A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 554

The Freshman of the Baseball Team is Too Good 554

The Freshman of the Baseball Team is Too Good 554

117. My Baseball, Your Baseball (2)

The national Little League tournament hosted by the [Bonfire Baseball Foundation] last summer was a significant event.

According to Jisub, the tournament was quite successful.

Hundreds of Little League players from across the country gathered in Yeongsan City, Gyeonggi Province, and the semi-finals were even broadcast on a sports TV channel.

“Haha, it’s all thanks to Kim’s influence,” Ryan Choi said.

“It was a tournament organized by the president of a current Major League team. Isn’t it natural to receive attention?”

“Hmm, is that so? Not because of the special benefits I offered to the winning team?”

“To be honest… yes, the players seemed more interested in that.”

While preparing for this tournament, Jisub offered the [American Baseball Experience Program] as a prize to the winning team.

The idea was to invite the winning team to the United States and allow them to participate in a Little League tournament held in Florida in October.

This provided an opportunity to compete directly against American baseball players of the same age.

The players who participated in the tournament shouted ‘Let’s go to America!’ as their fighting slogan, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

Hearing about it warmed Jisub’s heart.

“Ryan, what is the age limit for Little League in Korea? When I was young, there was hardly any Little League.”

“It’s the same as Little League in the United States: up to 12 years old. I heard that in Korea, they usually play until the summer vacation of the first year of middle school.”

“So, most of the players are elementary school students…”

Jisub turned his head and looked at the gift box placed in the back seat of the car.

A box full of T-shirts, hats, and baseballs that he had received from the club’s marketing department.

“Should I have brought crayons or pencils… or something? Looking at it now, it’s too much of a gift for baseball players.”

“Haha, it’ll be fine. Aren’t Little League players baseball players too? Besides…”

Ryan Choi, holding the steering wheel, looked at Jisub and smiled.

“I guarantee it. Just Kim coming in person will be a really big gift for the players.”

“Really?”

“Of course! How knowledgeable are the kids these days? They know everything!”

“Ah, there it is. The players are in that restaurant.”

Even as Ryan Choi pointed to the Korean restaurant in the distance and turned the car’s steering wheel, Jisub was still tilting his head, wondering if elementary school kids would recognize him, unlike high school students about to be drafted by a professional team.

Wouldn’t it have been better to ask the Tampa Bay players to come along? Victor Johnson Jr. would have gladly made time.

Thinking that, Jisub followed Ryan Choi into the main hall of the restaurant where the winning team players were gathered, and then-

Wow!!!

Wow!!!

A huge cheer echoed throughout the restaurant, greeting the president of the Tampa Bay Rays.

“Wow, it’s Kim Jisub!”

“Tampa Bay Rays! Right?!”

The Little League players, sitting in the middle of the restaurant, screamed at Jisub.

“Wow, is the president of the Tampa Bay Rays really here?”

“OMG, that’s crazy. I thought the coach was just saying that…”

The people gathering in groups of three or five around them seemed to be the parents of the student players.

“Oh, welcome! President Kim Jisub, thank you for coming all this way!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Eom Junseong, the coach of Haan BC, the winning team of this national tournament!”

The coach and coaching staff of the winning team kept bowing to Jisub.

“Oh, yes, hello.”

It’s already been five years since he became the president of the Tampa Bay Rays.

In fact, Jisub had been handling Major League figures like those from the Yankees and Red Sox with ease even before that.

However, people approaching him saying ‘President, President’ still felt awkward.

“President, now that you’ve come, could you say a word of encouragement to our players? They must all be waiting for that.”

“Ah, a word of encouragement?”

Was that why?

He looked at the coach, who was holding out a microphone, with a slightly troubled expression, and ended up avoiding it with a word like this.

“Well, rather than a meaningless story…”

Jisub held up the gift package he had brought with both hands.

“How about we give out gifts to our players first?”

Of course, as soon as he said that, the children’s cheers once again echoed throughout the restaurant.

* * *

Jisub, who never got used to the title ‘President’ even after all these years, felt a little uncomfortable at first, but that didn’t last long.

Basically, they were people who loved baseball, and that alone was more than enough to keep the conversation going.

Moreover, a characteristic unique to the Korean baseball world that is hard to find in the United States—’If you go through one or two people, everyone knows each other’—was being applied.

“OMG, is that true? You played baseball with Coach Cheon Jinwoo? When? In high school?”

“No, it was in middle school. When I entered as a freshman, Cheon Jinwoo was the senior in his third year and the captain of the baseball team.”

Little League coach Eom continued with a proud expression.

“Back then, the rules of the baseball team were very strict, right? When I couldn’t adapt, Cheon Jinwoo helped me a lot.”

“Wow, Coach Cheon had leadership skills even back then. He was highly regarded by our Tampa Bay Rays as well.”

“I heard he’s working for the San Francisco Giants now… is that right?”

“Yes, he’s in charge of special assistance to the manager… no, should I just connect you on the phone? It’s fate that we met like this, right?”

“Can I really do that? I would be honored if I could say hello!”

They shared stories about common acquaintances and discussed the differences between Korean and American baseball.

After the grill for grilling pork belly was replaced with a grill for grilling marinated ribs, they listened to stories about the amateur baseball scene.

It was a time for Jisub to talk about baseball itself for the first time in a long time, and to put aside the pressure of the post-season for a while.

While he was having a good time with the Little League coaches, staff, and parents…

“Excuse me… Coach?”

“Oh, Seongmin!”

A student was sneaking up behind the Little League coach.

He was about 175cm tall and had a very sturdy build. At first, Jisub mistook him for a coach or a parent.

But when this student approached, the coach suddenly clapped his knees and exclaimed, “Oops!”

“Ah, that’s right! There was that, wasn’t there?”

The coach, with an embarrassed expression, patted the big student’s shoulder and turned his head to Jisub.

“President?”

“Yes.”

“First of all, let me introduce you. This friend is Woo Seongmin. He’s in the first year of middle school this year…”

The coach grabbed the hand of the student named ‘Woo Seongmin’ and continued.

“This guy said he met you once before, President?”

“Me?”

Jisub put down the chopsticks he was holding for a moment and narrowed his eyes.

“Student, where did we meet?”

If he was in the first year of middle school and had this kind of build, he should be memorable.

Jisub just kept tilting his head.

“Can you give me a hint? Then I might remember.”

“Ah, just a moment!”

The student, as if he had been waiting for those words, took something out of his pocket and suddenly handed it to Jisub.

Wondering what was going on, people began to gather around Jisub one by one.

With everyone’s attention focused, Jisub saw a signed ball in a plastic cube.

‘Wait a minute, whose signature is this… hmm?!’

It was at this moment that Jisub’s eyes widened.

The baseball that this big first-year middle school student held out had Jisub’s own signature on it.

‘KH Cannons Kim Jisub? Did I ever sign anything during my Cannons days? I don’t think I did much back then… Ah?!!’

A memory suddenly flashed through his mind.

Jisub was so surprised that he jumped up from his seat.

“Incheon International Airport? The little kid I met back then?!!”

The student, hearing Jisub’s shout, nodded his head with a bright expression.

* * *

When was that?

It must have been the day Jisub left KH Cannons for Major League Baseball in the United States.

At the time, the Cannons people came to Incheon International Airport to see Jisub off, and while he was saying goodbye to them, a child approached Jisub.

He must have been in the first grade of elementary school. The words that child said at the time remained vividly in Jisub’s memory.

-Sign, please sign!-

Yes, so far it was normal.

However, when asked whose signature he wanted, the boy replied like this.

-The person who knows baseball the best.

Even now, I think he might have said ‘the person who is good at baseball’ wrong, but at that time, the little boy insisted that it wasn’t like that.

Eventually, that appearance was captured by the Cannons players, and Jisub signed for the child almost as if he was being pushed.

[KH Cannons Kim Jisub]

Looking back, that was the first time in his life that he had signed for someone.

Except for when writing contracts, it was completely the first time he had done it for a baseball fan.

Thanks to that, the young child from that time, who remained in his memory, had now appeared before Jisub’s eyes.

“Ah, right! So much time has passed. That little kid is already…”

Surprising and amazing.

Jisub hugged the big student with a happy heart.

“Wow, what is this really? Do you remember what happened back then? Do you remember the uncle signing for you?”

“To be honest… I don’t remember very well.”

He certainly seemed to be this honest when we met before.

“But whenever the uncle came on TV, my mom said that I had met the uncle. That the uncle had signed for me himself.”

“Ah, so that’s why you brought this signed ball? To show it to me?”

“Yes, I brought it from Korea. I also wanted to get another signature.”

With that, student Woo Seongmin turned the signed ball around to show the empty space.

Jisub smiled broadly and took the signed ball.

“Of course! It’s not difficult! What’s so difficult about signing for you? Huh?”

Oh my, what is this.

What is this really.

Shaking his head, Jisub picked up the pen that was next to him.

Then, as if something suddenly came to mind, Jisub asked the student.

“Wait a minute, but you’re in the first year of middle school?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’ve graduated from Little League, haven’t you? I heard they usually play until the summer vacation of the first year of middle school.”

This was October.

It was around the time when students who played Little League moved to middle school baseball teams or junior baseball clubs.

Jisub, who had been tilting his head at first, soon made an ‘Ah’ sound as if he understood.

“Could it be that? Did you join this trip to the United States as a graduate? You would have been training together until the summer tournament.”

“Yes, that’s right. The coach called me an OB [Old Boy, a term for a graduate].”

“Haha, an OB…”

Jisub laughed for a moment at the sight of the old word being used as it was.

In the meantime, Jisub, who had finished signing, turned the ball around and asked again.

“So where do you play baseball now? Which middle school?”

What should I say, Jisub seemed to have a slight expectation at this time.

175cm in the first year of middle school—this was a build that went beyond the ordinary level.

If you add a little bit of athletic ability to this physique, you might grow into a great prospect.

That was the question I asked while thinking about that, but the reaction that came back was a little strange.

“Um, that, that is…”

“That is?”

The first-year middle school student, unable to give an answer, hesitated.

It was the Little League coach who spoke on his behalf.

“President, Seongmin actually… quit baseball at the end of last summer vacation. He went to a middle school without a baseball team.”

“Yes?”

Jisub blinked his eyes.

“No, a friend with such a good physique, who even won the national tournament… why?”