A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 262

Chapter 66: A Place Where the Sunlight is Warm (4)

A white man hopped out of a beat-up, old one-ton truck.

A carefree man who looked like he’d been out catching alligators while everyone else was working.

Surprisingly,

it was John Ramer Taylor.

His official title was Director of Future Strategy for the Tampa Bay Rays.

His real title was the only son of Tampa Bay’s team owner, Jeffrey Taylor.

“……”

Interestingly,

this white man with an open and bright expression recognized Ji-seop immediately.

He scanned the customers at the outdoor cafe, snapped his fingers as if realizing something, and strode over—John Ramer Taylor.

Coming right up to Ji-seop, he stuck out a palm as big as a pot lid and said,

“Kim, right? From Fort Myers University!”

He didn’t even wait for an answer.

“Nice to meet you! I’m John Ramer Taylor. Just call me ‘Ramer.’ Honestly, there are probably tons of Johns around, right? Haha.”

“Ah, nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor.”

Ji-seop stood up and shook the large hand he offered.

“I’m Kim from Korea.”

“Hey, I told you, you can just call me Ramer.”

Even as he chided, John Ramer Taylor shook hands energetically, saying, ‘Nice to meet you.’

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by his energy, Ji-seop asked him,

“But… how did you know?”

Honestly, there were a lot of things he wanted to ask, but this seemed like the most appropriate question at the moment.

“You seemed to recognize me right away… Did Professor Pryor send you my picture in advance?”

“No, I only knew you were coming from Korea; I didn’t know what you looked like.”

“Then how…?”

“Haha, we Floridians have a way of distinguishing people from other regions!”

You can tell by their shoes.

John Ramer Taylor pointed to Ji-seop’s shoes as he said this.

“I guess you didn’t know? You’re the only one wearing dress shoes in this cafe right now.”

“Really? Is that so?”

What he said was true.

None of the customers at the outdoor cafe, the staff, or even the office workers who had come to order a cup of coffee in the middle of their busy schedules were wearing dress shoes.

Instead, as if they had all agreed on it, most of them were wearing-

“Sandals or flip-flops.”

John Ramer Taylor said.

“Here in Florida, the weather is warm all year round. If you wear dress shoes, it’s too stuffy to bear. So, people here usually wear sandals or flip-flops.”

But Ji-seop was the only one wearing uncomfortable dress shoes, so he was easy to spot from a distance.

“Some people hate it because it’s too hot. But I really love Florida, especially St. Petersburg. There aren’t many places where you can get such warm sunlight all year round. Haha, well, anyway…”

Welcome to Florida.

Welcome to St. Petersburg.

Watching John Ramer Taylor greet him with open arms, Ji-seop was thinking to himself,

‘…The weather is to blame.’

A place where the sun shines warmly all year round.

A place where there’s no need to worry about the cold all year round.

‘The weather here must have turned John Ramer Taylor into such a carefree and cheerful person.’

* * *

To be honest, it wasn’t exactly positive.

Ji-seop’s first impression of John Ramer Taylor, that is.

‘Well, he might be okay as a casual acquaintance, but…’

He didn’t think he was qualified to inherit the baseball team in the future.

Let’s just say that his personality was carefree and relaxed due to the influence of the Florida weather.

However, in the conversation that followed, Ji-seop realized that John Ramer Taylor was far from unintelligent.

“It took you seven years to graduate with an MBA [Master of Business Administration]?! Isn’t that usually a two-year program?”

“Haha, I’m the type who avoids studying… Well, thanks to that, I met Professor Kevin Pryor, right? That’s how we were able to meet today! Hey, that’s all that matters!”

*What do you mean, that’s all that matters, you.*

“I saw you catching alligators earlier… Do you have time for that? Isn’t the Tampa Bay Rays a very busy organization?”

“Hehe, you’re hitting a sore spot. I’m trying to cut back on that now, but strangely, every time I do, I get a call asking for help.”

*Seriously?*

“I heard you’re in the Future Strategy Planning department, but what exactly does that department do? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it on the team’s organizational chart.”

“Ah, our department? It’s literally a place where we plan the future strategy for the Tampa Bay Rays… Ah! Have you eaten yet? If you came from Boston, you probably haven’t had lunch yet?!”

As the conversation kept going like this, Ji-seop lowered his expectations for Ramer.

If he was planning to hold out until he inherited the team owner position, then maybe, but if not, it seemed best to keep a moderate distance.

He didn’t seem like someone he could learn much from, so it would be best to just get the information he needed and leave.

Thinking that, Ji-seop was just waiting for the right moment to bring up his resume—but exactly 15 minutes later,

Ji-seop’s impression of John Ramer was slowly changing.

“M-Mr. Taylor! What… what is all this?”

It was Korean food.

The restaurant that John Ramer led him to was set with a full Korean meal.

It wasn’t the kind of Korean food he had seen in Boston, which was only Korean in name but actually catered to American tastes.

There was spinach *namul* [Korean seasoned spinach], bracken *namul* [Korean seasoned fernbrake], seaweed soup with beef, *bulgogi* [Korean marinated beef] full of glass noodles, and, above all, an amazing *kimchi jjigae* [kimchi stew].

‘Real Korean food’ that he hadn’t tasted since leaving Korea.

Sitting down and taking a spoonful of *kimchi jjigae*, Ji-seop let out an exclamation filled with sincerity.

“Kheu….”

The taste made his body tremble.

Ji-seop couldn’t help but ask.

“Mr. Taylor, what’s going on? Where did you get all this food…?”

“Haha, it looks like you like it? I specially requested it because we had a guest coming from Korea.”

John Ramer said.

“There’s a Double-A team under our Tampa Bay organization called the Montgomery Biscuits… There are a lot of Koreans there. So, I contacted the Biscuits and scouted a chef who’s good at Korean food.”

“No, Montgomery is almost a 10-hour drive from here…”

“Kim, you came from a place that takes more than 15 hours by plane, right? Then I have to prepare at least this much.”

“M-Mr. Taylor…”

To be honest, Ji-seop was already feeling very grateful, but John Ramer’s ‘preparation’ didn’t end there.

After the meal, they sat down with a bowl of *sikhye* [sweet rice drink] each and listened to stories about the classes you absolutely had to take at Fort Myers University.

After that, they sat down with a bottle of Korean *soju* [Korean distilled rice liquor] each and listened to advice on life in Florida in general.

Besides that, there were many other things that John Ramer ‘senior’ had prepared, but the most impressive thing came at this moment.

“Ah, really? You want to work for our Tampa Bay Rays… Hmm, did you bring a resume or letter of recommendation or something?”

That was the story he had been waiting for.

Ji-seop quickly opened his bag and handed the resume he had brought to John Ramer.

“Hmm.”

With a slightly flushed face, perhaps due to the alcohol, John Ramer Taylor examined the resume Ji-seop had handed him.

After looking at it for a while, he said to Ji-seop,

“Kim, it says here that you played baseball… But it doesn’t look like you have any professional experience?”

“Yes?!”

To be honest, Ji-seop felt his heart sink at that moment.

Was it a kind of inferiority complex?

Even now, after achieving some success with the Cannons, the fact that he had never set foot on the professional stage during his active career remained a slight embarrassment.

In Korea, he had shown enough skill that it wasn’t a flaw, but he hadn’t yet shown such results in the United States.

“Ah, well, that’s…”

Ji-seop was about to start making excuses without realizing it, but John Ramer quickly raised his hand.

“No, I think you misunderstood me a little. I wasn’t trying to criticize you for not having professional experience.”

He continued.

“Rather, the fact that you don’t have professional experience… Kim, I wanted to say that it’s making your career even brighter.”

“……Yes?”

Ji-seop blinked.

“Nearly 10 years of independent league life after not being drafted professionally. That alone is amazing, but you even thought about working for a baseball team after retiring as an active player!”

*Wow.*

John Ramer exclaimed.

“And you were appointed as a special advisor to the general manager in just one year at the baseball team you joined? And you led the team to victory in another year?! Wow!”

Kim, this is perfect.

It’s a very perfect resume!

John Ramer’s excited voice rang out.

“I haven’t been in the baseball team business for long, but I’ve never seen such a perfect resume. Passion for baseball, perseverance towards goals, and even the achievement of leading the team to victory… I don’t think there’s anyone in the Tampa Bay Rays with this kind of background.”

Then, the team owner’s son suddenly jumped up from his seat.

He took out a card from his wallet and handed it to the waiter, saying to Ji-seop,

“Kim, do you have enough time today?”

“Yes? Ah, yes, I haven’t made any other plans, but…”

“Great! Then let’s go to Tropicana Field right now!”

Tropicana Field was the home stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays.

“If we leave now, we can submit your resume before the HR person leaves work. Let’s go and submit it together. I’ll put in a word for you.”

“C-Can we really do that? It’s too sudden…”

“Hey, what’s so sudden about it? I like Kim. I’m convinced that you’re the talent we need at Tampa Bay!”

We can’t miss out on talent like you.

Boston is stupid for missing out on you.

John Ramer put his arm ‘smack’ around Ji-seop’s shoulders and continued.

“Ah, I didn’t ask you? Which field are you interested in? General baseball operations? Scouting? Or data science?”

“Ah, well…”

At this time, Ji-seop thought he was looking at the current situation very calmly.

He was keeping his distance from John Ramer, a seemingly reckless human being, and he was listening to the compliments he was giving with one ear and letting them out with the other.

John Ramer basically had a kind nature, and it wasn’t a big deal that such a person was making a fuss over his resume.

So, he was confident that he could give a very cool-headed answer even in this situation—

“Well?”

Was it the problem of the bottle of *soju* he had drunk for the first time in a long time?

Or did the man who liked the sunshine of Florida have a power to attract people?

The next moment, Ji-seop was giving an answer that he himself had not expected.

“Anywhere is fine, but…”

And then, one more word.

“I think it would be nice to work in the Future Planning Strategy department.”