The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 37

37. The Great Challenge (6)

The children’s expressions and postures are stiff.

Sigh……

Recently, scouts, agents, and reporters have been visiting so often that I thought the kids had become quite accustomed to cameras. But still, those cameras are different from broadcasting station cameras, so I can’t really blame them for it.

That’s right. Right now, there’s a broadcasting station camera here. And it’s a terrestrial [free-to-air] broadcasting station camera.

Ah, of course, it’s not a station with high viewership ratings, but an educational broadcasting documentary. Ostensibly, it’s about the 12-day great challenge of the middle and high school baseball team of fewer than thirty members. But, in fact, it’s obvious to anyone that they’re here to film me.

High school baseball is unlikely to get high viewership ratings, but someone like me has topicality. More than anything, in this era of developed internet media, filming me now means that if I become an amazing person a few years later, it will be re-illuminated and get a sweet number of views. It’s a business that the educational broadcasting station doesn’t really lose out on.

Weekday daytime. In fact, it’s a time slot that baseball players playing in Korea usually have a hard time getting used to. But in my case, until just a few months ago, playing games at this time wasn’t that unfamiliar.

Of course, MLB [Major League Baseball], like KBO [Korea Baseball Organization], basically has games in the evening. But unlike KBO, which extends the season for a long time to replay games when there are rain cancellations, MLB usually finishes games with doubleheaders if possible. Well, it’s hard to say which is good and which is bad.

Just a league with 144 games a year versus a league with 162 games. A league where the longest distance can be traveled by bus in 4 or 5 hours versus a league where you have to take a plane for a full 6 hours and 30 minutes. If you add up all the travel time, you have to allow for 8 hours.

Anyway, weekday daytime.

Even though it was a camera for an educational broadcasting documentary, there was a terrestrial broadcasting camera, and in addition, there were so many cameras in the audience seats, including newspaper companies, scouts, and people doing internet personal broadcasts.

It felt like I was playing in a real game for the first time in a long time.

Come to think of it, this game might be the most attention-grabbing game I’ve ever played as a pitcher. In fact, the game that was my last hurrah as a pitcher was the semi-final game of this year’s Cheongryonggi High School Baseball Championship [a prestigious high school baseball tournament in South Korea].

I looked at my stiffened teammates one by one.

The sophomores will be around for another year, so that’s that, but the seniors, like Gyuhyuk, I made eye contact with them one by one.

Of course, their lives don’t end if they quit baseball here. This is just the end of the first act of their lives, and even if they don’t become professional players, they can become even greater people. But that’s just a story from the perspective of an adult who has lived through it and witnessed it firsthand.

They are all still young people who have only done baseball their whole lives. It’s too insufficient to end it here, stiffened and frozen after appearing on TV.

Well, it would be too insufficient to end the documentary with, ‘They were eliminated in the first game.’

First pitch windup.

I still couldn’t control it. No, to be precise, I didn’t bother to control it.

I judged that it would be better to throw with the posture that doesn’t put a burden on my shoulder right now rather than messing with my form as I please, and then systematically organize it with the help of an expert.

Of course, Coach Yang Sejun kept trying to interfere with my form, I don’t know what he ate wrong. At first, he only said something about taking a still motion at the top of the leg lift, but later he pointed out and demanded corrections on various parts of my form, saying that my head was shaking or that the point of pulling the ball out was not constant.

And I pretended not to understand his words properly, or pretended to try but couldn’t, and just kept eating and exercising steadily.

I gradually made my lower body thicker, strengthened the muscles around the shoulder joint, and strengthened my core muscles. Of course, all of these things couldn’t be done overnight. More than two weeks have passed since the end of the second half of the weekend league, but my weight has only increased by 1kg.

But that was enough.

The feeling of the ball catching on my fingertips was excellent.

The scorching sun of July shines on the mound of Mokdong [a district in Seoul known for its baseball stadium].

The ball I threw pierced Jo Yujin’s mitt.

-Thwack!!

“Good ball, good ball.”

Well, the first pitch is just for getting the range……

That’s how my pitching continued.

***

-Thwack!!

Choi Suwon’s ball was embedded in the catcher’s mitt.

“I thought high school baseball wouldn’t be a big deal, but the sound of the ball hitting that catcher’s glove is quite loud. It’s not as big as when I went to see that Shin Yumin’s game with my daughter a few days ago, but it’s still quite big……”

“The catcher is wearing a mitt, not a glove. And Shin Yumin of the Dolphins is a pitcher who throws at 145km/h at best. The son of CEO Choi here is a pitcher who throws at 160km/h, so what nonsense are you talking about?”

“Oh dear. Is that so? I don’t know much about baseball……”

“Tsk, if you don’t know something, you should study it. Why are you bragging about not knowing?”

Director Jung of Hankyung Construction scolded his subordinate, Manager Park.

Choi Kyungshik’s lips twitched. Whether it was because Manager Park, who was usually annoying, was being scolded, or because Director Jung was praising his son, Choi Kyungshik himself didn’t know.

“Ahem, no. 160 is still a long way off. He only recently threw a little over 156. Well, he was eating breakfast with me yesterday and said that he’s been bulking up lately, so he might be able to throw even better, but I’ll have to see him throw to know.”

“Hey, CEO Choi. Even 156 is a great speed. And he’s only a sophomore. Just wait and see. Suwon will be throwing 160 soon enough.”

“That’s right!! My daughter’s favorite player is Suwon, the son of CEO Choi. She sings that he’s destined to be on her favorite team.”

“Hey, you people keep saying things you don’t know about baseball. Look at that ball he’s throwing. Is that a ball that will stay in Korea? That’s a ball that will go straight to the major league.”

The major league.

In fact, the reason why Director Jung suddenly became interested in Suwon was because of that.

Originally, Director Jung, who graduated from college in the United States, had experience playing baseball in the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] in his younger days. Of course, he was a position close to a bench warmer for all four years, but even so, the fact that the legendary Lou Gehrig was his senior was one of Director Jung’s greatest prides.

“Director Jung. How much is the signing bonus in the major league these days?”

“Well, I think they used to get about 2 million dollars when I was in school. I don’t know how much it is these days because the major league has restrictions on overseas prospects. Ah, CEO Choi probably knows since it’s his son’s business. How much is it these days?”

“I was just looking into it because a big agency in the United States contacted me a while ago, and they said that Suwon should be able to get about 2.5 billion won [approximately $2 million USD]. That’s what they said.”

“2.5 billion?”

Manager Park opened his mouth wide.

That’s because 2.5 billion won is equivalent to the annual operating profit of a decent mid-sized company. Baekdu Remicon, Choi Kyungshik’s cement company, which ranks 10th in the cement industry with sales of 50 billion won, had an operating profit of only about 1 billion won last year. Net profit was less than 400 million won.

That’s not the end of it. Director Jung added to Choi Kyungshik’s story.

“Hey, don’t be so surprised. The minimum salary in the major league is 600 million won [approximately $500,000 USD]. And if you hit the jackpot with FA [free agency], it’s easy to make 100 billion or 200 billion.”

“Wow…… I should have made my son play baseball.”

“Well…… Looking at Manager Park’s physique, I think you did well not to make him play baseball? Do you think baseball is easy? It’s only because of CEO Choi’s genes that a kid like that comes out. Oh, if my father had been just 10cm taller, I would have aimed for the major league. Speaking of which. One of our school seniors was Lou Gehrig. You guys have probably heard of him. It’s Lou Gehrig from Lou Gehrig’s disease [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS].”

Seeing that the repertoire that usually comes out after drinking a lot of alcohol was already starting to come out, I thought that coming to the baseball field together today was a very good choice.

More than anything, Suwon.

How happy and worried I was when that guy, who is like me, taciturn and unable to blend in with his surroundings, said he would play the team sport of baseball.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

The umpire’s hand went up.

“Yeah!! That’s right. If you have a ball like that, why bother avoiding it? If you just throw it hard, the batters can’t even touch it. Looking at Suwon reminds me of something. When I was in school. There was a guy named Josh on the team. He threw a 98-mile ball from his freshman year, but his control was terrible? But when he met a coach, he suddenly got control and was drafted early by the Yankees at the end of his sophomore year. These days, there are a lot of pitchers who throw 99-mile and 100-mile balls, but back then, it was really rare. Anyway……”

I don’t know if he came to watch the game or to talk about his baseball days in school. But that’s what entertaining is all about. More than anything, his face was red and he was talking more excitedly than if he had been drinking, even though he hadn’t had a sip of alcohol, so if I can finish the drinking session after the game safely, today’s entertainment will be an unparalleled success.

“……So I pitched in the 6th inning of the regional 2nd round. Omaha, Nebraska is usually quite hot in the summer. Of course, it’s not as humid as Korea. Anyway, at that time I……”

No.

Seeing that he’s already talking about Omaha, Nebraska, I think today’s entertainment is already a success.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Top of the 1st inning.

One walk and three strikeouts.

Choi Kyungshik smiled.

Whether it was because of his son’s good pitching or because of the successful entertainment in progress, I still don’t know.

***

“Wow, look at the sweat dripping here. This picture is crazy? I just got a picture that perfectly fits the title of our documentary, ‘The Great Challenge.'”

“See, Director Kim. What did I tell you? I told you this would be a hit. Look, he’s handsome, his arms and legs are long. And he’s good at sports. This is definitely going to be a hit. There are a lot of kids that other broadcasting stations are watching right now. We can film like this because it’s now. Wait a little longer? No way.”

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see. There was that kid who PD [Production Director] Kyungah said would be a hit before. In the end, his school violence came out, and we got so much flak for not being able to film the documentary……”

“No, that’s because we filmed it during vacation. Okay, stop talking and focus. Today’s highlight is about to start.”

“Highlight?”

“Oh, come on. Didn’t you read the data I gave you properly? Choi Suwon’s a pitcher as a side job. He has a main job.”

Bottom of the 1st inning.

One out, runner on 2nd.

Hitter Choi Suwon came to the plate to do his main job.