Japan Series Most Valuable Player Hideki Matsui of the champion Yomiuri Giants was named the recipient of the Matsutaro Shoriki award Tuesday for his contributions to the development and promotion of baseball.
Matsui, whose 42 homers and 108 RBIs paced the Giants to the Central League pennant, was named by a panel of five baseball experts chaired by former Yomiuri manager Tetsuharu Kawakami. The 26-year-old slugger received 5 million yen with the award.