Every year I want to do a special post for the all-star game and every year I'm disappointed by it. Instead of actually giving it a write up, I'm going to link to the few local news stories and write about a real "All-star." You can read about the all-star game here and here.
I met Mr. Lim at his coffee shop near exit 1 of the Jukjeon stop on Daegu's green line. I noticed that he had a row of autographed baseballs on the wall and started asking about them. In Korean he told me, "Let me make the coffee first, then we can talk." After giving me my latte, we discussed each baseball on his wall. How he met the players and where he got the balls from. Most of them, believe it or not, were friends from school. Mr. Lim played baseball in middle school and high school and met most of the modern day KBO stars that way. He asked me who my favorite player was. I told him, "Oh Seung-hwan." He made a phone call and ran out the door. He came back 2 minutes later with a baseball with Oh Seung-hwan's signature on it and told me I could keep it. I was floored. I realize that in my advancing age, it's silly to have hangups about ballplayers. Especially those in the KBO. I'm creeping towards middle age. I shouldn't be impressed by grown men that play games for a living, but I still am. Something about that ball triggered feelings from my youth. The same feelings that were triggered when my dad came home with a Ryne Sandberg autograph after selling Ryno a Mercedes.
Mr. Lim didn't have to give me anything and I still can't believe he did just gave me an auto'd ball like that, but it totally made my day. I skipped all the way to the subway and all the way home after I finished my coffee. I'm still not sure what to make of it. I've got to get this guy a gift when I visit my hometown next month. I'm not sure what to give him. He's grown up around baseball. I doubt he'd be as impressed as I was with a auto'd ball. I think this calls for the Disco Choo bobblehead doll.
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