The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 225

Umpire Just Good at Hitting Home Runs – Episode 225

225. Victory (2)

In the top of the 3rd inning, Kim Kyung-ho from Masan sighed.

“Ah… it didn’t go over.”

He was startled and looked around, but his friend Lee Do-geun and his wife Park Young-ae, who came to watch the game with him, were just as disappointed. It was a relief.

Kim Kyung-ho had been a long-time Mariners fan, as was his friend Lee Do-geun. The reason was simple: “Because we were born in Masan.” To be more specific, their fathers were Mariners fans.

Long ago, the Mariners allocated some of their home games to Masan instead of Sajik for local fans. It was only about three or four games a year, but their fathers were enthusiastic about the Mariners games held at Masan Stadium.

His father was one of the Masan old-timers who, as legend has it, picked the lock with an oxygen welder to sneak into the stadium and overturned the grill after drinking samgyeopsal [Korean grilled pork belly] and soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] when the team lost. Lee Do-geun’s father was the same.

Of course, they were part of the M generation born in the 80s and were far removed from such barbaric culture. Soju at a baseball stadium in a generation with an 80% college enrollment rate? Unthinkable.

“Hey, what brand is this highball? It’s really good.”

Anyway, that’s how it was.

Even after the 21st century, they continued to support the Mariners. Honestly, they could tolerate the Mariners not playing well, even Lee Gyu-man’s antics, but what was harder to bear were the interviews of retired Mariners players.

“Ah, Masan? It’s a bit…”.

“Honestly, Busan is better. Masan is… ugh, don’t even get me started.”

Okay, I admit that the culture of our fathers’ generation was a bit uncivilized. But that was something to be reflected on and not continued in the current generation. It was not something that the players, who had received so much love from them at the time, could ridicule.

At least, that’s what Kim Kyung-ho and Lee Do-geun thought.

And in that moment, the Blaze was created in Masan.

Strictly speaking, it was Changwon, but it didn’t matter. What did it matter if it was Masan-Changwon-Jin or Changwon-Masan-Jin? The important thing was that a professional baseball team was created in the area where I lived.

Now it wasn’t just three or four games a year. There were 60 or 70 games a year. So they switched teams without hesitation. They even got to enjoy the joy of winning when their friends, who couldn’t switch teams because they had lingering feelings, were suffering.

That’s right. Kim Kyung-ho definitely didn’t regret abandoning the Busan Mariners, and he thought he probably never would.

So, this sigh full of regret had nothing to do with the Mariners. It was about his affection for that extraordinary monster named Choi Soo-won, who was swinging his bat like a madman.

‘Well, even if I hate the Mariners, it doesn’t mean I hate Yeom Sla [a legendary Mariners player].’

And the game went on.

Unlike Choi Soo-won, he still didn’t like that guy on the mound. He hadn’t liked him since the beginning of the season. He looked pale and weak, not manly at all.

“Oppa [Korean term for older brother used by females], who is that? Why does he look so different? Is he really a baseball player? Oh my, he’s so handsome!”

1 year and 4 months ago.

It wasn’t important that his ex-girlfriend, Mi-jin, had switched to being a Mariners fan just because of his face. They broke up not because their favorite teams were different, but just because of personality differences. Anyway, that’s how it was.

Baek Ha-min threw the ball.

His small body for a pitcher moved more dynamically than anyone else.

-Thwack!!

150.8km/h.

“Strike!”

Anyway, he didn’t like him.

***

“Strike! Out!”

Baek Ha-min struck out the Blaze batter. And Lee Gyu-man felt his heart beating very fast.

Tension? Anticipation?

-Slap!!

Lee Gyu-man slapped his cheek hard with his ungloved hand.

The Blaze coach next to him, Young-seok hyung [Korean term for older brother or close male friend], looked at him with a ‘what’s wrong with him?’ look. There was only a two-year age difference between Lee Gyu-man and him, but he had already retired eight years ago and had been coaching for seven years.

It wasn’t just Park Young-seok.

Even if not the first-team manager, there were second-team managers, coaches, commentators, school managers, etc. Many people who had played in the same era as Lee Gyu-man were now wearing coaching uniforms instead of player uniforms. The only contemporary who was still playing as a professional was Chae Gwang-min, who claimed to have competed with him for the top spot.

Chae Gwang-min and Lee Gyu-man, who were still playing, had something in common. They were among the greatest hitters in KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] history.

Lee Gyu-man didn’t admit it, but if you looked at his entire career, there were definitely times when Chae Gwang-min hit better than Lee Gyu-man. Not only in his debut season, but also in the last two or three years when his condition was slightly different, and even if you looked at their prime, Chae Gwang-min was slightly better than Lee Gyu-man for at least one season, or two seasons at best. And to say that he was a better hitter than Lee Gyu-man during his prime was the same as saying that he was the best hitter in the KBO.

As such, the two men who had competed for the title of the best hitter both had no championship rings. They had been leading the team as a franchise for over 20 years, but had never won a championship. Was it the team’s problem? Or was it their own problem?

-Thwack!!

“Strike!!!”

Lee Gyu-man’s heart pounded again.

He had always imagined it.

From a long time ago, so long ago that he couldn’t even remember when it started.

When he joined the Mariners as the 2nd overall pick in the 2nd round?

When he won the World Youth Baseball Championship?

When he won the High School MVP?

When he stayed at his middle school teacher’s house and devoted himself to baseball?

When he won the Mariners Elementary School Baseball Tournament?

Yes, maybe it was from the 20th century, not the 21st century. Although the specific shape was different, Lee Gyu-man of the Mariners, lifting the trophy, was always engraved in his head.

No, in fact, it wasn’t just Lee Gyu-man’s dream. Surely, for a baseball boy who grew up in Busan, making the Mariners win was like a dream that he should have.

So, the will of many baseball boys gathered.

The will of each person may have been small, but their combined will was so strong that it seemed like steel.

But time makes even real steel rust. You couldn’t blame people’s hearts for breaking and snapping in the face of so many failures and so many frustrations.

It had been 23 years since his debut.

It was a long time.

The baseball boys who dreamed of the Mariners winning had all disappeared, and all that was left was the former cleanup hitter who had lost most of his prime.

-Clang!!!

Someone hit the ball.

Lee Gyu-man wasn’t a first baseman from the beginning.

Originally, the guy who was good at baseball was good at it. When he was young, despite his large size, he had excellent athletic ability and was good at shortstop.

Yes, that’s how his body ‘was’.

The reaction was slow.

Lee Gyu-man hurriedly put his mitt in.

It was a large first baseman’s mitt that suited his large size.

[Jang Jae-hwan’s fast hit!! It breaks through between 1st and 2nd base!!]

[Ah, it was a pretty good ball on the outside, but he hits it incredibly well. The defense in the previous innings was also good. Jang Jae-hwan seems to be in very good condition today.]

[Okay, two outs and a runner on 1st. This is the Blaze’s first hit today.]

But the hit was faster.

Fortunately, Seo Kyung-joon ran out quickly and caught the ball, preventing it from becoming a double.

Baek Ha-min on the mound glanced at 1st base.

His face was hot.

When Lee Gyu-man decided to retire, it was Phoenix’s Chae Gwang-min who strongly dissuaded him. That bastard. He doesn’t know because he’s in good shape. Honestly, how can a forty-two-year-old have a batting average close to .300?

“Aren’t you going to regret it? You’ve worked your ass off and you don’t have a championship ring?”

“Bullshit. What, will a championship ring appear if I play a few more years?”

“You never know. But wouldn’t it be better to leave it as something you don’t know than something that definitely won’t happen?”

“That’s enough. Honestly, I’ve done enough. It’s starting to be a nuisance to play more.”

“Well, you’ve gotten old quickly. You’re not like you used to be. So hurry up and retire and go film some entertainment shows. Well, it’ll be nice to see my career be better than yours in about 10 years.”

“Bullshit.”

He was one of the few enemies he could have colorful conversations with even after the age of forty. Yes, maybe it was because Chae Gwang-min was also a baseball boy who had a pipe dream, even though they were on different teams, that this kind of conversation was possible.

But Lee Gyu-man himself was luckier than Chae Gwang-min.

National High School Tournament MVP.

World Youth Baseball Cup runner-up.

And 1st overall in the 1st round.

Someone who resembled Lee Gyu-man.

But a slightly different guy from Lee Gyu-man joined the Mariners.

Yes, maybe it was because he thought that he would be the next franchise to lead the Mariners after Lee Gyu-man himself.

Choi Soo-won himself may not know it, but Lee Gyu-man did his best for him.

In particular, he did his best to ensure that he was almost free from the unique and difficult school ties and personal connections of the Mariners, which Lee Gyu-man himself found most painful.

And Choi Soo-won blew up the league.

Maybe that was the image of himself that Lee Gyu-man had dreamed of for a long time. A superman on a white horse who solves everything with overwhelming skill, regardless of the situation, environment, or timing.

Baek Ha-min on the mound threw the ball.

A slide step conscious of 1st base.

A 148.4km/h fastball slightly missed the zone.

Ball count 1-0

The baseball boy born in the 20th century had always dreamed of winning.

Even now, 27 years into the 21st century.

And now that the victory he had dreamed of was fast approaching reality.

Lee Gyu-man asked himself.

‘Is this really the moment I’ve always dreamed of?’

Baek Ha-min on the mound threw a pickoff throw.

-Thwack!!

Safe.

No, maybe not.

In the moment of victory that Lee Gyu-man had dreamed of, he had never felt so miserable as he did now.

Second.

A slider that slightly misses to the outside.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!!”

Large drops of sweat ran down Baek Ha-min’s handsome face.

He was young.

Was he burning with a similar feeling to Choi Soo-won, as Chae Gwang-min had burned with a sense of competition within himself?

The superman on a white horse who appeared after 23 years was unfortunately not the future of the Mariners.

Even the moment that the baseball boy had dreamed of so much would just be a passing point for him.

Third.

A low outside fastball.

A slightly shaky control.

-Clang!!

The steel-like body had already disappeared.

The colleagues who had the same dream as him had also disappeared.

Maybe his will was also on the verge of breaking.

But the years that had passed twice and added 3 more years.

Nevertheless, it had not broken yet, so it would not be an exaggeration to call the will that was on the verge of breaking steel.

Lee Gyu-man moved his body with a will like steel.

[Between 1st and 2nd base!! A fast hit!! Lee Gyu-man catches it and throws it to 2nd base!!]

“Out!!”

[Saul Lopez!! Back to 1st base as it is!!]

“Out!!”

3-4-3 double play.

Baek Ha-min on the mound took off his sweat-soaked hat, shook his head, and smiled.

It was an unnecessarily cool picture.