The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 353

353. G.O.A.T (1)

“Soo-won, are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m alright, I guess. You know how it is in baseball, some days are good, some days aren’t.”

Eun-jin’s voice was full of worry.

Well… to be honest, I wasn’t feeling great. Sure, the game’s result is what it is, but having someone—especially a woman I like—constantly worrying about me like this kind of bruises my ego as a man.

I remember I used to get really angry when I heard things like this around this time in my career. No, to be honest, even without hearing these things, I think I got angry a lot on days when my performance was bad.

But having lived like that until I was 34, I know better now.

How precious it is to have someone who genuinely worries about me like this. And that the only place where a person can truly be themselves, without reservation, is on the mound.

“If you’re so worried, why don’t you fly over to America? I think I’d feel a lot better if I got some comfort in person.”

“What is this? Who am I talking to right now?”

“Who else? Your loving boyfriend.”

“No way. My Soo-won would never say such cheesy, sweet things that would make his tongue rot, even if the sky fell apart.”

“Why? Do you hate it? Should I stop?”

“No, it’s not that I hate it at all… Anyway!! I’ll try to adjust my schedule as much as possible. Maybe I can come before the season ends if things go well?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, around the last game of the season? Anyway, the office knows very well that going to see your game and getting pictures taken is more effective than most schedules.”

“Oh? Park Eun-jin. What? You don’t really want to see me. You want to use seeing me as an excuse to do business?”

“No, I want to satisfy my personal desires to see you under the guise of doing business.”

As we exchanged embarrassing and ticklish words, a slight smile crept onto my face without me even realizing it. The result of today’s game came back to my mind, but strangely, I felt a little better than before the call. It definitely feels better to have these idle conversations than to receive direct comfort.

“Anyway, sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is a day off, right?”

“Huh? No. I think I’ll just be starting tomorrow.”

“Ah…”

“Hey, it’s not because I didn’t pitch well today. It’s just because it’s the end of the season, and we’re going for the most wins record. That’s why I’m doing it, okay?”

“Oh my, of course. Of course. Who is our Soo-won? Of course, he’s doing it for the team. Of course!!”

“Hey, Park Eun-jin. Fly to America right now.”

“Oh my, our Soo-won. Does this girlfriend miss him that much?”

“Yeah, I miss you a lot in every way. Fly over here right now.”

Romance.

Anyway, so far, it hasn’t been bad at all. Enough to forget today’s shock for a moment.

[Choi Soo-won Suffers Shocking 2.1 Innings, 7 Runs Loss!!]

[Is it due to fatigue accumulated from an excessive schedule? Red light on Choi Soo-won’s innings pitched?]

[Aaron Jordan (Mets Manager): “Simultaneously fulfilling innings pitched and at-bats for a twenty-year-old player? If this isn’t crazy overwork, then what is?”]

[Choi Soo-won Continues On-Base Streak Despite Poor Performance of 2.1 Innings, 7 Runs!! Only five games left until all games on-base!!]

[Manager Jeff Clark. Worst Timing for Substitution!!]

[Starting as a designated hitter the day after the worst start? Choi Soo-won. Is this okay?]

[Choi Soo-won: “It was a disappointing result, but the team’s atmosphere is still good. We are having a great season, and I am very proud to be one of them.”]

Yes, yesterday’s game. I gave up a whopping 7 runs in 2.1 innings.

It was the worst game I’ve pitched this season.

Well, there were many reasons. My condition wasn’t very good, and maybe that’s why my velocity was okay, but the ball didn’t have its usual late movement. Besides, my curveball control wasn’t working at all.

Ah, of course, I know.

It’s all an excuse. I only think about these reasons after getting hit hard. At the time, I didn’t think much about it. Even when I got hit with a home run, I thought I could stop it if I just pitched a little better. Why are they taking me down?

“Soo-won.”

“Yes.”

“No matter what happens, you’re starting in our last game of the season.”

2.2 innings until the required innings.

So, I would have met the 2.2 innings requirement if I had pitched just 5 innings in yesterday’s game.

Manager Jeff declared to me once again that he would keep the promise he made with me: ‘I will somehow ensure you reach the required innings.’

***

-Clang!!!

Top of the 3rd inning, one out, bases loaded.

The curveball Choi Soo-won threw hung weakly in the zone, and the moment that ball sailed over the fence, Rob Manfred [the Commissioner of Major League Baseball] blurted out a word starting with F without even realizing it.

It was a nightmare.

The popularity of sports in modern society is not just measured by viewership ratings as it used to be, but online traffic is just as telling. The number of mentions on social media, search volume, even the number of visitors to MLB.com and the number of people voting in the All-Star Game. The recent growth of Major League Baseball has been clear to see.

And at its foundation is Choi Soo-won, a once-in-a-generation genius. And the performances of young guns who, although not up to his level, at least seem better than Choi Soo-won in one or two aspects. Above all, the New York Yankees, the most popular team, had a lineup reminiscent of the evil empire era of the past, or perhaps even more overwhelming than that.

With only six games left until the end of the season.

Choi Soo-won fulfilled the required innings and at-bats in his debut season, renewing various hitting statistics. He also performed more than decently as a pitcher. At this rate, he might reach somewhere between Babe Ruth’s records in 1920, 21, and 23, which no one has ever reached since the live-ball era.

Legend.

Yes, this is literally the realm of legend.

Of course, every legendary hero’s narrative has a crisis, and the hero provides catharsis by overcoming that crisis. But reality is not a heroic narrative, and modern people don’t necessarily want the stress that crisis brings. Modern heroes just need to win smoothly without crisis, and that’s enough.

What can I do?

Rob Manfred, the commissioner of the MLB, who usually should have played the role of the final mastermind in a typical heroic narrative, fiercely pondered what he could do in this story where he faced a crisis at the last moment.

But unfortunately, there was nothing he could do. Just as Barry Bonds could have remained the greatest hero if he had walked that path with his own strength, not drugs, Choi Soo-won, too, could only have his glory remain complete when he achieved it with his own strength.

So, all Rob Manfred can do now is buy one more Choi Soo-won jersey from MLB.com as Rob Manfred, a fan of the Yankees, not Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball.

***

Sometimes when I watch movies or cartoons, I hear people say, ‘Hey, there’s no plausibility.’ But what’s funny about this is that the things I usually saw as ‘stories with no plausibility’ were more often stories based on real events than stories based on people’s imaginations.

In that sense, I think my story this season should definitely have an asterisk in front of it and say, ‘This story is based on a true story’ if it is ever made into a movie or drama or animation. Whatever it is.

Last game of the season.

Our American League’s first place win has been decided for a long time. Of course, we already had the championship celebration party. But Yankee Stadium is full of people. Not just full, packed.

If I look up and scan the seats behind the catcher, there are many faces I recognize. Ah, of course, they know me too, but that doesn’t mean they know each other personally.

They are people who only know each other’s faces through news, internet articles, movies, and dramas.

Various sports stars, famous actors and singers, famous businesspeople, politicians, or just people who are famous for being rich.

170,000 dollars.

That’s about 230 million won in Korean currency. It’s the amount someone paid to sit in that seat today. I heard it was the most expensive price among all baseball game tickets ever.

It’s not just the price of one seat.

Tickets that were listed on StubHub [an online ticket marketplace] at astronomical prices were all sold out, and I even heard stories of people paying thousands of dollars for outfield seats.

But even so, this game is worth it because there is so much at stake.

Our team’s current record is 116 wins and 45 losses.

Yes, we are only one win away from the most wins in history.

And it’s a little embarrassing to say it myself, but the great record of getting on base in 130 consecutive games, that is, getting on base in every game I played in a season, depends on today’s game. In fact, whether it’s 129 games or 130 games, it doesn’t make much of a difference, but the meaning of a record often comes down to such trivial points.

And one more thing.

This is a bit ambiguous…

[Hello. Today is the last game of the season between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers!! I am Michael Kay, the commentator.]

[I’m John Sterling.]

[There’s a lot at stake in today’s game. Of course, winning or losing today’s game won’t change our championship. We’ve already had a season that will go down in history. I dare say that this year may be the strongest year of all the Yankees in history. I want to say that.]

[Haha, of course, none of us have seen the Old Great Yankees of the 1920s, but as someone who played in the Yankees era of the 1990s, well, I think Derek [likely referring to Derek Jeter, a famous Yankees player] would come to this position and say that now is more powerful than his era.]

[And of course, we can’t deny that this player, our Choi Soo-won, who is starting today, was at the center of it.]

[That’s right. Choi Soo-won showed a very disappointing performance in his last start. But if he had scored 2 or 3 runs in 5 innings as usual in that game, Choi Soo-won would not have been able to start in today’s meaningful game. In a way, I think it was a kind of fateful failure.]

bWAR [Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement] and fWAR [FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement].

Well, it’s not exactly an official stat recognized by the league, but it can’t be denied that it is the most popular and universally recognized stat by all baseball fans.

And based on this stat, I ‘still’ had the ‘potential’ to surpass Ruth in 1921.

Yes, the most overwhelming season since the 1920 live-ball era, when the modern form of baseball was established, excluding the bizarre records of throwing 350 innings in the 19th century.

It means the possibility of becoming the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] based on a single season.