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Lee Seung-hak
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After 6 years on rookie teams and small towns, Korean player returns home
Despite the $1.15 million signing fee received by Lee Seung-hak, a 28-year-old South Korean pitcher, to join the Philadelphia Phillies rookie team in 2001, bad memories still linger from his time spent playing baseball in the U.S. He was recruited as a senior at Seoul’s Dangook University. After six years playing baseball in the U.S., Lee never set foot in a Major League game. "In recent years, I played quite well, but they didn't call me." He continued, "I don’t want to recall those days." When he was bumped down to the triple A league three years later after the Phillies chose not to promote him to their regular team roster, his salary was about $2,000 a month for the Scranton Red Barons. As a result, nothing was left in his pocket after he paid various expenses, including the $15 locker fee. He received his salary during mid-season, so he had to live solely on money left over from his signing bonus three years earlier.Hamburgers were usually all that was offered the players for lunch, so whenever he was set to go on the road for an away game, he would visit a Korean shop and buy a box of ramyeon, or instant Korean noodles. For away games, he had to spend more than 10 hours on bus. The seats on the team buses were too small for his 193 cm, 102 kg frame, so he could not rest well during long travel. Sometimes he felt discriminated against because he had come from Asia. Though his records were better, players from the U.S. and Latin America joined the big league ahead of their Asian counterparts, he said. But the biggest enemy for Lee during his six years of life in the U.S. was loneliness. There was no Koreatown or Korean restaurants in Scranton. "The only things I could do during leisure time were to stay in bed or watch videos." There was no one to talk to when he felt down due to a bad game or life in general. "When I joined a U.S. baseball team in 2001, no one told me what life was like in the U.S., and my future was painted brightly by media. Had there been someone who had told me what life there would be like, my decision might have been different." Lee said that if he had talked to Jung Young-il, who recently signed a contract with the L.A. Angels, he could have let him know what life is like playing baseball in the U.S. As regulations were eased for the return of South Korean ball players in the U.S. to the domestic league, Lee is training in his hometown and waiting for a call from a South Korean professional team. "I gained confidence as my pitching speed has reached 149-150 km/h or an average 143 km/h last year. My own records aside, I want to do my utmost for South Korean baseball." Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
