The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 401

Pitcher Who Just Hits Home Runs Well – Episode 401

401. Extra Story 6) Party Member Recruitment (9)

People often talk about a ‘normal life.’

“If I had gone to high school, I would have been an amazing prom king.”

“Yeah, you probably would have been the hottest prom king in school history.”

“Right, maybe all the cheerleaders in school would have dreamed of being escorted by me?”

“Instead, you have the prom queen that all the football players in school wanted to escort right here beside you.”

Alexander McDowell gave up that normal life. He didn’t regret that choice, of course. He recognized his innate talent early and found a way to maximize it. Even if he could turn back time, Alexander McDowell would make the same choice.

So, it wasn’t regret, just curiosity about the path not taken and a desire for experiences not had.

The things he regretted were more about what came after.

If only he had learned that a little earlier.

If only he had realized these tricks a little earlier.

If only he had aimed for the fastball instead of the breaking ball back then.

The past 16 years.

The memories of countless defeats, whether by a hair’s breadth or by a larger margin.

In terms of games, there were far more wins than losses. He was even chosen as the MVP [Most Valuable Player] several times. But even so, he could never be a winner. He never smiled brightly at the end of the last game of the year.

Today, Choi Soo-won was on the mound again.

Yes, just like always.

Alexander McDowell gripped his bat tightly and moved closer to home plate.

First pitch.

High and inside.

-Pppeoooong!!

The umpire’s hand didn’t go up.

His temperament remained unchanged despite his age. Alexander McDowell responded to that fastball, which threatened to take his head off if he stood too close to the plate, with a look that said, ‘If you keep throwing like that, I’m just going to walk.’

Oswald Wells, wearing a catcher’s mask behind home plate, chattered on. But surprisingly, he didn’t care at all. It wasn’t just Oswald Wells’ voice that he didn’t care about. The loud noise of Yankee Stadium, filled with spectators, didn’t bother him much either.

Only Choi Soo-won.

Alexander McDowell’s entire focus was on him.

Winding up.

He had witnessed it enough, but it was still an annoying form. Compared to the bizarre forms prevalent in the league, it was truly honest, but the slight variations within it were incredibly tricky.

He had created elaborate VR [Virtual Reality] based on collected videos and faced it to the point of exhaustion. To exaggerate a bit, he was confident he could imitate the form perfectly. But even so, it was still not easy to gauge the end of the motion.

-Booowoong!!

“Strike!”

[A fantastic circle changeup gets Alexander McDowell!!]

[Choi Soo-won has been having a lot of fun with that changeup all season. Personally, I think this is where Choi Soo-won’s greatness lies. Usually, when you reach the top, you might get a little lazy, right? But you don’t see that from him.]

[That’s right. Baseball players usually work hard from the end of February to the beginning of November without any holidays, but from November to February, it’s a time to rest a bit. But when you look at Choi Soo-won, you can see that he really prepares well every year during that period.]

[A genius who works hard. A growing apex. I dare to evaluate Choi Soo-won like this. In fact, Alexander McDowell and Baek Ha-min are both amazing players. Especially Baek Ha-min, when you think back to his KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] days, you can feel how much he has improved. But the target they have to catch is getting further and further away. It’s really unfortunate for those players.]

[That’s right. Usually, when an ace-level player like that comes up to the first team, the best player in the league is older than them. If they grow steadily, the top players naturally age, and eventually, they reach the top. But that doesn’t apply to the players who played at the same time as Choi Soo-won. Even look at Alexander McDowell. He has that career and has advanced to the World Series a total of ten times, including this time, but he doesn’t have a single World Champion ring. This is a record that can only be described as the strongest runner-up of all time.]

[Okay, as we speak, the third windup!!]

Alexander McDowell focused even more.

To exaggerate a bit, he felt like he could see every wrinkle in Choi Soo-won’s uniform clearly. The ball left his hand and flew towards him.

It’s not a curve. There was no topspin feel.

A moment’s judgment.

It’s a fastball.

Alexander McDowell’s bat moved towards the trajectory the ball would draw. And again, 0.02 seconds. He corrected his judgment.

Slider.

His body adjusted the trajectory of the bat to match that judgment. What would be impossible for an ordinary batter was possible because he was a great hitter who would be remembered in Major League history.

-Ttaak!!!

A heavy, unpleasant sensation in the palm of his hand. It wasn’t a clean hit. But Alexander McDowell, a great hitter with 63 home runs in a single season and 711 home runs in his 18-year career, had often easily cleared the fence with this unpleasant sensation.

Today, he didn’t observe the batted ball.

Because this stage and that opponent were not opponents to afford such luxury.

The batted ball stretched out with great momentum. But even this time, the batted ball fell just short of clearing the fence.

At that result, Alexander McDowell thought.

That batted ball seemed to resemble his baseball career. Yes, it started out with great momentum, but in the end, it fell short of the final goal and crashed—the life of a loser without a ring.

World Series Game 7, 3 at-bats, no hits.

Alexander McDowell returned to the dugout with a distorted expression.

At this moment, Choi Soo-won was something greater, like fate, that Alexander McDowell couldn’t overcome with human power.

***

Before the game started.

Domingo Rodriguez had told them this.

“Ah, this is a sight I really didn’t want to see. 3 wins and 3 losses. And even Choi Soo-won after a losing streak. I told you, right? That guy. He’s a cheat even normally, but he becomes a super cheat at crucial moments. A born superstar, I guess? He always shows more than expected at the moment you least expect it. From the perspective of someone on the same side or cheering for him, it couldn’t be better, but from the opposite side, it’s a nightmare.”

Of course, even if Domingo Rodriguez hadn’t said it, Baek Ha-min and Alexander McDowell both knew that Choi Soo-won was that kind of guy. And that was definitely true.

But just because it’s true doesn’t always mean it’s good to hear. Moreover, it can sometimes be even more unpleasant because it’s true. Domingo’s story was like that.

“That old man, if he were here now, he would have shown off, saying, ‘What did I tell you?’ right?”

“Of course. He’s always been like that.”

“Damn it, why did I bring that old man along? What did I have to gain?”

“There was a lot to gain. Honestly, we wouldn’t have made it this far this season without that old man. Alex, you know that too.”

It was a strange atmosphere.

They tried to lift the mood, encouraging each other, but that strange atmosphere still didn’t disappear. That’s because people’s ‘learning’ had already been completed for nearly 20 years.

─Baseball is a game where 18 players fight for 9 innings, and in the end, the Yankees led by Choi Soo-won win.

In the top of the 8th inning, a tight situation with a score of 0:0.

Not only the young players who grew up watching Choi Soo-won but also the veterans who had directly or indirectly experienced Choi Soo-won. Even the coaches and managers. It was no coincidence that the phrase plagiarized from that long-standing soccer adage flashed through their minds.

It was the enormous intangible power created by the years that the Yankees led by Choi Soo-won had built up.

And in front of that, the 37-year-old starting pitcher threw off the pitcher’s jacket he had been warming his shoulder with.

Even if he didn’t have the protagonist buff that made him stronger in moments of crisis like someone else, his body, which had been built up solidly for a long time, had not yet lost all its strength.

He threw the ball as vigorously as he had in the first inning.

But the opponent was the New York Yankees. The Yankees’ hitters, who had gone through the batting order three times and were now in their fourth turn, were too strong to be suppressed with just that.

Among the balls that pierced the corners, there were also mistakes, and those balls were invariably connected to hits. There were even hitters who stubbornly hit the ball even when it wasn’t a mistake.

But just as Choi Soo-won had led the Yankees to build the achievement of ‘invincible’ over 16 years, Baek Ha-min had not spent that long time in vain either.

If a greater talent doesn’t lose effort like him, all you can do is not give up and try to work harder.

It was only Baek Ha-min.

Some felt a wall in that talent and despaired, some held hope and tried to stand by his side, and some constantly challenged him but eventually gave up on their own.

But Baek Ha-min was still standing here.

Fifth in the batting order.

Two outs.

Runners on 1st and 2nd.

It was Choi Soo-won’s turn.

If this moment was a fateful stage prepared by the heavens for the showdown between Baek Ha-min and Choi Soo-won, they would inevitably meet in a two-out, bases-loaded situation where they had to compete. But Baek Ha-min felt that even this moment was a moment gifted by the heavens for his own kind of closure.

Automatic intentional walk.

The bases were loaded.

Bottom of the 8th inning. 0:0 situation. The fact that he made them choose an automatic intentional walk even with runners on 1st and 2nd was the power of hitter Choi Soo-won.

Baek Ha-min put his hands together.

He naturally turned his head to the left and briefly looked at 1st base. There, as always, stood Choi Soo-won, with a low stance, expressing his will to run all the way home the moment a long hit came out.

Baek Ha-min also threw the ball in the same posture he had been accustomed to for a very long time.

The ball was accurately sucked into the place Baek Ha-min wanted.

-Ttaaaak!!!

And the batted ball soared high.

The batted ball that stretched out reminded him of something from 18 years ago.

Yes, maybe Baek Ha-min himself raised his arms and clenched his fists back then, as if he had struck out swinging on an ordinary fly ball out.

“Out!!!”

8 innings, no runs allowed.

Baek Ha-min finished his role.

And in the top of the 9th inning.

Just like with Domingo Rodriguez two years ago, Choi Soo-won came up to the mound again. And just like then, he blocked the ninth inning without allowing any runs.

Was this, as always, a perfect blueprint for a game where 18 players fight for 9 innings and the Yankees led by Choi Soo-won win?

[In the bottom of the 9th inning, Domingo Rodriguez comes up to the mound.]

Domingo Rodriguez shook his head.

Two years ago.

He had perfectly blocked 8 innings and thought he had finished his role. But that wasn’t enough. So today, this stage will be a kind of A/S [After Service] concept to make up for what was lacking back then.

He wasn’t excited.

He wasn’t trembling either.

The oldest pitcher in the major leagues, with more World Series experience than anyone else, erased the hometown team’s attack in the bottom of the 9th inning on the most familiar mound.

There was a slight commotion in the Yankees’ dugout.

Manager Jeff Clark was a reasonable person. That’s why he stopped Choi Soo-won more than enough. But in the Yankees team, the existence of Choi Soo-won had an absolute position, and in these moments, he proved with the records of the past 16 years that he never disappoints those who support him.

10th inning.

Choi Soo-won came up to the mound once again. Some thought of this as a romance, and more than that, many thought of this as overwork.

Those who tallied the numbers witnessed a number exceeding 100M for the first time in Major League history at this moment.

Ground ball out.

Fly ball out.

And a fateful meeting.

He was a hitter with a legendary career, but he had 4 at-bats with no hits. He was even a hitter who had struck out in the previous at-bat.

The Yankees’ dugout did not choose an automatic intentional walk.

And the first pitch.

It could have just been the result of long effort.

Or it could have been an occult story that the long-held obsessions of ordinary geniuses who wanted to overcome the great apex gave him mysterious power.

No, perhaps the most reasonable story was that 10 innings was too long even for the great pitcher Choi Soo-won.

Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

In one moment.

Alexander McDowell saw the tip of Choi Soo-won’s fingers.

It was as quiet as if the whole world had stopped.

The only things that existed here were Choi Soo-won throwing the ball on that mound and Alexander McDowell himself swinging the bat.

-Ttak!!!

And what ended the quiet silence that seemed like it would last forever was a short but clearer sound of the batted ball than anything else.

November 4, 2044.

It was the first time that the complete Choi Soo-won couldn’t smile brightly at the end of the season.