First fall baseball catcher to be a commander – a legendary meeting
The Wild Card (WC)
Deciding game between the NC Dinos and Doosan Bears will be played as a ‘rookie manager’s game’.
NC, which finished fourth in the regular season, and Doosan, which finished fifth,
will meet at NC Park in Changwon on April 19 to decide the wild card. NC only
needs one win to qualify for the semi-finals. Doosan needs to win Game 1 to take
the series to Game 2, and then take Game 2 to qualify for the semifinals.
Both NC manager Kang Myung-ho and Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop are
“rookie managers” who made their first official managerial appearance this year.
They are the only two managers invited to participate in fall baseball.
They are both in similar situations in fall baseball, but their paths are very
different. Kang came to the head coaching position after a long career as a player, while Lee has never coached before.
Kang Mhyung Hyun
Who played catcher as a player, turned pro in 1995 and played 12 seasons in the
Korean Baseball Organization, including stints with the Hanwha Eagles (1995-2000) and Doosan Bears (2002-2006).
In his career, Kang played in 710 games, batting .244 with eight home runs and
119 RBIs. Despite his poor batting performance, he shined as a defensive catcher
with his reliable pitching and ball placement. He shared a no-hitter with Jung
Min-chul in 1997 and Song Jin-woo in 2000.
Shortly after retiring as a player, Kang became the coach of Doosan’s second
team battery and went on to coach for Doosan, NC, and Hanwha. He has coached
Yang Yang-ji, who is currently one of the best catchers in the league, NC catcher
Park Se-hyuk, and KIA Tigers catcher Kim Tae-gun.
Kang took over as acting manager after Lee Dong-wook was fired in May last year
and quickly stabilized the team. He finished the season with a sixth-place finish,
taking the team from last place to the top of the standings.
Lee
Is a self-explanatory KBO legend. Despite playing in Nippon Professional Baseball
for eight years (2004-2011), he hit 467 home runs in the KBO. He is the all-time
home run leader, and no one has yet surpassed him.
His record for most home runs in a single season (56 in 2003) remains unbroken.
During his career, he was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) five times and led
the league in home runs five times. He also won the Golden Glove 10 times.
After retiring, he stayed close to the game as a commentator and Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) ambassador, but never coached.
Doosan signed Lee for three years and a total of 1.8 billion won ($300 million in
signing bonus and $500 million in annual salary). Despite his lack of coaching
experience, the team honored Lee, a former superstar, by giving him the best deal for a rookie coach in history.
Kang has plenty of postseason experience as a coach and Lee as a player, but this
is the first time they’ll be playing fall baseball as managers.
Neither NC nor Doosan are in a great mood right now. They were in a three-way
tie for third place with SSG Landers until the end of the season, when they faltered and finished fourth or fifth.
NC lost their ace Eric Peddie, who dominated the league this season, to injury
after he was hit by a pitch on his right arm against the KIA Tigers on April 16. Park
Gun-woo, the leading hitter, was included in the roster but is not fully healthy.
He complained of knee pain during the game on the 16th and was removed from
the first team roster on the 17th, the last day of the regular season.
Doosan
Was also without ace Raul Alcantara, who started against SSG on the 16th. Catcher Yang Ji-do, who is considered half of the team, also suffered from nagging injuries throughout the season.
The lack of full strength has made the role of the manager even more important. NC went with Tanner Tully and Doosan went with Kwak-Bin Kwak as their Game 1 starter. Who will be the smiling manager in their fall baseball debuts? 카지노사이트존