A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 422

The Super Rookie of the Baseball Team is Too Good 422

92 Welcome to Sunshine City (6)

Ji-seop was reminded of KH Cannons’ legend, Chun Jin-woo.

Why did he suddenly announce his retirement? And why did he leave the Cannons for America?

-I became some kind of standard.

He told Ji-seop.

-A catcher should be like this. They should make plays like this, show this kind of attitude… People were using me as an absolute standard to pressure the younger catchers.

‘Senior Chun Jin-woo would have checked the runner first in this situation.’

‘Senior Chun Jin-woo would have prioritized team batting at that moment.’

From the coaching staff and team employees to the local media and general fans.

He said he could no longer bear the sight of himself being used as an absolute standard to pressure young players.

-If I leave the team, won’t that atmosphere subside a little? Another veteran catcher might be brought in besides me…

Could KH Cannons erase Chun Jin-woo’s shadow?

Ji-seop couldn’t give a clear answer, but one thing seemed certain.

‘Even Senior Chun Jin-woo, who had been away from the team for a while as a free agent, had that much influence. Then…’

How much influence would Derek Jeter, who had reigned as a leader in one team, the prestigious New York Yankees, for over 20 years, have left behind?

What kind of presence would Derek Jeter remain for the Yankees’ coaching staff, front office, New York media, and fans?

‘And what standards would people apply to the promising player who is considered his successor?’

When his thoughts reached this point, Ji-seop felt as if his mind lit up.

He could easily guess how Richard Stellmjzek had spent the past 8 years.

He also understood why he had been in a prolonged slump and, furthermore, why he had lost his former flair and become an ordinary player.

Thanks to this, Ji-seop felt he could face Richard with a very calm expression.

“What… what is this?”

Ji-seop spoke calmly, gesturing to the scrapbook he’d tossed into the bonfire, watching Richard’s bewildered expression.

“Erase the memories of the Yankees completely? Did Uncle Jacob ask you to do that?”

Richard Stellmjzek looked genuinely shocked.

“What does this mean? Is this a farewell? Does it mean you can no longer pay attention to a player released from the Yankees? Is that it?!”

Richard hadn’t made a significant impact on the Yankees, but he was still treated like a superstar in Tampa Tapons [Tampa’s minor league team].

Even as everyone gave up on him, the Tampa Tapons fan club members still sent him unwavering trust and support.

Richard seemed unable to regain his composure at the thought that even they had abandoned him.

Watching him quietly, Ji-seop slowly opened his mouth.

“No, Richard. This doesn’t mean we’re abandoning you. Rather, you should see it as the opposite.”

It’s encouragement.

Ji-seop said firmly.

“Encouragement?”

“You could also call it advice. To you, who have been frantically chasing after the giant named Derek Jeter for a very long time… Yes, it’s a message from the Tapons fans to you.”

Swish.

Ji-seop raised his head.

“Richard, don’t you think it’s time to get out of that long shadow now?”

“Shadow?”

“That’s right. The very thing that has been weighing down your baseball career.”

Ji-seop’s eyes shone.

“Derek Jeter’s shadow, that is.”

* * *

Perhaps it was a natural reaction, but Richard Stellmjzek did not immediately accept Ji-seop’s suggestion.

“You’re saying incomprehensible things.”

He snorted.

“I was called Derek Jeter’s successor, so I can’t say I wasn’t influenced by him. But to say that it weighed down my baseball career, that’s ridiculous…”

He stroked his cleanly shaven chin and chuckled.

“Thanks to being evaluated as a player to succeed Derek Jeter, I got many opportunities. I was called up to the major leagues early, and the coaches gave me a lot of advice.”

That wasn’t all, he said.

“The reason I can enjoy camping leisurely now is also thanks to Derek Jeter. Many teams are sending me offers, highly valuing my efforts to resemble him… What shadow, and what nonsense about ruining my baseball career?”

“Oh, is that so?”

Ji-seop had expected this much rebuttal from the start.

He had been receiving reports about Richard’s current situation.

Thanks to this, Ji-seop was able to present a rebuttal without any agitation.

“Richard, then let me ask you just one thing.”

“What is it?”

“The you I remember was a shortstop who showed a very flashy style of defense. That style changed to a solid one… Is that also due to Derek Jeter’s influence?”

“You could say so? A shortstop’s mistake can affect the entire team’s atmosphere.”

Up to this point, Richard’s expression was still confident.

“So when you received instructions from the coaches to change your defensive style… You didn’t have any objections? You were happy as if a new path had opened up?”

“…Yes?”

“You thought you made a great play, but the coaches frowned and shook their heads. You’re saying that situation wasn’t so bad?”

Ji-seop was just guessing, but it seemed to hit the nail on the head.

A very slight wrinkle could be seen on Richard Stellmjzek’s clean forehead.

“How about this? The you I remember was a very playful player. You can tell just by the fact that your nickname is Flamingo.”

“Wh, what about that?”

“Sometimes you provoked the opponent, and sometimes you beat up the enraged opposing team… You, who liked that, suddenly changed to a very quiet style, didn’t you?”

Ji-seop narrowed his eyes.

“Keeping your mouth shut no matter what the opponent says, not celebrating much even with a great come-from-behind home run… That means you liked that kind of baseball? It was a change you wanted?”

“W, well, I can’t say it was exactly like that, but…”

Damn it.

It was at this moment that Richard Stellmjzek, who had been having a reasonably gentle conversation, jumped up from his seat.

“What are you trying to say!”

Clang.

A can kicked by his foot rolled next to the bonfire.

“Are you telling me to act like I used to? Are you saying I should go out to the game wearing a bright red wig like in the Tapons days?”

A bright red wig, huh.

Ji-seop chuckled inwardly, not knowing he had gone out to the game like that, but Richard seemed quite frustrated.

“Kim, was it? You’re a major league front office, so you know it well, don’t you?”

He raised his voice.

“Only superstars are allowed to act like that in the major leagues! Like Manny Ramirez used to, and Yasiel Puig did! If you’re good at baseball, you can get permission to do anything!”

“…”

“But I’m not a superstar. I’m an ordinary, or rather, a failed player. I’m someone who has never filled the required plate appearances.”

He glared fiercely.

“Why should I, who can barely find a team without Derek Jeter’s aura, to put it bluntly… Why should I do that? What for?”

Richard’s booming voice was quite intimidating, but Ji-seop, who was facing it, was very calm.

“Well, first of all, it’s for our Tampa Bay Rays. We’re looking for someone to scratch the Yankees’ nerves raw.”

“Wh, what?!”

Richard’s face was distorted with bewilderment, but Ji-seop didn’t care much.

“Secondly, it’s for your only supporters, the Tampa Tapons fans. They want to see you running around the field as you used to.”

“Ta, Tampa Tapons…”

His attitude softened a little when his old team was mentioned.

However, the most decisive answer Ji-seop had prepared was different.

“But the most important reason that precedes all of that… is Richard Stellmjzek, you.”

“Me?”

“You just defined yourself as a failed player, right? Yes, I agree. It’s a bit bitter to see the current reality of a first-round pick of the prestigious New York Yankees.”

At Ji-seop’s glib remark, Richard seemed to be seething inside.

He wouldn’t have expected to be told bluntly that he was a ‘failed player.’ But he couldn’t argue because of what he had said.

“And I’m also… someone who knows the hearts of failed players like a ghost.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I know. How much you’ve thought about it all this time. And how much you’ve regretted it.”

He didn’t need to look at anyone else.

Ji-seop himself was also a failed player, so he knew better than anyone.

“You must have thought about it dozens, no, hundreds of times, right? Where did my baseball career go wrong? Where did I make the wrong choice?”

“…”

“And if my prediction is correct… Richard, you probably couldn’t help but think of Derek Jeter.”

What if he hadn’t been evaluated as Derek Jeter’s successor?

What if he hadn’t based everything on Derek Jeter?

What kind of player would he be now if he had pushed his baseball as it was?

“Most people can only stop at thinking. Of course. The baseball world in any country doesn’t give many opportunities.”

It was probably around this time that Ji-seop started rummaging through his bag and packing something.

“In that respect, you’re lucky. I came to find you like this, didn’t I? To tell you to put into practice what you’ve only been thinking about. To have you fully unfold your baseball once.”

“My… baseball?”

To the hesitant Richard, Ji-seop handed over the object he had been fiddling with.

“It’s a new scrapbook.”

Ji-seop said.

“As you can see, the articles from the Tampa Tapons days have been moved here. The rest is empty.”

Please think about it.

Ji-seop continued, handing the scrapbook to Richard.

“What kind of articles did you want to be published after this? What kind of baseball player did you want to be?”

* * *

About an hour later.

Richard Stellmjzek was carrying his camping gear and entering his hometown home.

Richard’s father approached, tilting his head at Richard, who was laying out tents, braziers, and sausages that he hadn’t had time to grill.

“Richard?”

The father blinked.

“Why are you back already? You said you were going to spend tonight by the lake.”

“Yeah, well, things happened…”

As Richard trailed off, a worried expression crossed his father’s face.

“Well, good job. There are days when you don’t feel like it. Have you eaten? Should I make you something?”

“No. I’m not really hungry… Huh?!”

It was at this moment that Richard, who had been lightly waving his hand, suddenly widened his eyes.

Next to the sofa in the living room of his hometown home, a large frame was leaning diagonally.

It was a photo frame of Richard Stellmjzek. More precisely, a photo frame taken with Derek Jeter.

“No, Father!”

Richard rushed over and picked up the frame in question.

“Why did you take this down? You always said you would leave it as a family heirloom…”

“Heirloom, my foot.”

The father chuckled.

“Isn’t the relationship with the Yankees over now? A team that released my son and the legend of that team… Why would I hang it on the wall because it’s pretty?”

“Hey, that’s not true. Can you call Derek Jeter a legend of the Yankees alone? He’s a legend of the entire major league.”

Just the fact that he shook hands with such a player. The fact that he took a friendly commemorative photo.

Richard still thought that fact alone was valuable.

“Even if you throw away other photos, please leave this one up. You usually brag about it here and there… Huh?!”

Richard Stellmjzek, carrying a large frame and striding to the place where it used to be.

The next moment, he stopped as if nailed to the spot.

In the very place where the commemorative photo with Derek Jeter was hanging, a photo he had never expected was hanging.

“Father, this is…”

It was a photo of Richard Stellmjzek from his Tampa Tapons days.

To be exact, it must have been shortly after joining the Tapons.

The very day he dragged all the aggro [drew all the attention/antagonized everyone] by calling himself a flamingo, then gave the enraged opposing team 4 hits, 2 home runs, and 7 RBIs [Runs Batted In].

It was the scene of him wearing a bright red wig and raising his middle finger to the opposing team.

“Hehe, isn’t it amazing?”

To his son, who was staring at the photo with a blank expression, the father said in a pleased voice.

“When you think about it, Tapons is also a minor league team under the Yankees… I was honestly worried, but your expression looked so good.”

“No, you say this is good? I’m raising my middle finger?”

“Of course! Isn’t it the best? Isn’t it an expression that has nothing to fear! It’s the face of a guy who plays baseball the best in the world!”

An expression that has nothing to fear.

The face of a guy who plays baseball the best in the world.

Richard Stellmjzek, who heard his father’s evaluation, began to look at the photo with a blank expression.

“I… was like this.”

It was a look he had forgotten for a while.

No, it was a look that had disappeared into the depths of his memory for quite a long time.

A time when he played baseball without any fear.

A time when he ran around the field like crazy to make the name ‘Richard’ known to everyone in the world.

“…”

And Richard could feel it.

The fact that his heart had begun to beat a little faster at some point.

Thump, thump, thump.

His heart must have been beating all along.

Even when he was wearing a Yankees uniform, even when he was following Derek Jeter, until he was eventually notified of his release from the Yankees.

But what was this unfamiliar sound? What on earth was this sound that he seemed to have forgotten for a very long time?

“…”

Richard Stellmjzek, who had been silently looking at his photo, was already slowly putting down the frame.

Almost simultaneously with putting the commemorative photo taken with the Yankees legend on the floor, the one word he uttered while turning to his father.

“Father.”

“Hmm?”

“I think my team to play for next season has been decided.”

“Oh, is that so? Your agent called a little while ago anyway.”

So, where is it?

The father asked.

“Is it Mariners after all? Seattle is a bit of a cold place, but… Well, the general manager stepped up himself, so.”

“No, it’s not there.”

In a slightly dazed voice.

And in a slightly very excited voice.

Richard Stellmjzek, no, a man who had returned to being a full-fledged ‘Flamingo,’ was saying this.

“It’s Tampa Bay Rays.”