Hideki Matsui's former team caught in Japanese gambling scandal
The Yomiuri Giants — former New York Yankee Hideki Matsui's Japanese team — have been caught up in a growing gambling scandal. Team's owner, Kojiro Shiraishi, resigned Tuesday after a fourth player from the team admitted to betting on baseball, the Japan Times reported.
Three players from the Giants — Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara and Ryuya Matsumoto — were suspended indefinitely back in November for betting on games. The fourth player involved in the scandal, Kyosuke Takagi, admitted in a press conference Wednesday that he also bet on game and confessed to lying in an initial probe into the team.
Via The Japan Times:
“I lied at the investigation but the probing continued and that got to me mentally," Takagi said at the press conference. "I knew the time would come and I decided to tell the truth after speaking to my wife and parents."
According to the Times, there is no evidence yet that any of the four players — all of whom are pitchers — ever fixed games or placed bets on games in which they played. Team chairman Tzunekazu Momoi and advisor Tsuneo Watanabe will also step down as a result of the scandal.
The Giants are Japan's oldest professional baseball team and have long been regarded as the New York Yankees of the Nippon Professional Baseball league. Hideki Matsui played for the club from 1993 to 2002, and current Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara also played for the team during his Japanese career.
