Landers' minor league manager quits over controversial past
Published: 25 Jan. 2025, 11:13
![Park Jung-tae (right) and his nephew Choo Shin-soo at the Baegunpo Sports Park baseball field in Yongho-dong, Busan, on Nov. 19, 2009. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/25/c19c0f99-6246-4a9c-878e-ba6ba3eadca6.jpg)
Park Jung-tae (right) and his nephew Choo Shin-soo at the Baegunpo Sports Park baseball field in Yongho-dong, Busan, on Nov. 19, 2009. [AP/YONHAP]
A recently hired minor league manager for the SSG Landers resigned Friday over his controversial past that includes a drunk driving conviction.
The Landers said Park Jung-tae stepped down as manager of their Futures League team. The 55-year-old, former star second baseman for the Lotte Giants in the 1990s, had been hired on New Year's Eve.
Park's hiring drew an immediate backlash because of his personal history and his family ties with Choo Shin-soo, Park's nephew who was hired as an adviser to the Landers owner on Dec. 27. Choo, former MLB All-Star, played for the Landers from 2021 to 2024.
In January 2019, Park was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and assaulting a bus driver who had honked at Park to move his car off a pedestrian crossing and make room for the bus to pass.
Four months later, Park received an 18-month sentence, suspended for three years, along with two years of probation and 160 hours of community service. During his trial, it was revealed Park had been punished twice in the past for drunk driving.
Park was not affiliated with any KBO club in 2019. If he had been, Park would have faced suspension from the league office. It seemed unlikely Park would face any discipline from the KBO retroactively from his 2019 conviction, but Park removed himself from further controversy Friday.
"Since my appointment, I've heard concerns from fans and people in the industry. And I decided I still had more work to do to return to baseball," Park said in a statement. "I didn't want to cause fans and the club any more concern. From now on, I will try to think of ways that I can help the KBO develop."
The Landers apologized to fans over Park's hiring and said they will try to find his replacement as soon as possible.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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