ⓒ JoongAng Ilbo / JoongAng Ilbo Japanese version2023.01.23 11:15
The World Baseball Classic (WBC), which determines the world’s strongest, is back. The WBC is the only tournament in which major leaguers participate. Starting from March 8th, the first round will be held in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan.
The WBC is the tournament that revived the popularity of the KBO (Korean Professional Baseball) league in the early 2000s. Korea’s representative players appeared and showed the competitiveness of Korean baseball in international competitions. However, the last two tournaments ended with disappointing results. Let’s take a look back at the past four tournaments that brought joy and disappointment to Korean baseball.
The top 4 players including Park Chan-ho, Lee Seung-yeop, and Lee Jong-beom
The WBC is a tournament led by the MLB Secretariat and the MLB Players’ Union. Unlike the World Cup hosted by the International Football Federation (FIFA), major leaguers did not participate in the Baseball World Cup held by the IBAF (International Baseball Federation, the predecessor of the World Baseball Softball Federation). After baseball disappeared from the Olympics, MLB started WBC because of baseball’s popularity.
Korea, whose popularity of baseball had fallen, used the WBC as an opportunity to make another leap forward. Director Kim In-sik holds the baton, Kim Jae-bak, Sun Dong-yeol, Ryu Jun-il, Cho Bum-hyun, and Ryu Ji-hyun. (Yoo Ji Hyun) and other professional team directors and coaches participated as staff. Starting with Park Chan-ho, who belonged to the San Diego Padres, Kim Byung-hyun, Seo Jae-eun, Bong Jung-geun, Kim Sun-woo, and Choi Hee-seop. Hye-seop), Koo Dae-sung and seven other major leaguers participated. “National hitter” Lee Seung-yeop, who transferred to the Yomiuri Giants, joined here. Talented players such as Lee Jong-beom, Kim Dong-ju, Lee Byung-gyu, Son Min-han, and Jeong Dae-hyun were selected from the domestic group.
In the first round, Kim In-sik-ho, who held off Park Chan-ho as a pitcher, beat Taiwan, China, and Japan successively. Especially in the final match against Japan, `National right fielder` Lee Jin-young played a good defense, and in the top of the 8th inning, when the team was trailing 1-2, Lee Seung-yeop scored a come-from-behind 2-run to win the come-from-behind victory. Although it was revealed later that it was somewhat distorted, the scene where Park Chan-ho restrained Ichiro, who made a “30-year remark,” was also impressive.
Korea showed momentum in the second round as well. Starting pitcher Seo Jae-eung made a good pitch to beat Mexico, and even beat the United States. The United States, the baseball suzerain, had an all-star lineup that included Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones and Ken Griffey Jr. In the second match against Japan, Lee Jong-beom’s 2-run hit in the 8th inning led to a 2-1 win.
But in the third match against Japan, I couldn’t laugh. It was 0-0 until the 5th inning in the semi-finals, but lost a lot of points in the 6th inning and missed the final. Despite losing to South Korea twice, Japan advanced to the final and grabbed the first championship.
◆Taegeukgi myth on the mound of Tokyo Dome
Korean baseball won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 2001 World Youth Champions (Edmonton Kids), including Lee Dae-ho, Kim Tae-kyun, Jung Geun-woo, and Oh Seung-hwan, became the main players. Young players such as Ryu Hyun-jin, Kim Kwang-hyun, Yoon Seok-min, and Kim Hyun-soo joined the team, and it was a fruitful result. And the next year, in 2009, he faced the world’s strongest team again at the WBC. Coach Kim In-sik once again led the Korean national team.
The Korean national team that participated in the 2nd WBC was almost the same as the members of the Beijing Olympics. Choo Shin-soo, who received permission from his team, the Cleveland Indians, joined the team as a designated hitter. Although Park Chan-ho, Lee Seung-yeop, and Lee Jong-beom were all out, expectations for the national team were still high.
The WBC introduced a double-elimination format and first-place play-off for the second tournament. As a result, the teams that ended up in the same group in the first round faced each other up to five times. In fact, Korea-Japan wars were held five times.
In the first match of the first round, Korea Rep. lost to Japan 2-14. It was suppressed by starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. However, in the 1st and 2nd place match, Bong Jung-geun pitched well and won 1-0 to get revenge. The two countries met again in the second round winners’ match. Bong Jung-geun held off the Japanese batters again this time, and Korea came first in the quarter-finals. The Korean players put up the Korean national flag on the mound of the Tokyo Dome, a symbol of Japanese baseball.
South Korea lost 6-2 in the first place match. However, they defeated Venezuela 10-2 in the semi-finals held in the United States and advanced to the finals. Starting pitcher Yun Seok-min pitched well, and Choo Shin-soo and Kim Tae-gyun hit home runs.
The opponent in the final is Japan. With 2 wins and 2 losses, we will meet again on the highest stage. Bong Jung-geun also started for South Korea and Hisashi Iwakuma for Japan. Korea gave up the first goal, but Jeong Hyun-wook and Ryu Hyun-jin, who pitched well after that, continued the close game. In the 8th inning, with a 1-3 lead, Korea scored with Lee Dae-ho’s sacrifice fly, and Lee Bum-ho’s timely hit from first and second base with two outs in the ninth inning finally tied the game.
In the top of the 10th extra inning, Lim Chang-young, who had been trusted by Ichiro, gave Ichiro a 2 RBI double, and in the end, the championship cup went to Japan. However, the strength that Korean baseball showed gave a great impression to the people. The Beijing Olympics and the WBC’s good fight brought in new fans, and promising players called “Beijing Kids” grabbed bats and gloves. The rising popularity of baseball led to the establishment of the 9th team, NC Dinos, and the 10th team, KT Wiz.
WBC (2) that gave joy and disappointment to Korean baseball
