Kim Jin, Coach of Orions, Uses Clever “Card Tactics”

A curious scene used to be shown often during the Korean Baseball League’s Orions games. Kim Jin (42), coach of the Orions, sometimes stands up, picks up and shakes a stack of cards during the game. Observant spectators may have seen this.

The more interesting thing is that the movements of players change differently if he does it. The offensive tactics changes greatly as if it was already set up. This is why the coach uses these cards.

Coach Kim keeps eight different colors of cards in the inner pocket of his suit securely. These cards are Kim’s special methods to convey his unique strategy. The neatly coated cards, 8 cm wide and 20 cm long, were made by himself.

He mentioned, “I usually have trouble giving my tactics verbally when there is too much noise. I began to use cards because I thought I didn’t have to yell to give orders.”

Three cards with red, yellow and black from last season increased to five kinds and then finally to eight kinds this season. He explained that he chose strong colors which can be seen easily.

What is the effect of “eight colorful cards” then?

He said, “I am very satisfied. They don’t waste time because communication is made instantly.”

In the past, players sometimes miss hand signals or the orders of the coach. It would be critical if even a couple of seconds are wasted at the end of a close game.

The well-known star of Orions, Kim Byung-chul, said, “I can read the coach’s mind with the cards even if it’s noisy.”

If Coach Kim holds up a red card for example, players shout “red, red” together and conduct an organized offensive. They have trained with different offensive strategies according to the colors repeatedly during the off-season.

However, at each following round of play, the code is changed because it may be stolen and read by an opponent if the card pattern is shown often in a long-term race just like a “sign steal” in baseball.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com