SSG Choi Jeong was crowned the KBO League home run king yesterday and is receiving attention from overseas.
The spectator who caught this home run ball is also becoming a hot topic with his unusual speech.
This is reporter Park Jae-woong.
◀ Report ▶
‘Boy Jangsa’ Choi Jeong, who wrote a new history of Korean baseball.
It was a great record that MLB.com also paid attention to… but I didn’t even expect it.
[최정/SSG]
″As soon as I hit it, I thought, ‘Are you going to go over it?’ I was running hard because I knew I was going to hit the fence… ″
He accumulated 468 home runs while continuing to hit double-digit home runs for 19 consecutive years.
Among them, special meaning was attached to one home run from 12 years ago.
[최정/SSG]
″In 2012, I hit a home run to the center of the pitcher’s pitch from Nexen’s Kang Yun-gu, but at that time, one arm was let go and it became a home run. I think it was an opportunity for the (hitting) mechanism to change.″
The person who caught the home run ball also became a hot topic.
The journey that Kang Seong-gu, who has been playing baseball for 9 years, prepared to catch a home run ball was beyond imagination and could not be considered a coincidence.
[강성구/야구 팬]
″I did some research at work this morning. The direction of Choi Jeong’s home run in 2023… (like Ohtani) I was picking up coffee mix (wrappers) when they fell and doing things like this. The ball came ‘hum’ as if it were in real ‘slow motion.’”
Kang, who received a prize worth 15 million won from the SSG club, and Choi Jeong-do, who became the new home run king, would like to be remembered in KBO League history in their own way.
[강성구/야구 팬]
″The first ordinary person to out Choi Jeong? Yes, I want to be remembered like this. (Do you have a favorite among the free drinks provided by the club?) Even if I freeze to death, I plan to eat iced Americano every day.″
[최정/SSG]
″(At the beginning of my debut) I thought it was tacky. What is ‘Boy Merchant’? Not even a wrestler… I am so thankful that I am getting older, and I like being a baseball genius and I like ‘Boy Business’ as well.”
This is Park Jae-woong from MBC News.
Video coverage: Jaehoon Kang / Video editing: Minji Kim / Video provided by: SSG Landers
