What to make of Hideki Matsui?s 500th career home run?

Oakland Athletics slugger Hideki Matsui hit the 500th home run of his career on Wednesday night, a feat that likely garnered big headlines in Japan and left the rest of us wondering what to think of the combined milestone.

Matsui's blast, a solo shot off Detroit's Duane Below, was his 168th homer over nine years in Major League Baseball. Combined with the 332 he hit for the Yomiuri Giants over 10 Japanese seasons and you get the large number that we used to get googly eyed over before the steroid era.

That Matsui was even on the brink of 500 home runs probably comes as news to those who don't follow the A's on a regular basis. Heck, it certainly did to me.

So are all homers equal? How do we process a familiar number reached through play in two different hemispheres? What's the conversion rate for Matsui homers, if any?

C. Trent Rosecrans of CBS Sports addresses those questions in the best take I've seen:

There are differences. The ballparks in Japan are smaller, the ball is slightly different, the pitchers are different and the season is shorter. But still, 500 is a lot of home runs, even if you're in Little League. He was never quite the same feared power hitter here that he was in Japan, but he did produce for many years and has been a good big leaguer, adjusting his game to his new surroundings.

Indeed, as many of Matsui's teammates pointed out, the No. 500 signifies a great baseball career, no matter where they were hit. They might not cause us to demand that Matsui be listed near the Mickey Mantles and Mike Schmidts of the world ? they shouldn't ? but they're certainly worthy of a moment of our applause.

And, really, what are our large, round numbers if not an arbitrary excuse to celebrate a fantastic and lengthy career? We all took note when Ichiro notched his 3,000th career hit back in 2008 and now we're taking a moment to celebrate the second-best Japanese-born hitter in MLB history. (Interesting stat: Matsui's 17.2 WAR in MLB ranks way behind Ichiro's 53.6, but also far ahead of the next-best Japanese-born position player ? Dave Roberts! ? with 10.2)

But when all is said and done, his "500th" will be way down on the list of Matsui's notable achievements, an order that will be led with his monster MVP effort in the 2009 World Series, his performance in the face of arthritic knees and intense media pressure and, hands down, history's greatest media introduction to a mate.

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