The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 292

292. Look Over There (1)

Whoa, a curse word almost slipped out; I was that flustered.

“You were so guarded. See? What did I tell you? I said she was pretty, right? Se-jeong. Su-won must have been taken aback by your beauty, too.”

“Oh, unni [older sister or female friend]. Don’t keep saying that. Honestly, you’re much prettier.”

“Don’t say that to others when you go out. I take it as a compliment because it’s me, but ordinary people will hear it as an insult coming from someone who looks like you, not a compliment.”

“Hehe, that’s why I only say it to you, unni.”

To others, it might look like a heartwarming scene, with a prettier girl next to a pretty girl. But to me…

“Anyway, sorry for interrupting your call. I’m just a big fan. Tomorrow—no, is it today? Anyway, I’ll be cheering for you in the next game!”

“Yes, thank you for your support.”

“Oppa [term used by a younger female to address an older male], I’m two years younger than you. Feel free to speak casually.”

“Ah… Yes.”

“Anyway, I, the nuisance, will leave now!”

My ex-wife disappeared from the screen with an awkward salute.

A shocking appearance and a quick exit.

“Why do you have that dazed look on your face? Is she exactly your type?”

“No, absolutely not. Never. Ever.”

“What? They say strong denial is strong affirmation. Are you serious?”

“No, never. I guarantee that even if I’m reborn ten times, there will never be that side you’re imagining. If the Earth is on the verge of destruction and only she and I are left—if she and I become the Adam and Eve of the new world—that would be the end of humanity.”

Park Eun-jin chuckled at my bold assertion.

“Why are you being so desperate about it? But it wasn’t bad. Try to have the sincerity to keep lying like that in the future.”

“I’m telling you it’s not a lie. Anyway, that’s not the important thing right now. How did she suddenly join your team? Aren’t you guys a pretty well-established girl group? How can a new member be added after just one year?”

“Ah… that? Didn’t I tell you once before? That’s…”

A grand story about the idol market flowed from Park Eun-jin’s mouth. Listening to the story, I realized why I had only half-listened in the past. It was content that I had no interest in.

“So, you’re saying that being an idol is a very capital-intensive industry, and small and medium-sized companies don’t really have the capacity to produce proper idols. Is that what you’re saying? But your company is small to medium-sized, right? How did you debut?”

“Well, it’s a miracle of small and medium-sized companies that sometimes happens. But to be honest, we didn’t become popular enough to be called a miracle. And it’s a bit ambiguous to say that we’re completely small to medium-sized… You know? None of the members in our team started as trainees in our company from the beginning.”

It costs a lot of money to train idols.

So, Eun-jin’s company president came up with this idea.

‘Honestly, there’s only a hair’s breadth difference between the kids who debut as idols and the kids who end up as trainees. So, if we gather only those kids who are a hair’s breadth away and supplement them appropriately and debut them, can’t we debut at a low cost? If we gather only trainees from large companies, this seems possible, right?’

Thanks to the idol market growing so much and the government watching the market with interest, exploitation of trainees and penalty clauses like in the past have been largely resolved. In addition, Eun-jin’s company president was quite good at managing things, so he gathered the kids really smoothly without any issues with existing companies.

“Then this time, a bomb went off.”

“A bomb?”

“Hye-ji, the main vocalist in our team. I don’t know why she couldn’t debut at her previous company and was rejected.”

“Uh.”

“School violence [bullying].”

“School violence?”

“Yeah, she says it wasn’t really school violence. And there’s nothing written on her student record. There’s nothing on paper. But when the president used his connections to find out, he found out that she was one of the leaders of bullying.”

Ah, really.

Why does this school violence keep popping up whenever something happens? Is there a gene embedded in them that makes them unable to resist bullying kids? If they’re even preparing to be idols, shouldn’t they be careful about their behavior?

“Fortunately for us, it didn’t go to the media. Anyway, the president had a really hard time because of that. Hye-ji cried and said that the friends she hung out with when she was young did that. Just because of one mistake. Isn’t it too harsh to do this? But the president said this.”

-Ahem.

Suddenly, Eun-jin cleared her throat and imitated someone’s words in an uncharacteristic, thick voice.

“Just one mistake. Okay, let’s say that’s the case. But originally, people in the world live with their lives changing drastically with just one mistake. People who fail an exam because they marked one question wrong. People who are late for an interview because they missed the bus because they forgot to bring their cell phone when they left home. People who can’t go on their honeymoon because they misspelled their name when booking their honeymoon plane tickets and are nagged by their wives for the rest of their lives. Everyone just lives like that with just one real mistake. So, it’s not that special for you to live like that with that one mistake.”

I think there’s one example that’s strangely weird in the middle, but is it just my imagination?

“Anyway, Hye-ji dropped out, and the big problem was that the song had already come out and the choreography was finished. I’d say we can somehow modify the choreography. The problem is that our song is honestly a bit dependent on Hye-ji’s skills. The chorus goes up to G#5, and when we lower it, the song completely dies.”

“So, that’s why Se-jeong joined.”

I know from experience that Se-jeong’s high notes definitely go up smoothly.

“But was she originally affiliated with your company?”

“Not really. There’s Hee-jin in our team. Her younger sister goes to arts high school. She’s in the same class there.”

Even though it’s the butterfly effect. What is this…

“She originally wanted to go into musicals. Well, in some ways, it’s good for her. If she becomes popular here, it’ll be easier to target musicals anyway.”

“I see…”

***

“Team Leader. Choi Su-won surpassed ‘it’.”

“Yesterday?”

“Yes.”

Looking at the history of the Yankees, there were many players who were truly worthy of the expression ‘stellar.’ Was that why? Among the uniforms sold in the Yankee Stadium store, a significant number were players who had already retired and had their faces engraved on bronze plates, not current players.

And the most popular among them was, of course, No. 2 Derek Jeter. Derek Jeter, who retired in 2014, was pushed to second place in uniform sales after Aaron Judge won Rookie of the Year in 2017, and to this day, only seven current players have ever surpassed Derek Jeter’s annual sales.

“If he gets a hit today, he’ll tie Ted Williams’ record, right?”

“Yes.”

“Put the merchandise a little more to the front, and what about the bobbleheads?”

“The first revised design is scheduled to come out in the afternoon.”

“Okay. If possible, let’s get the merchandise on the shelves by the next series, or at the latest, the series after that.”

In that sense, Choi Su-won’s existence, who surpassed Derek Jeter’s jersey sales in just ten days since his debut, although it’s still early, was enough to excite them.

“Oh, and about menu development.”

“Menu? Weren’t we going to do baguette hot dogs?”

“No, Utah Cupbop sent us a proposal.”

“Utah Cupbop? Why there?”

“It’s a local Korean food.”

“Ah!! That was a local Korean food? Hmm… The story isn’t bad. Let’s review the proposal first.”

According to statistics, the average amount spent by a family of four visiting an MLB stadium is about $250. The average ticket price is about $30, which means that they spend almost $130 at the stadium, excluding tickets.

“How should we proceed with the event?”

“Request cooperation from Choi Su-won and hold an autograph ball or autograph bat event as a menu launch event. Oh, it would be nice to mold the cup used for the cupbop into the shape of Yankee Stadium, like we did with the ice cream before, as a limited edition.”

“Okay.”

And all of that revenue is, of course, partially attributed to the player by applying comprehensive publicity rights. But what’s more important to the player than the income from selling those goods is the objective evidence of their popularity, which is indicated by the sales volume.

The third game of the series between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays.

The game began.

***

[The third game of the series between the Yankees and the Blue Jays. Gerrit Cole is on the mound for the Yankees.]

[Gerrit Cole showed a very good performance in the last game against Washington, allowing only one run in seven innings. Can we expect a good performance in today’s game as well?]

[Yes, in fact, the Yankees bullpen was slightly overloaded because Domingo Rodriguez collapsed yesterday. If Gerrit Cole can pitch seven innings or more like in the previous game today, it could be the best-case scenario for the Yankees.]

If you were to ask me if Gerrit Cole is a good leader, I can definitely say no. And if you were to ask me if he’s a good pitcher, I can also definitely say yes.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Throughout the 2020s, there was no pitcher who could be considered clearly superior to him.

Since the era of Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander in the 2010s.

No pitcher has dominated the league for as long as they did. But Gerrit Cole was clearly the closest man to it, and his pitching today clearly proved why he is a pitcher who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame with 10 votes in the distant future.

Some say that it’s not a big deal to get 10 votes if you’re not going into the Hall of Fame. But this is objectively a big deal. In the first place, being a Hall of Fame candidate means that you’ve left a mark on the league for more than 10 years. And even most of those players are eliminated in the first turn. Getting more than 5% of the vote there for 10 years is never easy. Even his 10th-year voting rate is close to 50%. At least half of the BBWAAA [Baseball Writers’ Association of America] voters judged him to be a player worthy of the Hall of Fame.

-Bang!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

[Gerrit Cole!! Gerrit Cole strikes out Toronto’s offense with three batters in the top of the first inning.]

[Gerrit Cole’s slider is very good today. The batters are swinging their bats almost helplessly.]

Today’s starter for Toronto is 24-year-old young gun Jerry McGuire, who throws up to 104 miles.

He was a player with a slightly unstable command, but the speed of 104 miles was powerful enough to compensate for the unstable command.

-Clack!!

The first pitch was 99.7 miles.

Volpe’s batted ball went out of the foul line.

Continuing the match.

On the third pitch.

Volpe hit a slider that came in a little blandly, but the result was still a foul. The slider speed was a whopping 94.4 miles. A 151 km/h slider. That’s a ridiculous speed.

-Bang!!!

On the 7th pitch.

The umpire’s hand did not go up at a 2-3 full count.

[Walk!! Lead batter Anthony Volpe gets a walk in the bottom of the first inning.]

[A very good start. And now, Choi Su-won, the second batter, comes to the plate. Choi Su-won has recorded a hit in every game he has played since his debut game!! Choi Su-won is challenging for a nine-game hitting streak today.]