“Choi, Get Ready!”

Choi Hee-syup (age 24) of Chicago Cubs is making an appearance as a starting player in opening exhibition game of U.S. professional baseball league.

On 25th February, Head Coach Dusty Baker of the Cubs has informed through team trainer for Choi to prepare as a starting player. Choi will make his appearance as a First Baseman and a fifth batter.

On 28th in the Scottsdale Stadium, the Chicago will have an exhibition game against the San Francisco. The highlight of this match is competition between two homerun hitters, Sammy Sosa (Chicago) and Barry Bonds (San Francisco).

Choi will line up as a fifth batter after Sosa (third) and Mozes Alru (fourth). He will have chance to show off his skills which he sharpened through the winter. It means a lot for Head Coach Baker to send out Choi in this match. It could mean more reliance on Choi over Eric Keros who was scouted from Los Angeles Dodgers.

Choi and San Francisco have long attachment. When Choi appeared in the Major League spring camp on 2nd March 2001 for the first time, he made a deep impression by hitting a 3-point homerun as a replacement batter in the same Scottsdale Stadium game.

“If the starting is good, what comes next will be good too,” says cheerful Choi.

Meanwhile in the Florida Marlin’s camp, Lee Seung-yup (Samsung) and Shim Jung-su (Hyundai) had rival match of their own. They both appeared as a third batter in the opposing teams. Shim scored two hitters and a safe hit, while Lee scored a hitter with no safe hit. Shim made his debut with a left safe hit.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com