Choo Shin-soo. AP Yonhap News
Choo Shin-soo is 40 years old in Korea this year. Park Chan-ho, who pioneered the major leagues, went through the United States and Japan, and wore a KBO league uniform at the age of 40.
Park Chan-ho, who signed with Hanwha ahead of the 2012 season, sought to repay the love he received from a Korean baseball fan by playing on the ground in his home country. So, he signed the lowest annual salary (24 million won). At that time, Hanwha’s annual salary of 600 million won was donated to the youth and perhaps baseball development fund. Long after his heyday, Park Chan-ho played for Hanwha for only one year and was a bit sluggish with an average ERA of 5.06 with 5-10 losses.
But Choo Shin-soo is different. The skills of eight major league teams were not rusted enough to covet. Last season, due to the aftermath of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and a ligament injury in the right hand, he was not able to show his skills, but in 2019, just two years ago, he was competitive enough to hit 24 homers and hit an on-base ratio of 0.371. In an interview, he himself revealed that it was not a’service’ in Korea. He said, “I wanted to show Korean fans my good skills even when I was one year old.” “I felt that the major league clubs were strong enough to send love calls, so I could choose to go to Korea.”
SK coach Kim Won-hyung also indicated his intention to appoint Choo Shin-soo as an outfielder. It is not known how much active life will continue in the future as we enter our 40s, but experts believe that the effect of increasing power will be evident in the Shinsegae club right away.
Sung Hwanhee reporter [email protected]
News directly edited by the Hankook Ilbo can also be viewed on Naver.
