[Opinion] Mighty Spirit of Baseball

Craze for heroes of sport is much correlated with the social situation of the times. When people have stronger desire to escape from their gloomy reality and uncertain future, they tend to be venerably immersed in heroes that sport creates. Analyzing the zeal of last year`s World Cup that spread from the youth, we could read other implications, such as their concerns and desires. Japan is now heated with excitement as Hanshin Tigers, which had always been at the bottom of the Japanese professional baseball league, has won the league. There was even an analysis that it would stimulate 6 trillion won of economy. It even makes us wonder why and how such a thing could drive Japanese that wild.

In fact, the 18 year awaited victory of Hanshin has dramatic elements. It had always been the very last for 4 years in a row, from 1998 until 2001, and the players were numbed over trains of defeats. They, however, returned to the ground with much confidence this year, unlike before. The percentage of victories in the early season was even 0.720. It could be confidently said the champion had virtually been decided. Fans of Osaka, Hanshin`s home city, filled their home ground of over 50,000 seats completely every single match to respond their home team`s brilliant performance. It was a typical Cinderella story.

Manager Hoshino Senich is the protagonist behind the happy-ending story. Since he became the manager of Hanshin two year ago, many corporations of Japan have been busy to apply to their companies by analyzing his leadership. It is similar to the post-World Cup movement among Korean companies that briskly tried to follow the leadership of Gus Hidink as a benchmark. Hoshinoism, that suggests Hoshino style management has become a coined word in Japan. Philosophy of Hoshino can be summarized as `super-charged sprit of baseball`, in other words, reinforced mental strength. Hoshno, who is well known of his harsh scolding to players, has two principles. Firstly, he even harshly reprimands players who earn more money and coaching staff who have greater responsibilities. Secondly, after rebuking, he never misses not to give a chance to retrieve.

If you look deep into the fever of Hanshin Tigers, you can find that it reflects Japan`s social atmosphere that longs for a strong leadership. Japanese have long been frustrated by Japan`s long depression. In particular, they feel sick of impotent politicians. They, however, have now found some potential in the victory of Hanshin this year. Thus, some even argue Hoshino, who has got powerful charisma, should become a politician. This sounds familiar to the voice that comes out of our thirst over the lack of leadership in Korea. Politics is always a headache all over the world. Where shall we find our hope from?

Hong Chan-sik, Editorial Writer chansik@donga.com