“Where is Lee Myung-gi?” SSG Kim Kang-min, who visited Eagles Park, was holding two bats that had not even been removed from the vinyl in his hands.
Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 20th, where the 2023 KBO League exhibition match between Hanwha Eagles and SSG Landers was held. When the batting training of the home team’s Hanwha players entered the final stage, the SSG players who arrived at the stadium were unpacking their equipment in the third base dugout and coming out on the ground one by one.
Veteran SSG Kim Kang-min greeted the coaches and approached the Hanwha players. Kim Kang-min, who was looking around his head, smiled brightly after spotting someone. The person Kim Kang-min was desperately looking for was Lee Myung-gi. Lee Myung-gi, who was swinging from the first base dugout after batting training, heard Kim Kang-min’s voice saying, “Where is Lee Myung-gi?”
The reason Kim Kang-min visited Lee Myung-ki was to pay back the bat he had borrowed. SSG Landers, who won the Korean Series last season. There were numerous famous scenes, but the scene where Kim Kang-min, the protagonist of the first pinch-hit ending home run in the Korean series, hit a closing home run still gives me goosebumps. In an interview after the game at the time, Kang-min Kim expressed his gratitude, saying that the bat that hit the walk-off home run was lent by Lee Myung-gi.
When all the 33.5-inch, 870g bats from M, which he used to use, all broke, Kim Kang-min asked Lee Myung-gi, who used a bat with the same specifications as himself, for help. Lee Myung-gi, who ate rice with Kim Kang-min during his SK days, gave his bat to his brother’s request.
He might have forgotten to prepare for the season, but SSG Kim Kang-min looked for his younger brother Lee Myung-gi from the first day he visited Daejeon. Lee Myung-gi, who transferred from NC to Hanwha ahead of this season, approached his older brother who was anxiously looking for him with two bats in his hands. Kim Kang-min conveyed his gratitude to his younger brother, who was playing baseball in a new environment, and gave him a Korean series bat. 스포츠토토
Lee Myeong-gi, who met with SSG players after a long time, walked up to the third base dugout and left only after having a good time with Kim Min-jae, coach Lee Jin-young, and Choi Jeong.
When asked what the situation was for Lee Myung-gi, who was carrying two unopened bats with care, he smiled brightly, saying, “Kang-min hyung gave me a bat as a gift.”
Lee Myung-gi, who started the game happily with his brother’s good words and bat gift, replaced O’Grady as the 4th batter in the 7th inning. Lee Myung-ki, who succeeded in getting on base with a clean left-handed hit to SSG Park Min-ho, stole second base. Hanwha’s batting line exploded. In the 8th inning, he hit SSG Kim Jeong-woo with an RBI double and scored a multi-hit in just two at-bats, leaving a mark on coach Subero. 2 at-bats, 2 hits, 1 RBI, 1 run.
Sometimes small acts of kindness turn out to be great fortunes. Lee Myeong-gi, a kind younger brother who willingly gave up his bat for his older brother. We cheer for the new team, Hanwha, to be filled with good things.