The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 229

229. After the Championship (2)

Imagine a batter who hits a home run every other game. That’s 72 home runs in a 144-game season, or 81 in a 162-game season. This pace of one home run every two games is, frankly, absurd.

Yet, surprisingly, some people couldn’t hide their disappointment even with such an incredible performance. Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan, who had been following Choi Soo-won’s recent games, was one of them.

“Ah… what a shame…”

As always, Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan, having secured his spot on the warmest toilet seat in the furthest right stall upon arriving at work, voiced his disappointment while browsing the internet news.

[Choi Soo-won’s Disappointing Performance Against the Hawks: 4 At-Bats, 2 Hits, 0 Home Runs]

The article, of course, contained information he already knew. Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan had watched the game live and replayed Choi Soo-won’s highlights multiple times.

Moreover, he had engaged in fierce keyboard battles late into the night, passionately defending Choi Soo-won’s home run chase. The level of his engagement was so intense that the reporter who wrote the article might have gleaned some insights from those online skirmishes.

“Yeah, sure, 2 home runs in 4 games is great. 66 home runs is, what? Tied for 3rd all-time. Honestly, with four games left, he could take sole possession of 3rd. And if he really goes off, he could even aim for 2nd. But after seeing those back-to-back multi-home run games with 10 games left and only 13 home runs away from the record… isn’t it normal to expect more?”

When there were 10 games remaining and he had 60 home runs, Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan hadn’t dared to mention the world record. That would have been crazy, even for Choi Soo-won’s biggest fan. He kept those thoughts to himself.

But the moment he saw the gap narrow to 11 with 9 games left, and then to 9 with 8 games left, Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan’s fingers inevitably started calculating ‘Soo-woo’s Math’.

His hitting had improved so dramatically, with multi-home runs in two consecutive games. If he just hit one home run in each of the remaining games and then had one more multi-home run game, wouldn’t that be 73? And if he could maintain this crazy pace for just three or four more games, 73 wouldn’t seem so impossible.

Yes, it certainly seemed that way.

But now there are only four games left.

And a whopping seven home runs are needed to break the record.

Even Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan knows it now.

That this is going to be difficult.

And the fact that even someone like Mr. Oh Gyu-hwan, whose hope circuit had burned so brightly it turned to ashes, feels this way, is practically the same as saying almost no one believes it’s possible anymore.

Anyone with a rational mind would probably avoid bringing up the home run record at this point.

Yes, if they had a rational mind.

“Huh??”

[Alexander McDowell: ‘Home Run Record? If it’s Swan, he’s definitely capable. Why? Because he’s my rival.’]

***

“Hahaha, I guess the life of a superstar is inevitable. I just left a light comment on Twitter, but I didn’t expect it to be reported in real-time by Korean media across the Pacific.”

“Alex, don’t tell me the important thing you had to say was that your tweet was on the main page of a Korean portal site?”

“No, that’s not it… We’re out.”

“Wild card?”

“Yeah, well, what can you do? This genius is out for the season, so there’s nothing we can do. It’s a shame, but it looks like the MVP award is out of the question this season. I’ll just have to accept the Rookie of the Year award.”

“That’s too bad.”

Alex smiled on the screen.

“But one thing is fortunate.”

“What is it?”

“I think I’ll be able to come see your postseason games, even though the regular season is a bit much. It would have been impossible if we had advanced to the postseason.”

“Your team didn’t make it to the playoffs, so aren’t you going to catch some flak for going to see baseball in another country? Why don’t you just rest at home and take care of yourself?”

“Flak? Who dares? Honestly, if I didn’t make it to the playoffs after doing this much, it’s the team’s fault. How could it be my fault? Besides, the fans will be welcoming enough. This year’s Rookie of the Year is going to greet next year’s Rookie of the Year.”

“Oh… Um… Okay, then have a safe trip to Korea. Let’s talk later.”

“Swan.”

“What?”

“Make sure you break the record. Take on the burden for my share, too.”

“Hey, wait a minute. Why is your share suddenly being added to my home runs?”

“I missed 15 games. I’ll give you the energy for that many games, so hit that many more. Then 73 home runs will be easy, right? Honestly, you have to do that much to be my rival.”

There was no context or logic. It’s questionable whether this should even be called encouragement. But I know what it’s like to miss the end of the season due to injury. It really stings.

Even in Alex’s case, although it was difficult, the possibility of winning the MVP wasn’t completely zero. Also, while he could aim for the MVP next time, this year was his first and last chance to win both the Rookie of the Year and the MVP simultaneously.

That may be a pipe dream for some, but for a guy who casually says he’s aiming for the Hall of Fame, not just an MVP-level player, it must be a truly heartbreaking situation.

This was clearly Alexander McDowell’s own way of cheering me on.

“Okay.”

***

How can American public opinion affect Korea?

It’s the 21st century, where you can read American public opinion in real-time, and translation isn’t that difficult. Of course, Korean public opinion isn’t easily swayed by trivial stories unfolding in the United States. But what if that story is about ‘Korea’?

Alexander McDowell was a very promising player competing for the MVP.

The fact that he wasn’t a Yankee was a shame, but he was a baseball player based in New York, one of the cities with the highest baseball popularity in the world, so his popularity was by no means small.

In fact, the number of his SNS [Social Networking Service] followers had already easily exceeded 2 million, most of whom were Americans, and considering the characteristics of baseball, its ripple effect was even greater than that number.

And he discussed ‘that record’.

Moreover, the MLB [Major League Baseball] season is also coming to an end.

Now, most of the top teams in the league have been decided, and they are fighting for the remaining wild card spots. The fans of the teams competing for the wild card are still nervous, but many fans are looking for new topics.

Thanks to this, even on a fairly famous baseball-related TV show, they even talked about Choi Soo-won, albeit in a short 5-minute segment.

“I don’t think it makes sense for us to be talking about this topic in the first place. I mean, it’s not even Major League Baseball. It’s not even Japan, but they’re making a fuss about someone hitting a few home runs in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization]. Come on. Isn’t that a AA-level league?”

“So, if Alexander McDowell played a full season in the AA league, how many home runs do you think he would hit?”

“Well, that depends on the case. And if that Swan guy was really that great, he should have come straight to the big leagues. Don’t you think?”

“Well, that’s because there was no reason to. I’m talking about the fundamental problem with the rules related to international prospects…”

Of course, the discussion didn’t only flow in a positive direction. But the important thing is that American baseball fans were starting to take a considerable interest in a certain player across the Pacific at the end of the season.

“Swan is coming to the big leagues next year, right?”

“Yeah, according to Alexander McDowell’s recent tweets, it looks like he’s coming to the Mets?”

“Hey, that guy’s exaggerating, you can’t trust him. And considering the Mets’ payroll right now, isn’t that impossible?”

“I read an article by Jake that said it’s an international prospect contract, so it’s not free agency, and he’ll be on the minimum salary for three years? There’s no burden on luxury taxes either. He said it’s unconditionally profitable to bring him in. Then can’t they spend some of the contract money even if they have to pay a penalty?”

“I heard that it’s fundamentally prohibited since the hard cap was changed a while ago. Anyway, I heard that the news of international prospect contracts has been slow since August because of that Swan guy?”

“Oh, really?”

“Well, the teams that know about it have been aiming for it since before this story came out.”

Considering that Americans are very indifferent to things outside of the United States, and that baseball fans, unless they are hardcore fans, often don’t know anything about players outside of their favorite team or the league to which that team belongs unless they are All-Star-level players, it was a very big deal that these conversations were taking place.

And in the midst of that topic, Soo-won recorded another multi-home run, fueling the hope of those who supported him.

“See!! What did I tell you? I said Choi Soo-won could do it, right?”

“Hey, no matter what, there are only 3 games left, and he still has to hit 5 more home runs.”

“Choi Soo-won has had three 3-home run games this season. Don’t you know he also had a 4-home run game?”

“Oh, I know. But it’s also true that he didn’t hit a single home run in more than half of the games. Besides, two of the remaining three games are at Jamsil Stadium [a baseball stadium in Seoul]. Is that realistically possible?”

“Oh, Choi Soo-won has had 3 multi-home run games at Jamsil.”

142nd game.

Out to the outfield in the first at-bat.

And the second.

-Boom!!

[7th pitch!! Ball!! It’s a ball. Choi Soo-won walks to first base.]

-Wooooooo!!!!

A tremendous amount of booing poured out. Even though the Jaguars, the Marlins’ opponent today, are in a very fierce battle for 5th place, so they had to win today’s game.

And the third at-bat.

-Clang!!!

Center-right.

A double that barely hit the fence.

[Ah…]

“Wow, Kim Jamsil is making a great play again here.”

“No, this unnecessarily wide fence needs to be pulled forward. That’s why Korean baseball can’t develop.”

“I agree that Korean baseball has regressed by 3 years just because Kim Jamsil blocked Choi Soo-won’s 69th home run.”

And the fact that the men who were having this conversation were wearing the jersey of Park Dong-seok, the pride of the Jaguars, shows how much interest and support KBO fans have for Choi Soo-won’s home runs.

[Choi Soo-won’s Disappointing Performance: 4 At-Bats, 1 Hit, 1 Walk. Only Two Games Left!!]

[Marlins vs. Jaguars: 24.7%!! Breaking the Highest Viewership Rating in 21st Century Professional Baseball History!!]

Despite being a weekday evening game, it had an overwhelming viewership rating that far exceeded twice the highest viewership rating in professional baseball regular season history. This was a truly absurd figure considering that the medium of TV is losing much of its power.

And October 2nd.

Marlins and Elitz’s 143rd game of the season.

Top of the 1st inning.

1st batter, Choi Soo-won.

-Clang!!!

He finally created his 69th home run of the season from the first at-bat, removing Kim Jamsil’s close defense that had been blocking him so fiercely until yesterday. Of course, even so, the number 73 was still terribly unrealistic.

But was it because most of the things Choi Soo-won had shown throughout this season were terribly unrealistic? The eyes of the people watching him go around the ground and step on home plate were filled with the expectation that ‘maybe that guy can do it’.