The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 95

95. Two Billion (9)

“A home run ball?”

I was about to head back to Dongho-daero as promised after the game when a club employee stopped me.

“Yes, it’s still your first professional home run ball, so it’s worth commemorating.”

“Nah, it’s okay. It’s not a professional game, just an educational league game.”

Usually, in professional games, the club staff takes care of memorable home run balls. Of course, they don’t forcibly take the home run ball from the audience, but they make a deal. A uniform or glove signed by the player, or a bat. Well, in really valuable cases, they might offer season tickets. And sometimes, for the first home run balls hit by unpopular players, people ask for photos taken with signed balls from other popular players. Thanks to that, I used to get them for my juniors, and sometimes even for my seniors.

“Ah, wait a minute. The people who caught the home run balls today, were they all family members?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t try to collect the home run balls, just call them over here, please?”

***

Kang Jun-ho, 44 years old this year, got married at the relatively young age of thirty-one compared to his peers. He enjoyed about two years of newlywed life and had a child right away, so he became a father quite early compared to others. As a result, his child is already ten years old, just about the age to start getting into baseball.

When Kang Jun-ho was still young.

His father always talked about it.

There was a fiery guy who led the Marines to victory. Unfortunately, when Kang Jun-ho first got into baseball, that guy was wearing the uniform of the Daegu Griffins instead of the Busan Marines, and even then, he wasn’t the blazing fire his father had described, but more like embers that had burned everything and were dying out.

But even so, Kang Jun-ho was able to become a fan of the Marines. No, he couldn’t help but become one. Because there was 1992.

That year was the year another great pitcher was born for the Marines.

That year, Kang Jun-ho went to Sajik Stadium a whopping forty-two times. It wasn’t the person his father had talked about, but Kang Jun-ho also saw the fire in him. His father, who stubbornly insisted on the number 11 uniform, saying that no matter what, he couldn’t beat Dong-won, had also started going to the stadium wearing a uniform marked with the number 68.

Kang Jun-ho cheered for that fiery pitcher until the moment he cooled down and turned to ashes. And even after he retired, Kang Jun-ho couldn’t quit the Marines. Just like his father, who went to Sajik Stadium cursing the Marines until the moment he died.

The love for the Marines that started with his father passed through Kang Jun-ho and continued to his son. That’s how 34 years passed.

“Dad!! Dad!! Are we really getting autographs?”

Kang Jun-ho was delighted to see his son jumping up and down.

He looked the happiest he had been since he first took him to the baseball stadium three years ago. Well, even though it’s a minor league, an educational league, he must be thrilled to have caught a home run ball.

Jun-ho thought. He used to hate ‘giving it away’ when he was young, but now that he has a child, he realizes that people are such fickle creatures.

A girl with a pretty braided hairstyle was also jumping up and down, looking happy.

Earlier, he saw that the man over there was really trying his best to catch the home run ball. In this harsh world, fathers suffer everywhere. That man gave Kang Jun-ho a slight nod. Kang Jun-ho also bowed slightly to the man.

The door opened and a large man with a bag on his left shoulder walked in.

No, that was the only way to describe him. When he saw him from afar in the stadium, he just thought he was a bit tall and skinny for his height. But seeing Choi Soo-won up close was different.

It’s November, not even the end of the year.

That means the player is still a senior in high school. But how could you call that a high school student’s physique? According to his profile, which he briefly searched on the internet, he was 190cm tall and weighed 89kg [approximately 6’3″ and 196 lbs]? He certainly wasn’t fat. But the forearms of his long-sleeved shirt were full, giving the feeling that a professional baseball player is indeed a professional baseball player.

“Hello. I’m Choi Soo-won, a rookie for the Marines.”

“Ah······, hello!!”

The child, who had been jumping up and down just a moment ago, was startled by the sudden appearance of the giant and hid behind his back. And the same was true for the girl over there.

“Dabin, are you shy?”

“No······.”

“Your name is Dabin? How old are you?”

“Ten years old······.”

Choi Soo-won strode over and knelt down to make eye contact with the child.

“Do you like baseball?”

“······Yes.”

“Who do you like the most?”

“Baek Ha-min······.”

“Ha-min hyung [older brother or male figure]?”

People often say that liking handsome and pretty things is snobbish. But if you raise children, you’ll know. It’s just like a human instinct.

Baek Ha-min, who debuted with the Marines last year. His jersey number, which received more attention for his appearance than his baseball skills, was 84. The jersey number that Kang Dabin is wearing is also 84.

“That’s too bad. Ha-min hyung pitched yesterday and has already left for the day. If I had known, I would have told him to stop by here.”

“It’s okay······.”

“It’s okay?”

Dabin hid behind Kang Jun-ho.

“He’s not usually this shy. He must have become a complete fan after watching Choi Soo-won play. He was chattering non-stop. Dabin, you said you had something you wanted to say to Choi Soo-won.”

“That, well······, you were cool.”

Kang Jun-ho, forty-four years old, didn’t remember.

Back in 1992, when he was still young.

The first day he saw that pitcher wearing gold-rimmed glasses, Kang Jun-ho was also excited like Dabin today and bothered his father. And yet, when his father made a big decision and spent a lot of money to buy good seats, close to the dugout, he couldn’t even make eye contact with that pitcher.

“Really? Thank you. Ah, sir. About my home run ball?”

“Here it is······.”

“Ah, Dabin had it. If it’s okay, can I sign it for you?”

“Yes!!!”

“Okay.”

“Dabin, you have to say thank you to Choi Soo-won.”

“Thank you.”

After signing the baseball, Choi Soo-won briefly made eye contact with the girl next to him.

“Sir. What’s your child’s name?”

“Bae. Soo. Min. That’s her name!! She’s eight years old!!”

“Oh my, Soo-min is energetic. Soo-min, can you give me the ball for a moment? I’ll sign it for you.”

“Yes!! Thank you!!”

After signing each of the two home run balls, Choi Soo-won got up from his seat and looked around.

“Hmm, still, this is a 기념(ginyum, commemoration), I want to give you something more. I don’t have a uniform yet······. What should I do······. Ah, I know!!”

Has he decided something? Choi Soo-won knelt down again and made eye contact with the two children.

“Our Dabin. Did you like it better when I was throwing the ball, or when I was hitting a home run?”

“······Throwing the ball······.”

“Soo-min?”

“Home run!! Really, really, like boom!!!”

“That’s great. I happen to have a perfect gift.”

Choi Soo-won took something out of the bag he had put down for a moment.

An old glove. And a baseball bat.

Could it be?

The children’s eyes widened.

“No, Choi Soo-won. Even this much······.”

“Oh, don’t feel burdened. I change my gloves two or three times a year anyway. It’s about time I changed my game glove. And this bat is the one I’ve been using since I was in school, so it’s time to change it anyway.”

The club employee, who was filming the scene with his phone, was cheering inwardly.

In fact, it would have been enough to just sign the home run ball and take a picture together. But this is more than that.

“Th, thank you!!”

“Thank you!!”

“Okay, I’m sorry the Marines lost today. But please come to the game when the season starts. I’ll definitely win then.”

“Yes!! I’ll come every day!!”

“······Me too.”

“Don’t come every day. You have to study hard too. Just come to see me sometimes. Preferably on the days I’m starting.”

He was a rookie who had just graduated from high school. But the words ‘starting’ didn’t sound awkward. Is it because the Marines’ mound is a mess? Kang Jun-ho didn’t think that was all there was to it.

“Yes!! I’ll come every day when oppa [term for older brother or male friend used by females] is pitching!!”

“M, me too!!”

Choi Soo-won stroked the heads of the two children, who were holding the signed gloves and bats in their arms and shining their eyes.

34 years.

So, without any service like this, it was 34 years with just one championship.

Kang Jun-ho thought. At least as long as this player is playing in the first team, he’s going to Sajik every weekend. However, what’s fortunate in the midst of all this is that he can’t imagine this player playing in the second team. Even if Sangdong is worth visiting by car, it’s still much better to go to Sajik if you’re going anyway.

Between the two children smiling brightly.

The two fathers smiled with slightly subtle expressions.

***

[Endless Humiliation for the Marines!! 1st Overall Pick for 2 Consecutive Years. But 2 Wins and 10 Losses in the Educational League.]

[Is There a Basement Under the First Floor? When Will the Busan Marines Be Able to Rise Again?]

─kkollinseuhaeche(MarinesDissolution): There’s an abyss under the basement. The answer is just to dissolve the Marines.

─NOmarinseu(NOMarines): Marines Boycott, Day 27. I don’t believe it. I don’t watch it.

─8888577: But if it’s Day 27, didn’t you watch all the last games of this season?

─marinseuhaechewaeanham(WhyNotDissolveTheMarines): Q. Let’s assume there’s a team where the starter pitched 5.1 innings with no runs and hit 2 home runs but couldn’t win. Who is at fault in this case? However, assume the team is the Marines. A. The pitcher who didn’t pitch a perfect 9 innings.

National viewership rating 0.24%

Considering that the average viewership rating of the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] this season was 1.1%, it was a meager figure that was less than 1/5 of that. However, considering that today’s game was an educational league game, and considering that the viewership rating of the educational league game of the Gwangju Hawks, the most popular club in the KBO, was only 0.21%, 0.24% was clearly a great success.

But the most notable part here was not that part.

“There’s definitely a Choi Soo-won effect, isn’t there?”

“Really? Is there a big difference?”

“Yes, if you look here, the highest viewership rating went up to 0.39 when Choi Soo-won hit his second home run, but it dropped in steps after he was taken off the mound, and it continued to drop after that, and it never exceeded 0.2 after allowing a come-from-behind in the 7th inning. Is it because it was a come-from-behind loss? Or maybe it’s because Choi Soo-won is a player who has some recognition as a rookie.”

“Well······.”

Choi Soo-won had a level of recognition that was hard to believe for a player who hadn’t even debuted in the pros yet. Of course, it had been a bit quieter in the last year, but it was thanks to the influence of last year’s world competition and the documentary that was broadcast on educational television.

In addition, the fact that he is a player that MLB [Major League Baseball] is also paying attention to, and the topic of 2 billion. These are enough factors for people to look up what kind of player he is.

But those factors only end up making people see what kind of guy he is for a moment. Choi Soo-won had something much more important than that.

There was something special about everything he did, throwing, receiving, and hitting the ball, that caught people’s eyes. It could be the coolness that comes from his tall height and long limbs, or it could be the exhilaration that comes from his fastballs and home runs that easily cross the fence. And maybe it was ‘something’ that mixed all of those things together, something that was hard to express in words.

And PD Park clearly knew what the word that referred to that ‘something’ was.

“Oh? PD Park, the Marines club just sent related data. Would you like to take a look?”

Two young children.

And a player kneeling down and making eye contact with them.

“Choi Soo-won······. He definitely has star quality. Hey, let’s take just one segment for Baseball Tonight. Is it possible?”

“Oh, who are you talking about? We have to make it possible even if it’s impossible.”

The season when baseball is over.

The industry was already moving towards next season.