Waving to your daughter after hitting a back-to-back home run.
The power of fatherhood
“I haven’t seen my daughter in a long time, so it feels great to hit a home run in front of her”
That’s what Kim Min-sung (35), who hit a back-to-back home run in the bottom of the seventh inning off Oh Ji-hwan to give the Hanwha Eagles a 5-1 victory over the LG Twins in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ game at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, told LG fans during an interview.
That’s right. In that game, Kim batted sixth and had the best day of his career, going 2-for-3 with one home run, one RBI and one run scored in front of his beloved daughter.
His back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the seventh inning were the highlight of the game. With LG leading 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, leadoff hitter Oh Ji-hwan hit a home run over the right field fence off Hanwha’s Lee Min-woo. Oh’s home run sent the stadium into a frenzy.
Next up to bat was Kim Min-sung. After seeing the first pitch, Kim pulled hard on a 136-kilometer cutter and launched a 115-meter home run over the fence behind left field. After hitting the home run, Kim’s steps were lighter than ever. As he crossed the plate, he raised his hand to the crowd and smiled before Coach Lee Jong-beom finished congratulating him. His daughter, Dami Yang, was watching. The first thing he did was to give his beloved daughter a ceremonial wave.
And as she watched the crowd of 20,369 chant her father’s name in unison, “Kim Min Sung Kim Min Sung Kim Min Sung,” she smiled at her proud father. For Kim, it was perhaps the most precious moment of all.
LG heated up Jamsil Bee with home runs from Austin, Kim Hyun-soo, and Oh Ji-hwan on the day, and Kim’s back-to-back home run was the decisive blow that sealed the victory.
After hitting the game-winning home run, Kim was honored after the game and took the podium to interact with LG fans. ”I think I showed a good performance for the first time in a long time, and my daughter has been here for a long time, so it feels great to hit a home run in front of her,” Kim said, once again expressing her love for her daughter. 스포츠토토
Meanwhile, Kim has been playing like an Altoran this season, batting .265 with 62 hits, seven home runs, a .402 on-base percentage and a .740 OPS in limited playing time. He started the season as a backup second baseman, but when Oh went down with an injury early in the season, he filled in perfectly at the unfamiliar shortstop position. Since then, he’s played every position in the infield, giving LG a huge boost. He is currently starting at third base in place of Moon Bo-kyung, who has been called up to the Hangzhou Asian Games baseball team.
Kim Min-sung was previously coached by Yeom Kyung-yup at Nexen, where he hit double-digit home runs (15) for the first time in his seven-year career and had a triple-digit batting average for the second straight year in 2015 and 2016. And this season, after a seven-year hiatus, he reunited with his manager and made a perfect comeback.
Kim Min-sung will be eligible for free agency for the second time after this season. With his current form, he’ll be able to stay warm this winter.