Lose and Get More $ / Car Accident = No Problem

Osen reports Nexen Heroes "Beautiful Flower Man" (꽃미남) starter with a very bad record Shim Soo-chang (28G, 2-13, 5.01) received a 116% wage bump yesterday. His salary went from ₩30,000,000 in 2011 to a reported ₩65,000,000 in 2012.

Shim showed stellar upswing in 2011 in comparison to his 2010 season, improving his wins total by 200% (0 wins in 2010 to 2 wins in 2011). He also shaved an impressive 34% from his 2010 ERA (7.57 to 5.01).

Actually, Shim was with LG at the beginning of 2011 and he was paid 30 mil because of his poor record the year before. He was supposed to make 70 but he only got 30. This was how it was spelled out in his LG contract.

Of course our main man was traded to the Heroes in August of last year and Nexen is a lot cooler with its players. Unnamed Nexen official is quoted as saying that they believe in this "Beautiful Flower Man" (꽃미남) starter with a very bad record and they're sure he'll rebound in 2012.

Says Mr. Shim: "I'm glad my talents are recognized and I thank the organization. I'll try harder next year." And he's feeling "light hearted" (홀가분하다).

Says the writer of the Korean article: "you repay getting a raise in a bad team by improving your record."

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=109&article_id=0002295903

Car Accident = No Problem

Samsung Lions returnee and washed up baseball legend Lee Seung-yup got so excited about the prospects of hitting for the blue and white again that he crashed his "Benz" near Suseonggyo in Daegu facing "Banwordang." Anyway, our main man was waiting to turn a left when an Avante rear ended Lee.

This area "Banwordang" is a pretty cool part of Daegu. This area was the site of the first Korean set up department store in Daegu in the 30's. This was during the Japanese colonial era and the Japanese had set up a couple department stores in the city before. But this was the first by the Koreans.

Anyway, Lee got an MRI and he was A-OK.

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=001&article_id=0005467207

Masaichi Kaneda Speaks, Part IV: Greatness

Part I: http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/2011/09/masaichi-kaneda-speaks.html 

Part II: http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/2011/09/masaichi-kaneda-speaks-continued.html 

Part III: http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/2011/12/masaichi-kaneda-speaks-part-iii.html


Continued

Park Dong-hui (Interviewer, South Korean baseball writer): You won 20 games 14 years in a row, from 1951 to 1964. You pitched in 45 games and 3000 innings or more in these seasons and 14 complete games.

Masaichi Kaneda (Interviewee, Korean-Japanese baseball legend): I have a lot of world records LOL.

P: With all due respect, are these records something a normal person can achieve?

K: It's business.

P: Business?

K: Yeah, Listen, I never said, "hey I won 20 games, how much money are you going to give me." You couldn't ask this. They ask these things now (in Japanese baseball). If I signed a contract on the premise that I win 30 games, would I really have won 30 games? I never fought with an organization, (In Korean) "Trust," it's all about trust. No team ever cut my salary and I never fought with any. If you gain their trust, you will earn their trust. If not then, you don't get any.

P: If you won 20 games 14 years in a row, your yearly salary must have been pretty high.

K: Because the yen was getting strong back then. I would have no idea how much it would be now. I spent everything I made back then anyway LOL.

P: You have had a lot of dramatic episodes in your baseball career. April 5, 1958, Central League season opener, you faced hot Yomiuri Giants rookie hitter Shigeo Nagashima and a lot of people said he was going to hit well against you. But you said that you were going to strike him out 4 times. And you ended up striking him out 4 times.

K: That's what you'd expect, by the time Nagashima debuted, I had already won 180 games. (Points to a photo on the wall) Looks like that's the picture there.

P: Baseball writers were saying you only threw strong fastballs at Nagashima.

K: The ball was fast then, do you know why? (Translator's note: I realize here that Park has been speaking in honorifics and Kaneda informally.)

P: It was always fast, wasn't it?

K: It was faster when I faced Nagashima, because I was throwing it with my heart.

P: With your heart?

K: I couldn't lose. Isn't that the theory? (In a strong voice) You must win everything. Strong pitching, it's not 'where should I throw it,' it's 'I'm going to get you!' I mobilized (충동원) all my competency and threw with this in mind. If I pitched to Nagashima all nervously back then, I wouldn't have won 20 games 14 years in a row and I wouldn't be where I am now.

Talking about this and writing about this now is not so fun. Get all the players together and telling them this story would be more fun. (In a quieter voice) Nagashima wasn't the only batter I faced that day, I had to be serious about other hitters in the line up. I controlled my emotions and hopped on the mound again.

P: Rumor has it your fastball was higher than 160km .

K: They talk about speed a lot. But if you throw 160 or 170 kmh, your body will break down. You can't throw well if you're fat. You have to stay thin and throw with force. Look at the pictures on the wall, you'll see. I was never fat.

P: You were famous for your fastball and change up.

K: I mostly pitched fastballs and curve balls. Each curve ball was a little different.

P: (Looks at a picture on a wall and suddenly remembers) I remember you took some pictures with some top major league players back then. Mantle, Mays, Musial, the big guys.

K: They all know me in the major leagues. I have a friend that I struck out 3 times in a row LOL. (In 1955, the New York Yankees came to Japan and Kaneda struck out Mickey Mantle 3 times in a row. Mantle had asked "why is a pitcher like this pitching in Japan?" and said "I'd like to have him in the States." Kaneda had Korean citizenship at this time. Kaneda and Mantle became good friends after.)

P: And with that, did you get any advice about going over to the Majors?

K: They tried (Major League teams). But it wasn't like it is now. The war didn't end all that long before, and relations between Japan and the U.S. weren't still all that good. And I couldn't speak English.

P: So you gave up thinking about going over there?

K: Frankly, I didn't see the point. I would have gone if I really wanted to. Pitching in Japan was good and I could have achieved a lot. But if I want to America, they would have just said "look, he's from Japan" and that could have been the end of that. Look at my trophies and pictures, that's going to last long after I die.

P: If you were pitching now, in today's situation, would you go?

K: Now? Well.. Great players play everywhere. It seems like pitching here or there is the same even now. I think I could have succeeded there. Asians, Americans, we're all the same.

Korean link: http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=295&article_id=0000000659

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy All Holidays!

Happy Every Holiday to all of our readers from the entire staff of the True Stories of Korean Baseball family! We will be back in full force in the new year to blog, discuss, and complain about our favorite game. In the meantime, let's enjoy this holiday season that is important to many of the people that we share our planet with. And especially to our readers who are cross over fans of other sports.. Have the Best Christmas Ever!

Jeong Dae-hyeon Finally Chooses, Park Chan-ho Allowed to Play

Jeong Dae-hyeon decided not to make the jump to the Baltimore Orioles and inked a four-year deal with the Lotte Giants. He'll likely assume the ninth inning duties for Lotte next year.

Also, it was ruled that Park Chan-ho will be eligible to pitch next year for Hanhwa. The rule had been that players who went overseas prior to 1999 were subject to the draft. Park would have had to wait until the 2012 draft in August before being eligible, but the rule was waived so Park can play next season. He's now free to negotiate with the Hanhwa Eagles. His contract should be taken care of fairly quickly and it wouldn't be a shock to see him sign before the weekend.

KBO Announced Gold Glove Winners Over the Weekend

Winners are as follows...

P - Yoon Seok-min, KIA 17-5, 2.45 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 178 K's in 172 1/3
C - Kang Min-ho, Lotte .289/.366/.480
1B - Lee Dae-ho, Lotte .357/.433/.578
2B - Ahn Chi-hong, KIA .315/.373/.431
3B - Choi Jeong, SK .310/.402/.526
SS - Lee Dae-su, Hanhwa .301/.360/.426
LF - Choi Hyeong-woo, Samsung .340/.427/.610
CF - Lee Yong-gyu, KIA .333/.427/.401

RF - Son Ah-seop, Lotte .326/.385/.507
DH - Hong Seong-heun, Lotte .306/.376/.403



Also, Lotte DH Hong Seong-heun won his second straight award for the worst suit of evening. That's Hong in front/center. Still, this pales in comparison to last year's outfit.

Lee Dae-ho Takes His Talents to Orix

Lee had a press conference scheduled for 12/6 and the announcement was a shock to no one. Lee signed a two-year deal worth 10.1 billion won.

Orix plans on using him at 1st base, bat him fourth and asked him to lose about 10 KG. Both should be doable assuming he doesn't spend the off-season pounding ramyeon.

Is it just me or does Orix have really classy unis?

Cha Woo-chan's European Backpacking Trip

Most baseball fans are excited about all the free agency movement that's been happening in Korea and everywhere else. More important than that, in my opinion, is the news of KBO players and their backpacking adventures in Europe.

Samsung Lions lefty Cha Woo-chan's the latest person in Korean baseball or otherwise to partake in this rite of passage of non-Europeans, to put on a backpack (like Kevin Durant) and go to Europe.

Declaring that he needed to "recharge his batteries," Mr. Cha "haphazardly" hopped on a plane to an undisclosed European location (seems to be Switzerland) with his backpack on the 3rd of December for a 2 week long excursion through the European Union. "This is my first holiday, I'm going to a place where I have never been before and I am happy and anxious," said Cha as he took off.

Cha has been feeling a little under the weather since winning the Korean Series. He missed his team's Asian Series win in Taiwan (described below) and he has been feeling a little upset about it. It's no matter though, he's looking more towards next season with the Lions.

The article reports he's felt a little anxiety.

So, Cha is off to Europe for some backpacking. He has an older brother in Switzerland, so he'll check some of Switzerland out. He actually doesn't know where he'll be going or sleeping when he's not at his brother's pad in Switzerland.

Cha's a bit nervous about going to Europe. The article here says he feels a little "scared." He's worried about stuff like language issues. But he's determined to go because he doesn't know when he can do it again. (How about next offseason?)

Anyway, Cha's happy to be taking this trip and he'll be at Samsung's first stage pre-season training when he gets back.

Cha wants to be the ace of the Lions staff next season and he knows just how to do it. 15 wins, sub 3 ERA, and running hard.

Have a great backpacking trip Mr. Cha and I hope you meet a lot of great people there!

Source:

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=382&article_id=0000021765

Masaichi Kaneda Speaks, Part III

Continuing with my True Stories of Korean Baseball blog masters thesis. This is part 3 of Japanese-Korean pitching legend Masaichi Kaneda's interview with South Korean baseball writer Park Dong-hui as explained in simple English, because this blog is a strict simple English zone.

Part I:

http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/2011/09/masaichi-kaneda-speaks.html

Part II:

http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/2011/09/masaichi-kaneda-speaks-continued.html

P: You were 17. And you joined the team (Yakult Swallows) as the season was going on. You must have been nervous.

K: Nervous? Well.. I just thought of playing and winning in baseball. I didn't think of it as anything theoretical or philosophical. It doesn't matter if you're old, if you're a pro or amateur, all you want to do is win. So I didn't feel any pressure.

P: Do you remember your debut game?

K: (Thinks) Nah, it was so long ago, I can't remember. I'm pretty sure I lost though.

P: Right, August 23, 1950. You came in relief against the Hiroshima Carps. You let in a run with a walk and lost the game.

K: Yeah, I lost the sayonara game. * Translator note: does anyone know what a "sayonara game" is?

P: How did you feel then, I'm curious.

K: (Indecipherable sarcastic comment) There's winning and losing in baseball. There was a lot of commotion for my debut. My loss was a bit of a big deal with the media.

P: But you did win in your next appearance. You actually pitched and won a complete game. At the time, you were the second 17 year old to do that up to that point in Japanese baseball.

K: Yeah, I remember that. I pitched with everything I had that day. It was a very long time ago.

P: What was more surprising was your second year. September 5, 1951, you pitched a no-hitter against the Hanshin Tigers. At age 18 and 35 days (Korean people seem to love exact number of days!), you were the youngest to ever pitch a no hitter. Also, you were the youngest to win 20 games with 22 games won that year.

K: (Points finger at display case) That's the trophy I got for the no hitter.

P: (Goes over to the trophy case and looks) Ah, this is it.

K: It's okay, take a look at it. It's a 60 year old trophy. If you look close, the pitcher in the trophy is a right handed pitcher. I was the first lefty to pitch a no hitter but they didn't make a left handed pitcher for the trophy. It was right after the war then, there wasn't a lot of material. So, I guess I got a right handed trophy and not a left handed trophy.

P: And 6 years later, August 21, 1957, you pitched a perfect game against the Junichi Dragons.

K: (Shakes trophy) Yeah, I after I got this, I did that.

P: Pitching a perfect game is a very big thing. There hasn't been a perfect game yet in Korean baseball.

K: Yeah, it's very hard to do. It's a pretty big achievement.

P: Tell me the story about your perfect game.

K: Just like the word "perfect" in perfect game, it was perfect, so there's nothing more to say (Laughs)

P: Okay.

K: It is a legendary story with Japanese baseball fans so I guess it's pretty cool. But it's not something known to Korean people. And it's not fun talking about a perfect game through written words. If you tell the story over drinks, it would be a lot better.

P: Something big happened before you completed that perfect game. In the 9th with one out, the umpire called a check swing a strike against Junichi and Junichi raised a storm, causing a 40 minute delay.

K: It was actually 45 minutes. Most people wouldn't have been able to pitch again after 45 minutes. I did because it was me (Laughs).

P: How did you feel when you walked towards the mound?

K: Simple. We had to do what we needed to do. My shoulders were kind of messed up after resting for 45 minutes. But (pushes hand on his chest), this right here was okay, I still had the the fighting spirit. The delay ended, and I struck out the last two batters for the perfect game.

Original link:

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=baseball&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=295&article_id=0000000659