Once again, fans are disappointed in the National Baseball Team. This is because some of the players visited a bar during the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March and it was later revealed.
The players were Kim Kwang-hyun (35-SSG), Lee Yong-chan (34-NC), and Jeong Chul-won (24-Dusan), three pitchers. After the controversy erupted, their respective teams apologized to fans.
They reportedly visited bars during the WBC and drank until dawn the next day. Fans are especially upset because the bar visits occurred on the eve of the game against Australia and the day of the disastrous loss to Korea that led to their elimination.
The fact that the list includes national ace Kim Kwang-hyun, who has dedicated himself to the national team, is also a big shock. Some fans feel betrayed because he was the one who set the example for the rest of the team.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the drinking scandal has proven once again how lightly Korean baseball takes the “Taeguk Mark”.
The national baseball team has been criticized for its lack of competitiveness in international tournaments, having been eliminated in the first round of two consecutive tournaments before this one, as well as performing unsatisfactorily at the 메이저놀이터 Asian Games and Tokyo Olympics.
On the other hand, the KBO league was full of players earning hundreds of millions of won, with many earning an average annual income of more than 1 billion won. In other words, it was constantly pointed out that they were paid too much compared to the size of the market and their skills.
The KBO had vowed to use the WBC as an opportunity to restore the reputation of Korean baseball. However, the team’s performance was disastrous, starting with a loss against Australia in the first game, followed by a crushing defeat against Korea, and afterward, the players went out drinking and didn’t seem to care about public opinion.
This isn’t the first time Hae-han’s mental game has suffered. The pitching staff was unable to overcome the opponent’s batting lineup, with errors and sloppy play at times when they needed to be focused.
The national team manager gave a sharp answer to a question that pointed out the problems with the pitching staff, and the captain couldn’t stand the bitterness of the baseball seniors and said, “It’s a pity that people who are not often selected for the national team think it’s easy.”
As a result, the Asian Games and Olympics, where they participated with the flag, became a tool for clubs to obtain military service benefits, and the WBC, where there was no compensation for military service, was busy saving itself. The flag became lighter and lighter, and the status of Korean baseball declined.
Article courtesy of The Korea Times
