Veteran slugger and MLB All-Star Choo Shin-soo makes final KBO appearance

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Veteran slugger and MLB All-Star Choo Shin-soo makes final KBO appearance

Published: 01 Oct. 2024, 08:22 Updated: 01 Oct. 2024, 16:01

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Choo Shin-soo of the SSG Landers walks to the dugout after the last regular season at-bat of his professional career at the bottom of the eighth at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday. [NEWS1]

Choo Shin-soo, the most successful Korean hitter in Major League history, made the final regular season appearance of his storied career at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday.

The 42-year-old ended a career that started 24 years ago in the Seattle Mariners system as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of the SSG Landers final game of the 2024 KBO season on Monday.

Choo came on for Ha Jae-hoon with the landers already up 7-1 over the Kiwoom Heroes. He entered the field to thunderous applause from a sell-out crowd at Incheon SSG Landers Field, the ballpark he has called home for the final four seasons of his career.

Choo grounded out to second to finish his final regular season, ending the campaign with a .281 batting average on the season, 71 hits, 37 RBIs and five home runs over 78 games.

Leaving the field after grounding out, Choo was met at the dugout by his teammates and manager Lee Sung-yong with a bouquet of flowers.

"I never expected that kind of reception,” Choo said after the game, according to Yonhap News Agency. “No one gave me any heads-up. And when I turned around from first base and saw my teammates lined outside the dugout, I was really surprised.”

"I was so grateful. Even though I was born in Korea, I had spent so much time overseas that a lot of things here are new to me. And I've had so much help from my teammates here. They gave me the fuel to keep going, and I really appreciate that."

Choo Shin-soo of the SSG Landers swings in the eighth inning of a game between the Landers and the Kiwoom Heroes at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday. [NEWS1]

Choo announced in December last year that he would retire at the end of the 2024 season, eventually hanging up his bat this week after over 2,800 professional games across the KBO and major and minor leagues.

Scouted out of school in Busan, Choo headed straight to the United States at the turn of the millennium rather than first plying his trade in the KBO. Over 16 seasons in the big leagues, he has played for the Seattle Mariners, the Cleveland Indians, the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers.

Choo joined the Mariners organization in 2000, initially playing in the minor leagues. In 2005, he made his MLB debut with the Mariners but was traded to the Indians in the middle of the 2006 season, immediately entering the major league squad. Choo spent the majority of 2007 in the minor league and struggled with injuries, undergoing Tommy John surgery on his left elbow.

He returned to the majors in 2008 and never really looked back, joining the 20-20 club for the first time in 2009 with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. In 2011, Choo struggled at the plate and with injuries, but bounced back in 2012, his last season with the Indians.

Choo was traded to the Reds in 2013, becoming the first Korean ever to homer in the postseason during the Wild Card game.

Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers poses for a portrait during MLB media day in Surprise, Arizona on Feb. 19, 2020. [AFP/YONHAP]

After signing a huge $130-million deal with the Rangers in 2014, Choo ended up batting the worst season of his career. Choo's form improved over the following years, but he was plagued by injuries and ended up missing the 2017 season completely.

It was 2018 that turned out to be Choo's year. By this point a veteran, Choo returned with a vengeance, recording an incredible 52-game, on-base streak, one of the longest in MLB history and a new Rangers record. He was named to the All-Star squad and became the Rangers' Player of the Year.

By 2020, Choo, once an outfielder but now more often the designated hitter, had quietened down a bit. He finished the shorted 2020 season with a .236 batting average with five home runs and 15 runs batted in.

Throughout his 16 years in the MLB, Choo has a career batting average of .275 with 1,671 hits, 782 runs batted in and 218 home runs.

He is famously fearless at the plate, and racked up 152 hits by pitch throughout his big league career, the second highest of any active player at the time, and 23rd highest of all time. His career on-base percentage at .377 puts him on par with some of the biggest names in modern baseball, including Derek Jeter and Mike Piazza.

Choo Shin-soo looks on from the dugout before a baseball game between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore on Sept. 6, 2019. [AP/YONHAP]

When Choo announced that he would return to the KBO in 2021, the Landers were his only option.

The team held the right to sign Choo after the SK Wyverns, the former name of the club, got the rights to acquire him in a controversial draft for overseas Korean players held almost 14 years earlier on April 2, 2007. It allowed KBO clubs to draft Korean players that had headed overseas straight out of high school, giving them a team to return to if they chose or needed to head back to Korea.

Choo had been critical of the overseas draft, and had said he would like to play for his hometown club the Lotte Giants before he retires, the same team his uncle Park Jeong-tae played for. That was never to be, but Choo quickly found a home in Incheon and became one of the Landers’ biggest stars over his four years in the KBO.

In his first year with the Landers he became the oldest player in KBO history to join the 20-20 club. A year later, the Landers won the Korean Series.

This year, Choo became the oldest position player in KBO history to appear in a game, get a hit, hit a home run and steal a base. He did all of that for free, having voluntarily taken the league-minimum 30 million won ($23,000) salary and donated the whole thing to charity.

Monday’s win pushes the Landers into a fifth-place playoff with the KT Wiz, the first of its kind in KBO history. The winner of that game, to be played on Tuesday, will advance to the Wildcard series where they will take on the Doosan Bears.

But while the Landers still have at least one more game to play this season, Choo does not think he’ll be fit enough. Instead, retirement beckons, with the Landers set to hold a more formal retirement ceremony for Choo some time next season.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]