Choo Shin-soo (SSG)’s bat renews his momentum. He left a meaningful footprint in the game against Lotte in Busan on Sunday. He had a hit in his second at-bat. It was the moment when Choo hit the 2,000-hit mark in his Korean-U.S. career. After receiving the ball, Choo showed off a light kiss ceremony. “Many people were interested in me. I received a lot of congratulatory calls from my friends around me. I was a little embarrassed,” he said. “It felt like someone was coordinating baseball from the sky. It felt like a set script.”안전놀이터
Was it the ninth baseman? He has suffered a poor batting performance recently. He has been empty-handed for eight consecutive games since the match against Kia in Incheon on Tuesday. “When our team hits a hit, don’t they have a ceremony (to draw an L shape with their fingers)? I really wanted to do that,” Choo said. There must have been some aftermath from his injury that he suffered right after the opening game. In the opening game at home against Lotte on April 23, he was hit on the finger by a check ball thrown by Aaron Wilkerson, the starting pitcher of the opposing team. The ring finger of his right hand has been confirmed as incontinence. He returned to the primary league entry in 16 days. He made a comeback faster than expected.
Is there a hit that you remember the most? “I think it was my first hit in the Major League Baseball (MLB). I remember that I broke my bat because I missed it,” Choo said. It was 2005 when he was playing for the Seattle Mariners. He hit an emotional hit as a pinch hitter against the Los Angeles Angels on May 4. The soundtracked even more as he endured bread soaked in tears and went up step by step. “Thanks to those times, I think I was able to overcome bad things. I think I gained strength,” Choo reflected.
He had a total of 1,671 hits in 16 seasons in the U.S. through 2020. If it weren’t for the novel coronavirus infection disease (COVID-19), which hit the entire world, another picture might have unfolded. At that time, the opening of the league was not only postponed, but it was also reduced. He shifted to Korea from 2021. “The pandemic lasted about two years. If it weren’t for that, I would have played in the U.S. for two to three more years,” Choo said. “Before then, I was thinking that I would have had 2,000 hits in the big leagues.”
Coincidentally, he achieved 2,000 hits in his hometown of Busan. Sajik Baseball Stadium is the place where he dreamed of becoming a baseball player, which he often visited with his uncle when he was a child. He will have memories everywhere. “I used to come to the stadium almost every day. Busan fans are amazing. They are the driving force behind me in playing baseball until now,” he explained. “I feel sorry (to set a new record against Lotte) and I feel like I am conveying the message that ‘I grew up well.'”
This year marks the last year that I will be able to see Choo Shin-soo. He has started the last dance of the year. He is not in the same physical condition as before. “I want to play baseball for the rest of my life,” Choo said. “Throughout my career, I had so many injuries. When I entered the game last year, I couldn’t think of anything else. I had to fight with a pitcher for some time, but I kept getting bothered by the bad parts.” Wouldn’t it be regrettable if the number of games decreases? “I still don’t have much awareness about it,” Choo said.