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'If the players don’t give up, the fans won’t': How Cho Sung-hwan could turn the Doosan Bears around

Published: 04 Jun. 2025, 15:38 Updated: 04 Jun. 2025, 19:42

Doosan Bears interim manager Cho Sung-hwan looks on during a KBO game against the Kia Tigers at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on June 3. [NEWS1]

Doosan Bears interim manager Cho Sung-hwan has vowed to revive the team with a renewed sense of responsibility and grit, emphasizing the meaning of “Hustle Doo” and declaring he would only field fully prepared players.

“Hustle Doo” is a nickname and the core identity of the Doosan Bears, symbolizing the team’s gritty, relentless and never-give-up style of play.

“If you don’t understand what ‘Hustle Doo,’ which represents the Doosan Bears, means, then you don’t deserve to wear this uniform,” Cho said before a game against the Kia Tigers at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on Wednesday.

Cho worked as a quality control coach at the Bears, taking the interim manager role after Lee Seung-yuop resigned earlier this week following the team's poor start to the 2025 KBO season.

A host of reporters swarmed the Doosan dugout ahead of his first game as interim manager.

“Lee left after shouldering a heavy burden. I thought, ‘Shouldn’t we, the coaches, also share that responsibility?’” Cho said. “But if we are in a situation where the team must be normalized, then it’s also our responsibility to step up. In that sense, all of us coaches mustered up the courage to act. We want to take on a different kind of ‘responsibility.’

“We won’t forget the regret we feel toward Manager Lee and will do our best for the rest of the season.”

Cho gathered the players, including team captain Yang Eui-ji, and urged them not to give up before training.

“I personally really like the phrase, ‘If the players don’t give up, the fans won’t either,’” Cho said. “But lately, I've felt like the fans might be starting to give up on us. So I told the players to put a bit more sincerity into how they play on the field.”

Doosan Bears pitcher Gwak Been pitches during a KBO game against the Kia Tigers at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on June 3. [NEWS1]

The Bears made sweeping changes to the roster along with the managerial shake-up.

The club terminated the contract of hitting coach Park Seok-min, whom Lee had brought in.

Koji Goto, the bench coach, will now also serve as the hitting coach of the main roster.

Coaches Gwak Deok-yeom, Cho Joong-geun and Kim Jae-hyun have been promoted to the top squad, while Lee Young-soo and Park Jung-bae have been reassigned to the minor leagues.

The Bears have also made changes to their roster, removing veteran hitters Yang Seok-hwan, Kang Seung-ho and Jo Soo-haeng from the big league lineup due to underperformance.

“I adjusted the roster because I believe the starting players need to take more responsibility,” Cho said. “The most important thing is that the players who are prepared go out to play. I won’t use players who play half-heartedly.

“The symbol of Doosan, ‘Hustle Doo,’ means not giving up, staying tightly knit, and being a team that opponents can’t easily face. I want to show the fans that trademark Bears grit.

But the Bears suffered a crushing 11-3 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday.

With the loss, the club fell into a three-game losing streak and now sit at 23-33-3 on the season, with a 0.411 winning percentage and a run differential of minus-10 as of press time Wednesday.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY BAE YOUNG-EUN [[email protected]]