 25-Jan. 1 issue, according to its website. Calling him "a $100 million man" who will fulfill his dream of pitching in Major League Baseball, Newsweek said Matsuzaka was already "one of the most enchanted spectators at the 1999 World Series in Atlanta" when he was a 19-year-old rookie. In this year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, which the magazine said was a showcase of Japanese talent, the latest Japanese player to cross over took the MVP award, it added. The Boston Red Sox announced Thursday they have signed a six-year contract worth a reported $52 million with Matsuzaka. Combined with the $51.11 million bid offered to his former team, the Seibu Lions, for the exclusive negotiating right, Boston has made a total of $103.11 million investment. |
|||
|
2005 Kyodo News © Established 1945. All Rights Reserved.
|