Kim Kyung-moon (66), a charismatic leader representing the KBO league, is now transforming into a leader who approaches players first.룸알바
Coach Kim is a leader who has a strong sense of control over the team. Baseball players who had been in the same team with Coach Kim in the past talked about his charisma together.
“He is the godfather of baseball,” Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop (48) said. “He believes in the players, but he doesn’t. He has more aura than fear because he has the charisma of a coach. He can bring his players together.”
NC Dinos manager Kang In-kwon, 52, who was coached by Kim when he was a player, recalled, “I moved to Doosan around 31 years old, but I had never practiced like that until I turned 30. They made me do a lot.” Still, he said, “They made me understand why I have to practice, and they clearly told me what I should do as a senior.”
Based on this dominance, Kim has long been a leader of Doosan (2004-2011) and NC (2012-2018) before making outstanding achievements. Doosan spent eight seasons leading its team to the postseason six times, and advanced to the Korean Series three times (2005, 2007, and 2008). NC also joined the team as its founding coach and led its team to the fall baseball league four times, including two runner-up teams in the regular season. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kim won the gold medal by winning all nine games.
Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon encourages his players during the game. /Photo = Kim Jin-kyung Waiting for You
There were some notable scenes after Kim, who was so charismatic, took the helm of Hanwha on the 3rd. During the game, I talked with the players and made a lot of gestures. When Choi Jae-hoon went out to the ground with a hit ball twice in the game on the 5th, he comforted him.
Is there a reason why Kim’s physical contact increased? “I’ve been going out a lot, and all the players have told me it’s difficult,” Kim said ahead of a game against NC on Tuesday. “In the past, I was doing nothing, and I was like, ‘Why are you saying it’s so difficult?'” Kim smiled. He knows about his image.
Veteran players such as Choi Jae-hoon and Ryu Hyun-jin, who have worked with Kim in the past, are aware of him. However, since he has been away from the KBO league for six years, younger players do not know much about Kim. “I tell the players not to be afraid. I try to make them more comfortable. They have their own 30-year-old players, but for those in their early 20s, I think it will be very difficult for them. I would have asked my friends.” “I watched them on TV, but there are many players I don’t know either,” he said.
“I have to touch them more so that they can think of me comfortably and understand what I have in mind. That way, I think good baseball will come out,” Kim said.
This was the thought I felt while away from the scene for a while. “As I was leaving, I was so careful about winning,” Kim said. “If you think about it, why does the coach have to think about it and finish it off? He has said good things to the players and is doing his best to do things that he has not been able to do before.” The thought was derived from such gratitude because Hanwha gave me an opportunity.
Hanwha Lee Min-woo (far left) is going down the mound against KT in Suwon on the 6th.
As he approached younger players first, he gave “courtesy” to middle-aged and middle-aged players. Ahead of the match, Hanwha removed Lee Min-woo, who played the role of a must-win team for this season, from the entry of the first team. Lee took the mound against KT in Suwon on the 6th, but gave up a hit and a walk against the two batters before leaving the mound.
“I took three days off and saw my arm swing was not good. I knew his swing when I saw him, but it wasn’t good,” Kim said of Lee. “I couldn’t change my ball, and my fastball didn’t hit my ball,” he said. As the ball was not good enough to meet Kim’s standards, he was excluded from the roster.
“(Lee) Min-woo has contributed to the team. He is not a young player either. I will not send him to the second team and make more players here (in the first team).” “It would be disappointing if I just told him to go. The players all have reasons. When I told him that, he suggested ‘Let’s build a body with the players here and see each other in 10 days,’ he accepted the offer well.”