In response to the death of former coach Kim Young-deok, Ilgu Chairman Kim Gwang-soo suddenly recalled a phone call scene 42 years ago.
Kim Gwang-soo, chairman of Ilgu, was the first member of the OB Bears in 1982, when professional baseball was launched. Chairman Kim said, “When I was playing for the Nonghyup baseball team, I received a call from the manager. He called me directly and said, “Let’s do it together because there will be a professional baseball game.”
Former manager Kim, who passed away on the 21st at the age of 87, left behind a history of putting OB, who was a last-place candidate in the first year of the KBO League, to the top. After joining the team as an OB second baseman, Chairman Kim also drank champagne that won the championship in the first year, which was difficult to dream of when he joined the team. Chairman Kim said, “Looking back now, the coach paid enough attention to the new structure of the team to create an overall team atmosphere. He said, “As he moved senior Kim Woo-yeol and Yoon Dong-gyun, who were seniors, he united the team.”
On the 22nd, the Lunar New Year’s Day, Chairman Kim and former coach Seong-geun Kim visited the funeral home at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. Former director Kim Seong-geun also has a special relationship with the deceased. Former coach Kim Seong-geun first met former coach Kim Young-deok in 1959, when he was a third-year student at Katsura High School in Kyoto, Japan. At the time, former coach Kim Young-deok, who played for the Nankai Hawks of the Japanese professional baseball team, extended a helping hand, including supplies, to former coach Kim Seong-geun, a Korean-Japanese player. Since then, the relationship is deep enough that they have been neighbors for a while in Korea.
Former manager Kim Young-deok started his career in Korea when he joined Korea Shipping Corporation in 1964, when former manager Kim Seong-geun was already playing for IBK. Regarding the deceased, former coach Kim Seong-geun said, “At the time, he was an uncommon sidearm pitcher, and he threw the slider and sinker for the first time in Korea. He made a new path for pitchers,” he said. “It is time for our country to lag behind. He is the one who made it possible to fight on an equal footing with Japan.”
In fact, in the 1960s, when former coaches Kim Young-deok and Kim Seong-geun, as well as Korean-Japanese players such as Bae Su-chan and Shin Yong-gyun, joined Korean unemployment baseball, the aspect of the Korea-Japan game changed. After standing at the top of the Asian Championship for the first time in 1963, Korea pushed out Japan and increased the number of victories in 1971 and 1975 when they became leaders.
Former manager Kim Young-deok started his career as an acting manager in 1969 as an acting manager for Hanil Bank, where he played as a player. Even after his professional start, he served as the manager of OB (1982 ~ 1983), Samsung (1984 ~ 1986), and Binggrae (1988 ~ 1993). Former coach Kim Seong-geun said, “He also made a picture of himself as a manager.” If it’s a strong feeling, director Kim Young-deok said, “There was a difference between strength and softness coexisting.” 바카라
Lee Sang-gun, head coach of Bukil High School in Cheonan, is a baseball player who personally experienced the leadership of his late father. He rejected schools in the Seoul area and chose Cheonan Bukil High School in 1978 because of the recommendation of former coach Kim Young-deok, who was in charge of the Bukil High School baseball team that year. Lee, who later met former manager Kim while playing for professional baseball Binggrae, said, “He is like a father to me. He was very strict in training, but he had a lot of discipline.” Head coach Lee, Jung-hoon Lee, Jin-woo Song, Yong-deok Han, Sang-guk Kim, Min-cheol Jung, and other key players at the time of Binggrae sent gifts to former coach Kim on Teacher’s Day every year. Even so, he said, “I am always sorry.”
Former coach Kim left a brilliant career with a career win rate of 0.596 (707 wins, 20 draws, 480 losses) as a professional coach. Following his first professional championship, in 1985, he also wrote the history of winning the combined championship in the prewar period as the Samsung command tower. However, even after advancing to the Korean Series twice at Samsung and four times at Binggrae, they all remained runner-up. Coach Lee Sang-goon, who was a right-hander ace in the heyday of Binggrae, said, “I always think of regret for not being able to win the Korean Series first.” Memories of ‘baseball player Kim Yeong-deok’ lead to various branches like this. The footprints the deceased left in Korean baseball are so deep and wide.