I love the green field, and I’m going to make enough money to pay for dinner and transportation. The unthinkable happened to the second-year high school baseball pitcher who became a ball boy at Jamsil Baseball Stadium.
It’s the afternoon of the 27th at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. The Doosan Bears were practicing for their final game of a three-game weekend series against the SSG Landers when a strange boy stood out among the professional players.
Skinny but athletic, with a tanned face and short haircut. It was obvious that he was a high school baseball player. The young student played catch with the Doosan players and helped clean up the grounds with other training assistants after practice. With a big smile on his face, he greeted each person he met on the field with an insistent greeting.
The boy is Kim Ji-yoon (17), a sophomore on the baseball team at Bucheon High School. This year, he pitched in two games for the Golden Lions and the second half of the High School Baseball Weekend League (Game B). While the phoenix tournament, the last high school baseball tournament in 2023, is still in full swing, Bucheon High School wrapped up this year’s tournament schedule, which began in March, with a 3-7 loss in the first game against Wonju on the 18th.
Before preparing for next year’s season with the sophomore class leading the way, the Bucheon baseball team was given a short vacation. The free time was like honey at an age when you want to play, but Kim Ji-yoon didn’t hesitate to volunteer with the Jamsil Baseball Field Ballboys.
“I love being on the baseball field,” he smiles, “and I thought I could earn money for dinner and transportation for the baseball team’s activities, so I asked my parents for permission to volunteer with Volvo.
There are 30 official ballboys at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which is shared by Doosan and LG. Every day, two training ballboys and six game ballboys are needed. Of the 30, whichever one fits the schedule that day is sent to the field. Kim, who appeared as a ballboy for the first time last week, is not yet part of the official pool of 30, but is on a kind of probationary status that allows him to be used when a spot becomes available. He needs to build up his experience to be included in the full pool.
After applying to be a ball boy, Kim was assigned to two games as a ball boy. But on the second day, he had a dream. He arrived at the stadium two hours before the 6 p.m. game, but it was 12 p.m. When he went straight to the field, Doosan’s Heo Kyung-min, Kim Jae-hwan, and Kang Seung-ho were already training.
Kim’s stern greeting was met with interest from all three players, who simultaneously asked, “Are you a baseball team?” Were they surprised that a high school baseball player came to work on his day off? Heo Kyung-min handed his glove to Kim and invited him to train with him.
The amazing experience continued. While Kim was playing catch with Kim Jae-hwan, pitching coach Kwon Myung-cheol approached him and said, “I have a good pitcher for you,” and introduced him to Heo Kyung-min. Coach Kwon asked Kim to throw a ball and gave him a one-on-one lesson on the spot. He then took Kim to play catch with the Doosan pitchers.
It didn’t end there. After the pitching session, Choi Won-jun was heading to the dugout when he saw Kim sitting in the shade of the fence, out of the sun, and said, “Come with me.” Choi took him to the locker room. I was touched by Choi Won-joon’s consideration to cool off. As he walked out of the locker room, he bumped into Kim Dong-ju, who was shadow pitching with a towel in the indoor practice area. The black-haired boy greeted him cheerfully. “Do you want to train with me?” 토토사이트
It was an unforgettable experience. On the 27th (Sunday), I couldn’t play ballboy because there were no vacancies, but Kim came to the ballpark again. I greeted him with gratitude, watched him train, threw with him, and helped him.
When interviewed, seventeen-year-old Kim’s words resonated. “I’m not a great player right now, so when I train, I always think I’m the last (of all the players) and I do my best. I think training to the best of my ability is the most basic way I treat the job of being an athlete.”
Speaking of “last” and “best,” Kim’s dream is to become a “permanent fixture. And for now, his hope is to be included in the 30-person Jamsil Ballpark official ball boy staff.