Don’t worry if it’s slow or short… You have Yu Hee-gwan

Yoo Hee-gwan was a ‘common sense-destroying’ pitcher who cooked hitters with a fastball in the early and mid-130km and a super-low-speed breaking ball in the 70km range. In 11 seasons in the KBO League, only the number of wins he posted was 101. He also won 18 games in one year and struck out 126 in one year.

Exactly one year ago, in April 2022,안전놀이터 when he retired from professional baseball, Hee-gwan Yoo said, “I hope pitchers with slow balls will see me and have courage.” a year after his retirement. Yoo Hee-gwan boasts a ‘crazy’ presence both inside and outside the baseball field. He took a position as a baseball commentator, and when you ask about the broadcasts he appeared on, there are so many places that he calls out the names of nearly 10 programs. Being able to play his favorite golf more often is also a good thing. He is the hope of pitchers with slow balls in baseball, and the hope of golfers who do not have long hits in golf.

Is your life now the same as your life after retirement as you thought as a player?>>>

“That’s right. He was well known as a good talker among baseball players, so there were many expectations that he would do commentary or entertainment programs after his retirement. He is gratefully contacted by many places, so things are going well as I thought. An environment has been created in which sports stars appear on variety programs after retirement, so I think I am naturally living the life I envisioned.”

What is the most important thing among many things? >>>

“Baseball commentator. If he hadn’t played baseball, he probably wouldn’t have known a person named Yoo Hee-gwan. He had a desire to keep going about baseball. To say ‘I’m an entertainer’ or ‘Youtuber’, I have a short career and I think I have a lot more to do.”

I did a little bit of broadcasting when I was active, but now I do a lot more. Is there such a thing as ‘This is a little different from what I thought’? >>>

“It’s not something I’m going to judge, but even if the atmosphere on set is good during the recording, there are quite a few cases where it comes out a bit boring or just like that, but it comes out very funny. . I think the important thing for me is to try my best to adapt somehow.”

Who became friends through various activities after retirement?>>>

“I became close with director Lee Seung-yeop, who is now the Doosan Bears’ command tower, through an entertainment program. When I was a player, I didn’t have many opportunities to interact because I wasn’t on the same team. He is a representative of Korean baseball, but I didn’t know much about his personal personality or life, but while filming ‘The Strongest Baseball’ (a program in which retired players gather and form a team to play), I understood why this person is called the national hitter.”

Who was your role model when you were young?>>>

“Coach Lee Sang-hoon (former LG Twins). It was very cool to see him running up the mound with his long hair flying. So, when I was in college, coach Lee Sang-hoon wore number 47, the uniform number during his active career. He played with number 47 even in the strongest baseball program.”

He changed his hairstyle often, but he seems to keep this style for quite a while now. >>>

“It’s been a little over two years, and my current hair style seems to fit me perfectly. It seems like it was imprinted like a trademark. I’m a person who worked out, so if I didn’t wear a uniform, I wouldn’t recognize it well, but during Corona 19, even if I was wearing a mask, I was recognized well wherever I went. Because only I can do it. There is a family history of hair loss, so there is a reason why I can’t grow it even if I want to.”

I briefly talked about running away to Busan during my baseball team days on the air, but I want to hear more.>>>

“Exercise was so hard. In my freshman year of high school and freshman year of college, I was in a position where I had to take care of things like tidying up after training, so I deviated. I came to cool my head for about 4 nights and 5 days. I was very afraid that I would get scolded when I went back, but thanks to the coach who accepted me surprisingly generously, I was able to work harder after that.”

On YouTube, videos of watching baseball from the stands are popular. As an official supporter of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, did you not come to see the World Baseball Classic (WBC) from the stands? How about watching baseball from the stands instead of the mound or dugout?>>>

“The field of view was limited from the mound or dugout, but from the stands you can see everything well. It’s fun to see various things happening here and there in the baseball field. I want to say, ‘People who watch baseball not only watch the game, but also ‘intuitively’ this taste. How good is the taste of watching a great match with an open view?”

It was a long time ago, but in 2015, he was finally eliminated from the Premier 12 national team. I must have been sad because I couldn’t wear the Taegeuk mark even after winning 18 wins in one season.>>>

“I was not chosen by the people who choose the national team. Looking back now, it’s very sad. There were quite a few skeptical eyes on whether the slow ball would work on the international stage. I remember trying hard to think that I was not good enough.”

In the strongest baseball season 1, he was even awarded MVP. If there is an episode that was not covered in the broadcast.>>>

“We played golf often on days when we were not filming because we were well united. Everyone seems to have a stronger desire to win during the round of golf than during the strongest baseball. I split the side and paid the green fee.”

Who can play the best?>>>

“Director Lee Seung-yeop.”

Who is the worst?>>>

“Senior Shim Soo-chang’s golf skills are still lacking. I tend to have ups and downs.”

When and how did you learn golf?>>>

“A lot of baseball seniors around me recommended me to learn golf. I loved seeing it before that too. It was to the extent that I had the golf channel on when I was resting at home. The first time I picked up a golf club was in 2012. It was around 2014 or 2015 when I hit it in earnest.”

The best score is.>>>

“83 strokes from the white tee (regular teeing area).”

I heard that most baseball players are long hitters, so they hit on the blue tee or behind it.>>>

“That’s right. But I don’t get far. It hits on white.”

Do you have a fixed companion that you are with almost every time?>>>

“It is not decided. People who have the right time come together and go together. I think that’s also the charm of golf. You can go out and make good connections with people you don’t know. It doesn’t even cover the golf course. Baseball is played every time at a stadium you know, but golf is different. There is a lot of fun that comes from different course styles in each stadium. In terms of baseball, I would say that as a pitcher, it gives me a different feeling from being on the plate rather than on the mound.”

Golf is uncomfortable with the left hand. Didn’t you think of doing it with your right hand?>>>

“It is not easy to get golf clubs (for left-handers), and there are left-handed at-bats in the far corner of the driving range, so it is inconvenient in many ways. But if he had started with his right hand, he might have hit worse. He never imagined hitting with his right hand, so he seems to be doing it with his left hand all the time. Some hitters are left-handed hitters, but there are also people who play golf right-handed. Baseball is based on level (horizontal) swing and golf is based on upper (upward) swing, so they say that if a left-handed hitter golfs with their left hand, the baseball swing may be broken.”

It seemed to send about 220m with a driver shot. It’s not a short distance for general amateur golfers, but it seems to be the ‘shortest stroke’ among baseball seniors and juniors. >>>

“That’s right. His biggest weakness is the driver shot distance. That’s why I often hit tee shots with a 4-iron. It can be seen that the iron shot is a strong point. There are many people who find long irons very difficult, but I am comfortable with long irons, perhaps because they match my swing. Send 200m with a 4-iron. I have never hit a driver tee shot in 18 holes. That’s why I get cursed at by my companions.”

If you’re playing for the first time, you’d expect a long hit.>>>

“Before you play the first hole, you’re very curious. First of all, since I am an athlete, I expect how far I will hit. I have a role that breaks those expectations.”

Yoo Hee-gwan’s baseball was famous for ‘the aesthetics of slowness’. If you put a modifier on your golf.>>>

“If a long hitter in golf is a pitcher in baseball, isn’t it a fastball pitcher? I seem to be doing the same thing in golf as I bet on ball control in baseball. Keeping the score with ‘dexterity’ like short games and putts while playing ‘tacky’. Like baseball, my golf is an aesthetic of slowness. People like to say that life is about direction, not speed, but isn’t golf like that? No matter how far you hit it, if you can’t drop it on the fairway, there’s a high chance you’ll have trouble. I seek to hit accurately in the right direction.”

The putter is unique.>>>

“It was a gift from coach Lee Seung-yeop, and I used it for about a year.”

I practice golf often.>>>

“It’s embarrassing, but I’m like a golfer whose field rounds are practice. Looking at the wide green that unfolds when you go straight from the clubhouse to the course is healing in itself. Of course, as soon as I hit my first tee shot, I get stressed out. When I was active, I went to play golf on my day off to relieve stress, but there were many days when I came back with more stress than I did at the baseball field. If you think about it again, it seems that it is greed to go out on the field and try to hit well without practicing well.”

Why is golf good even when I am stressed?>>>

“Because I am a pitcher, I only do throwing exercises and I don’t have to hit the ball like hitters do, but golf is fun and good because it is a sport where you hit the ball anyway. And there are also sports that I am more attracted to because I can’t control myself. Is there such a thing? ‘Baseball players are good at hitting flying balls, but why can’t they hit standing balls’. I like basketball and am good at table tennis, so baseball players tend to acknowledge that I am good at sports, but since I can’t play golf, I feel more challenged. There are various charms, from the feeling of the ball coming out alive when you hit it, to the ‘click’ sound you hear when you putt.”

Other than baseball, basketball, and golf, the sports I am good at and like.>>>

“I like table tennis, tennis, billiards, and bowling, and I think I’m pretty good at anything I do with balls. Billiards is 150 to 200, bowling average is about 220 to 230.”

The best games in baseball and golf, respectively, are the best games of your life.>>>

“Baseball is the first win in professional baseball. It was the LG match on May 4, 2013. A total of 100 wins, games with more than 10 wins in one consecutive season, and games in which the team won are memorable, but I still can’t remember the first win. If there was no 1, there would be no 100. In golf, the game where I scored the best was good, but the round where I played the ‘Olympic par’ for the first time last year was the best feeling. Continuous par from 1 to 5. But isn’t there a saying that your handicap (handicap) will come back eventually? He hit 89 that day. It seems to be at a level where people in their late 80s and early 90s can play golf just for fun.”

What I really want to achieve with golf.>>>

“ace. They say it costs a lot of money, but shouldn’t there be a hole-in-one in life?”

Do you often watch golf tournament broadcasts? Who is the player you cheer for?>>>

“I watch it often. These days, I support Park Hyun-kyung. Basically, there is a part of ‘respecting’ professional golf tour players as athletes.”

I heard that there are many golf players I am friendly with. Is there any opportunity to take lessons?>>>

“If you think about it, Monday is a holiday for golf players, just like baseball players. But if you ask me to play golf until my day off, I think it would be stressful. I think it would be the same as asking a baseball player to play baseball on Monday.”

He is also a YouTuber with 110,000 subscribers.>>>

“It’s been less than a year since I started, but thankfully, the number of subscribers has increased very quickly. It seems that they are happy to go around diligently for the development of baseball.”

Do you come up with content ideas yourself? Are you continuing to go to the baseball field tour or experience?>>>

“I tend to come up with a lot of ideas myself. We plan to expand the spectrum without limiting it.”

Is there anything you think, ‘I will become a baseball commentator like this’

. We need to research and study more, and above all, we need to make baseball fans feel comfortable and receive accurate knowledge when they hear it. There are a lot of seniors who comment, but I want to take out the strengths of each of them and make it my own.”

What will it look like in 5 or 10 years?

“I am also very curious. Wouldn’t it be living a third life? I would like to be married, raise children, and have a happy family. But what if I can’t get married by then?”