Lee Seung-yeop as a Baseball Commentator

Lee Seung-yeop (30), who will continue with Yomiuri after signing a large contract of three billion yen (about 24 billion won) for four years, will become a baseball commentator.

Lee will work with KBS’ Lee Yong-chul, a professional baseball commentator, and sportscaster Kim Hyun-tae in a game between Samsung and Nippon Ham in the Konami Cup Asia Series, which will be held at the Tokyo Dome on November 9. This is the first time for Lee to be a commentator since his debut with Samsung in 1995.

Lee Seung-yeop, in an interview with Sports Hochi via the internet on November 7, said, “I want to enjoy the difference between playing games and commenting. I’d like to have this experience.”

Lee Yong-chul said, “We were talking over the phone, and Seung-yeop first suggested joint commentating, saying, ‘I saw Cha Du-ri as a soccer commentator in the World Cup. Isn’t there anything like that in baseball? It would be fun if we could do this together.’” He added, “Lee Seung-yeop might be the first active baseball player to do this. Although the Central League (the league in which Lee is playing) and the Pacific League (to which Nippon Ham belongs) are different, he know the Japanese players very well, so I think we can provide profound analyses.”

Lee Seung-yeop said, “There are many of my seniors in Samsung, which makes me nervous. I think it will be very different from the ground and be a good chance to broaden my perspective.”

Lee played against his former team Samsung as a member of Lotte, the winner of the Japan Series last year, in the first Konami Cup Asia Series last year.

uni@donga.com