Ryu Hyun-jin joins the Crack Cancer Challenge

South Korean Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin willingly got an egg broken on his head as part of a campaign to help children with brain tumor.

Dodgers’ third baseman Justin Turner posted a footage on Friday regarding his joining the Crack Cancer Challenge on his Twitter account. After smashing eggs on the next person’s head, each athlete nominated another. Getting an egg smashed on his head by Joc Pederson, Ryu put his head down, yelling “Oh.” Smiling back, he nominated Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Kang Jung-ho and smashed an egg with a thud sound on the head of Dodgers’ pitcher Rich Hill.

The Crack Cancer Challenge is designed by the Willie Strong Foundation to raise public awareness of pediatric brain tumor and encourage donations for patients. A person smashes an egg on someone else and nominate the next person who joins the campaign. The Ice Bucket Challenge is practiced the same way, which went viral several years ago, to help Lou Gehrig's disease. Sharing the footage on his social media account, Ryu asked for attention and support of children suffering from brain tumor.

Ryu will hunt for his 7th victory of the season and become a South Korean Major leaguer with the longest scoreless innings streak (33 winnings) in an away game with Pittsburg on Sunday.


Seung-Kun Lee why@donga.com