Hideki Matsui has been elected to the Hall of Fame -- the Japanese Hall of Fame, that is

Hideki Matsui will have to wait until Wednesday, Jan. 24, to find out whether he's been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But he's already guaranteed one induction ceremony this year -- thanks to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, which announced over the weekend that Godzilla would be part of its 2018 class:

Before he came to the Bronx in 2003, Matsui had already established himself as one of the greatest sluggers in the history of Nippon Professional Baseball. He slashed a remarkable .304/.413/.582 with 332 homers over a decade with the Yomiuri Giants, winning three Central League MVPs and one Japan Series MVP.
It's no wonder he broke Hideo Nomo's record as the youngest inductee in Japanese history -- and became just the sixth player to earn induction in his first year on the ballot. Whether or not he ends up in Cooperstown, Matsui's global legacy is pretty impressive.