A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 420

New Recruit of Baseball Team Is Too Good 420

92 Welcome to Sunshine City (4)

Around 10 a.m. the next day.

Brian Sphan, the general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, was entering the team’s headquarters with manager Mike Klemblas.

Klemblas, who had been on a fishing trip for the past few days, was returning to Tropicana Field that day.

“Hmm, I see.”

In the elevator heading to the general manager’s office, Klemblas frowned slightly.

“I couldn’t find any special charm in the showcase… That’s a bit disappointing. I had some expectations for Richard Stelmazeck.”

“Oh, really?”

The general manager raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t realize you were interested in him, Manager. Do you have some kind of special connection?”

“No, there’s no special connection. It’s just the burden I feel as the person in charge on the field.”

Klemblas smiled faintly.

“Last night, I came home and looked at the depth chart [a visual representation of the team’s players and their positions] on the wall, and I couldn’t help but sigh. Vincent Hiyama’s departure seems to have left a very large void.”

“Well, filling his void won’t be easy.”

“Yes, so from the perspective of our field staff, we feel like we’re missing even one outfielder. Especially in Richard’s case, he’s a player with a wealth of Major League experience.”

“Hmm, I understand what you mean.”

Click.

Brian Sphan pressed the button on the door leading to his office.

He waved lightly to the secretaries who had come to work early, and continued in a calm voice.

“Let’s have a cup of tea and talk slowly. We have to wait for the reports from the staff anyway.”

“Reports from the staff?”

The manager tilted his head.

“Sir, haven’t you already received the report from the baseball operations department? Are there more staff members left to report?”

“Yes, a recently promoted deputy general manager seems to have a special interest in Richard Stelmazeck.”

“Recently promoted? Ah… Kim?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The general manager nodded.

“The Future Strategy Planning Department also visited Steinbrenner Field [spring training home of the New York Yankees] yesterday. Kim is a very sharp guy, so I think we should listen to his report first… Hmm?”

It was at this moment that Brian Sphan’s eyes narrowed.

As he entered his office, he spotted a strange object.

Lying alone on the wide desk was a pink bird-shaped ornament crudely made of plastic.

“Isn’t that… a pink flamingo?”

Mike Klemblas, who was following behind, showed interest.

“Haha, why would you put something like that here? It doesn’t seem to suit you, sir.”

“No, it’s not mine. I don’t like flamingos in the first place. Especially not one that looks this stupid…”

While poking the flamingo’s beak with his finger, the general manager stretched his neck toward the secretaries.

“Hey, Barbie! The flamingo on my desk… Who put it there? I don’t remember ordering anything like this?”

“Ah, are you talking about that?”

The general manager’s secretary jumped up from her seat and replied.

“Kim from the Future Strategy Planning Department brought it about 10 minutes ago.”

“Kim?”

“Yes, he said it was instead of a report on yesterday’s trip to Steinbrenner Field.”

“A flamingo instead of a report?”

Heh, well.

It was at this moment that a bitter smile spread across the general manager’s face.

“It seems like that guy has brought another strange story.”

He shook his head.

“Barbie, can you make a call to Kim? Tell him to come up to my office right now.”

“Yes, I understand!”

While the secretary picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Future Strategy Planning Department, the general manager stared blankly at the flamingo on his desk.

“Anyway…”

He snorted.

“That’s one infuriating-looking flamingo.”

* * *

It was a rather ridiculous-looking flamingo ornament.

Even though the base said ‘Pink’ Flamingo, the fact that it was painted bright red was subtly irritating.

In addition, there was the slightly mismatched shape of the beak, and the eyes that were blatantly drawn unevenly.

As the general manager said, it was a flamingo that made you want to punch it.

Why did the Future Strategy Planning Department bring this flamingo ornament?

The answer that Jisub gave after receiving Brian Sphan’s call was as follows.

“It’s an item borrowed from a Tampa Tarpons fan who visited Steinbrenner Field yesterday.”

Jisub started by revealing the source.

“I judged that it was the item that best showed the baseball life of Major Leaguer Richard Stelmazeck, so I brought it here.”

“Richard Stelmazeck?!”

Before the general manager could react, manager Klemblas, who was sitting next to him, snapped his fingers.

“That’s right, now that I think about it, wasn’t that Richard’s nickname? Flamingo, I mean.”

“Oh, is that so?”

The general manager also showed interest.

“Yes, I vaguely remember. The reports of players who are first called up to the Major League always include their nicknames.”

“But why flamingo? Richard looks very agile, doesn’t he? He seems quite different from this stupid guy.”

At the general manager’s words, a faint smile spread across Jisub’s lips.

“Yes, that’s exactly the point.”

“Hmm?”

“That’s why I brought this flamingo ornament here.”

Jisub straightened the flamingo’s crooked head and continued.

“When Richard, who was in the rookie league, was first called up and joined the Single-A Tampa Tarpons [a minor league baseball team], he bought this flamingo ornament.”

“This one?”

“Yes.”

Jisub nodded.

“He was a first-round pick by the Yankees. He was a player who received a lot of attention at the time, as he does now. Of course, reporters from local media companies would have gathered, and those reporters would have…”

“Asked, right?”

Manager Klemblas said.

“What the heck is that flamingo in your hand?”

“Yes, and the answer that Richard Stelmazeck gave at that time was very impressive.”

Richard Stelmazeck, who was only 19 years old at the time, said with sparkling eyes.

-I brought it to show the Tampa Tarpons fans my determination.

-Tarpons fans! The flamingo you’ve been waiting for has arrived at Steinbrenner Field!

-I heard on the plane here… that the flamingo’s staple food is shrimp?

……Shrimp?

General Manager Brian Sphan tilted his head, but Manager Mike Klemblas suddenly started laughing.

“Haha, this is something… Richard, that guy, had an unexpectedly mischievous side?”

“Manager, don’t just laugh by yourself, tell me. Why is it funny that the flamingo’s staple food is shrimp?”

At the general manager’s question, Klemblas smiled and replied.

“Don’t you know, sir? The only team that can be called the Tampa Tarpons’ rival is the Clearwater Threshers [renamed from Clearwater Ocean Shrimp]. Isn’t their mascot a shrimp?”

“Clearwater Threshers? Wait a minute, then…”

A look of slight surprise flashed across Brian Sphan’s face.

“You’re saying he provoked the rival team from the first day he joined Single-A? A guy who was only 19 years old?”

“Yes, Richard, that guy… wasn’t lacking in guts.”

The situation that followed was something that didn’t need to be explained in detail.

The Threshers people were furious at the ambitious declaration of a fledgling who had just graduated from high school.

The players glared, saying, ‘I’ll show you the horror of the pros,’ and the fans gnashed their teeth, saying, ‘We have to crush his spirit from the start.’

Thanks to that, the stadium was packed every time the two teams played, and the cheers of the Threshers fans echoed throughout the ground, but-

Tak!

Taaaaak!

The 19-year-old ‘Flamingo’ of the Tampa Tarpons showed a godly level of hitting every time.

“Richard’s time with the Tampa Tarpons didn’t even last a full season, but the memory of that time seems to have been very strong.”

Jisub continued.

“Yesterday, dozens of Tarpons fans visited Steinbrenner Field. Only to cheer for Richard Stelmazeck.”

“It’s no wonder. If there was a player like that, I would have taken the time to visit him…”

Brian Sphan, the general manager, heard about Richard Stelmazeck’s glorious past.

After resting his chin on his hand and staring at the flamingo ornament for a while, he turned his gaze to Jisub.

“I understand what the Future Strategy Planning Department expects from Richard Stelmazeck.”

It was not difficult to guess.

“You mean that if Richard can recover his old form, it would be a great help to our Tampa Bay Rays.”

“That’s right.”

Jisub nodded.

“There are various types of players in the Major League, but there are not many players who can shake people’s hearts like Richard did in the past. Isn’t it too bad to just let go of a player like this?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

It was definitely a type that could be helpful.

A player who can stimulate the opponent’s nerves and elicit a strong reaction.

A player who can create more exciting game content and attract more spectators.

However, there was a point that General Manager Brian Sphan had to make.

“Kim, are you confident?”

He asked Jisub.

“It’s been a long time since Richard Stelmazeck played as a ‘Flamingo’. And as far as I know, the current Richard is very different from his past self.”

It was a story that Jisub had already seen and knew well.

According to people’s evaluations, he was close to ‘colorless’.

A released player who shows only mundane plays without any characteristics.

“Do you think it’s possible to return him to his former self? There’s already been a passage of time, can he find the ambitious appearance of his teens again?”

At the general manager’s point, manager Klemblas, who was sitting next to him, slowly nodded his head.

However, Jisub was instead straightening his back with a confident expression.

“I think it’s possible.”

Thud.

Jisub put his hand on the head of the ‘infuriating’ flamingo ornament.

“Didn’t I tell you? He’s a human being like a flamingo.”

“Another flamingo?”

A bitter smile spread across the general manager’s lips, but Jisub had a very serious expression.

“I also learned about it because of this ugly ornament… Sir, did you know?”

“What?”

“The flamingo’s colorful color comes from the food it eats.”

“Food? Shrimp?”