The 1993 season proved an interesting year for Hideki. He got into 57 games and batted .223 with 11 home runs. Though the stats suggest he was overmatched—and indeed he was on many occasions—he adored the cat-and-mouse games between pitcher and batter, and thrived on the challenge of improving every day. The more layers of baseball that unfolded before him, the more he got wrapped up in the game.

The rest of the team mailed it in, however. The Giants finished under .500, the first time in 14 years they had done so. They lacked power and only the fine pitching of Masaki Saito and Masao Kida kept them competitive. Hideki watched as the crosstown Yakult Swallows won the Central League crown, and then defeated the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League in an exciting seven-game Japan Series.

The older players on the club seemed most excited about a new rule that granted veterans free agency after 10 seasons in the league. Hideki, by contrast, could barely imagine himself a decade in the future.

The 1994 campaign found Moseby and Barfield back in the States and Hideki as the team’s everyday right fielder. Nagashima told his second-year star that his tremendous bat speed would not be a true asset until he learned to be more selective at the plate. Hideki also needed to develop a feel for which breaking balls he could hit, which he couldn’t, and how to recognize a hanger on its way to the plate. Hideki worked with the Yomiuri coaches on those skills and made impressive strides. He finished the season with a .294 average—11th in the league—along with a very respectable 20 home runs. He also began a consecutive games streak that would last until he left Japanese baseball.

The Giants, who had not won a pennant since 1989, beat the Chunichi Dragons on the last day of the season for the Central League flag. The team got good years out of former big-league outfielders Henry Cotto and Dan Gladden and pitcher Jimmy Jones. The American batters combined for 33 homers, while Jones went 7-2. Hideki’s 20 dingers and Hiromitsu Ochiai’s 15 gave the Yomiuri club just enough muscle to get by.

The Giants dropped the opener in the Japan Series against the Seibu Lions, but won four of the next five games to take the championship. The big hero was pitcher Hiromi Makahira, who twirled a 1-0 gem in Game 2 and won the finale, 3-1. The Giants survived a four-homer outburst by Lion star Kazuhiro Kiyohara, who would one day join the Giants. In his first season as a starter, Hideki earned a championship ring.

The 1995 season found Hideki playing next to his third different American center fielder, former All-Star Shane Mack. He learned a lot watching Mack, and by season’s end, he had become a reliable defensive player. Hideki had another good year at the plate, batting .283 with 22 homers and 80 RBIs. Those numbers proving beyond a doubt that he had adjusted to pro pitching.

The only adjustment Hideki found difficult was living alone. In that respect, the most important part of “Team Godzilla” was his mother, who would travel to Tokyo every 10 days or so to clean her son’s apartment, do his laundry, and see that he had enough food in the refrigerator. The visits continued throughout Hideki’s career, as he never married or had a live-in girlfriend.

The Giants played winning ball all year. Mack and fellow American Jack Howell enjoyed strong seasons, Makahira had a good year on the mound, and Masaki Saito won 18 games—tops in all of Japan. In most seasons, that would have put the Giants in contention. But the 1995 Yakult Swallows ran away with the pennant.