"Striking Him Out or Not"

“Do I have to give up a hit or strike him out? I have been thinking about that a lot.” (Seo Jae-eung).

“Brother, I was your junior in school. Take care of me.” (Choi Hee-seop)

Seo Jae-eung (26, New York Mets) and Choi Hee-seop (24, Florida Marlins), who were senior and junior classmates both in Major League Baseball and at Gwangju-il high school, met at the Adidas Baseball Camp held in Namhae Sports Park on December 4. They assembled together for the first time this year to teach baseball to kids. They also engaged in a verbal battle to tell their fans of their expected activities next season.

Seo’s New York Mets and Choi’s new team, the Florida Marlins, are both National League East Division teams. Seo has secured a regular starting pitching role this season, and Choi will also be the new first baseman after recently being traded there. Therefore, they inevitably will have to face each other.

First, Seo called “Check.” He courteously got on Choi’s nerves saying, “I will throw the ball with ease and not dig into his weak points. Of course I know Choi is weak at hitting a big curve.”

Later on, Choi saved Seo’s face, giving him recognition by saying, “I watched Seo’s game on TV frequently, gosh his pitches are not the same as before. He is a really good pitcher,” Choi called “Checkmate,” recalling a memorable time at Gwangju-il high school.

“When I was in high school, one day Seo said, ‘I will throw a fast ball, hit that’ so I hit a homerun. Then he said ‘I said hit the ball, but not a homerun!’ and yelled at me.”

The two attended the event on the invitation from Adidas, the official sponsor from this year, to teach about 100 elementary students basic baseball skills, along with SK players such as Lee Seung-ho, Chae Jong-bum, Chae byung-ryung and Yang Hyun-suk on this day.

Choi’s parents (Choi Chan-yong, Yang Myung-soon), Seo’s father Seo Byung-gwan, Park Tae-bum, who is Choi’s former teacher at Song-jung Elementary School, and Park Tae-young, who is Seo’s old teacher at Hwa-jung Elementary School, also attended this event as they watched these two with big smiles.

Choi’s former teacher Park Tae-bum said, “When he was young, Choi was nicknamed ’Yankee’. Now he really went to the Major Leagues. His everlasting brightness and positive thinking may be the key to his success in the United States.” Choi Chan-yong, Choi’s father, went down from Gwangju to Namhae, driving a Hyundai Santa Fe car which Choi recently gave to him as a present.

Meanwhile Lee Chi-hoon, his agent, said, “In Florida, Choi will wear number 25 which Derrek Lee (who was traded to Chicago Cubs for Choi) had worn.”

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com