Lee Seung-yeop says, “I can’t see any successors of me.”

“There are no successors for me in Korean baseball.”

Lee Seung-yeop (28, Chiba Lotte Marines), entering Japan Pro-baseball league, made a surprising announcement that there is not such a guy who substitute himself as a ‘post Lee Seung-yeop’. He confessed lately in an interview, “I have not seen any player in both pro and amateur who can succeed me.”

‘Post Lee Seung-yeop’ is a kind of task which Korean Pro-baseball have to solve this year. ‘The next man after Lee Seung-yeop’ shoud be provided to fans in order to make up the blink of Lee Seung-yeop, who brought fans into a baseball stadium. At this point of time, his statement is shocking.

He explained, “The guy who will succeed me should have various conditions not to mention a baseball talent. They include his personal life and character. And he also needs to have a strong mind, which is an essential one for a sports player.”

It may sound rather arrogant. It says that he has been almost perfect both in and out of ground. As he has been modest, he expressed how much he is confident of himself.

Several players have been mentioned as his successor, in the meantime. Among them, there is Hanhwa Kim Tae-kyun (22) as the closest player to the ‘next Lee Seung-yeop’. Kim, who entered pro league right after he graduated from high school and is first baseman same as Lee, got the 2001 rookie title and hit 31 homeruns (the 6th place) with 0.319 batting average (7th) and 95 RBIs (7th) last season.

However Lee shook his head saying, “Kim is a good player, but he’s not mentally sufficient.”

Left hitter SK Lee Jin-young and LG Park Yong-taek are talented with batting but are not good at slugging which can attract fans. Hyundai Shim Jeong-soo, possessing both batting power and mentality, is supposed to leave Korean baseball stage next year.

It maybe takes long time to fill up the blank of Lee Seung-yeop.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com