History of the SSG Landers
Opening Statement/joke
JT: I’m baack from vacation! Literally two days ago Whoooooooo zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz(me sleeping)!
SA: Where did you land?
JT: In in in in Incheon, of course. Though I wish Muan was up & running again.
SA: Landing in Incheon. Doesn’t that sound familiar?
JT: No it’s normal, the heat’s fried your brain- oohhhhh the Landers.
SA: That’s right! We’re back from our breaks to talk about the SSG Landers, the leagues…newest old team? Or is it the oldest new team?
JT: If you think that’s confusing, wait until we unspool the mess that became the Kiwoon Heroes. *joke sting*
SA: Give us a moment to figure out how we want to land this shot *boooo* Oh come on! It sounded better in my head! *joke sting*
JT: The heat’s fried your joke writing ability too!
History of the SK Wyverns and why the Raiders weren’t revived
SA: OK, I think I’ve figured out what to talk about first. First thing to remember is that the Landers came from the SK Wyverns.
JT: And the SK Wyverns rose from the ashes of the Jeonju DoubleDrop Raiders. But-
SA:But that’s wrong. As part of the deal to keep 8 teams in the league, SK refused to buy the franchise, instead opting to create a new team in Incheon and negotiate new contracts with the homeless players in 1999. They also refused to play in Jeonju so thanks to political maneuvering and help from President Kim Dae Jeong, they got the Incheon slot.
JT: In regards to the first point, the players didn’t have a lot of options. This was going on during the IMF bailout and the Raiders were ass their last two years. On the second point, the rules on keeping 1 team per region was phased out to some degree and Jeonju’s much smaller than Incheon. But Hyundai was there and all of a sudden, they weren’t.
SA: As we kinda alluded to in the KT Wiz episode, the Unicorns weren’t doing so well and the ownership group always had their eyes set on next door Seoul. So they made the entire city mad by posting on the team website that they were planning to stay and work with the city to build Munhak stadium. They were also broke and the Prince’s rebellion was going on-
JT: That’s why they moved to Suwon and sold the territory rights to SK! Now it’s making more sense…sort of.
SA: Hyundai botched it all because they broke the territory rules by staying in the Suwon stadium. That’s the old one with no toilets in the women’s restroom. But they also lost their first round draft picks to SK and other teams. The regional draft rights system was still around at the time and they lost out on Song Eun-beom, Yoon Seok-min, Choi Jeong, Lee Jae-won, Kim Gwang-hyun and Ryu Hyun-jin.
JT: They lost out on all those all-stars? Man, if I were the KBO I would create a wall of shame and put a broken toy car on a shelf with the sign Hyundai Unicorns management; only team to miss out on 6 generational talents in one decade. Swing and a miss *joke sting*
SA: So yeah, SK took full advantage of the Unicorns and got good draft picks over the years, but they mainly started out with Raider players who weren’t so good as well as castoffs from the other teams like Kim Jong-Heon. Their star young player Shim Seong-bo came down with diabetes and didn’t play well. In Manager Kim’s first year, they only won 44 games with a 0.338 season winning percentage, but hit 196 home runs to set a new KBO record.
JT: I’m sure the coach said We’ll win with the long ball, or we’ll go home!
SA: It clearly didn’t work for his 3 seasons on the team as they never made the playoffs and only got to 6th place in 2002. At the time, the World Cup was going on so baseball was a bit of an afterthought. Tilson Brito got his start with the team. The rookies like catcher Jeong Sang-ho got developed and that would lay the foundation for improvement under coach Cho Beom-hyun. They started playing well, made the playoffs and beat last season’s champs Samsung and the Kia Tigers to face their ally slash nemesis the Hyundai Unicorns in the 2003 Korea Series.
JT: I bet they were arguing with each other in the owners box! Gimmie my draft picks back!
SA: Oh yeah? What’re doing in my territory, bum?
JT: There was beef going into this series, which went the full 7 games, though game 7 was a bit of a wipeout for SK. Despite losing they proved to Incheon’s fickle fans that they were a team worth believing in.
SA: And those hopes were quickly crushed when the team missed the playoffs in 2004, then rebounded in 2005 where they lost to Hanwha in the playoffs.
JT: They were a solid team all season but essentially ran out of gas towards the end. If they had won the last game against LG, they would’ve stayed in second place and gotten some time off, this part of the story might be a bit different.
SA: 2005 they had great hitters like Lee Ho Jun and Jin Yeong, along with a homegrown one-two punch of Kim Won-hyung and Shin Seung-hyeon. This could have been their year, but that second half collapse cost them.
JT: 2006 was miserable for the team and coach Cho didn’t re-sign with the team. The team could’ve chosen to rebuild, but an opportunity came in the form of Cho’s former mentor, coach Kim Seong-geun. We talked about him when he led LG to the series. SK saw an opportunity and scooped him up, thus beginning their first dynasty.
The dynasty and the beanball cases
SA: Kim had returned from coaching in Japan and was told by the team to Win Now. So he brought in coaches from Japan and Lee Man-soo who was coaching the White Sox bullpen at the time. The coaching style wasn’t too different from Cho’s but they brought in a small-ball approach and a more data-driven approach that they learned from Japan.
JT: Coach Lee’s a bit famous in the US because he was the guy that pledged to fans on April 29th that if there were 10 straight sellouts, he would run around the bases in his underwear. And it worked! In the 5th inning of a game against the Kia Tigers, he and 22 fans ran around the bases in long briefs but his briefs had buttcheeks attached. This actually made it into Sports Illustrated. Must’ve been a slow news week. *joke sting* Anyway, the team CEO had been pushing sportstainment that year and added a bouncy playground to the stadium and Saturday night fireworks shows. Good thing there are no big apartment complexes next to the stadium! Oh wait there are….ooops.
SA: Anyway the Wyverns would lord over the league and win their first pennant thanks to Kenny Rayborn’s regular season pitching performance and Mike Romano’s improvement. They went into the Series thinking they were on easy street.
JT: But the Bears had a way of proving teams wrong. SK fell behind early then in the 3rd inning shortstop Jeong Geun-woo spiked Bears center fielder Lee Jong-wook’s when he slid into second, drawing blood. Then in the 5th he clearly grabbed hold of Lee’s leg when the ball went into center field during the steal and Lee was getting up after sliding. The 2nd base umpire said it looked like Lee had tripped on Jeong’s body. More reasons why we have VAR now. Naturally the coach agreed with the umpire’s decision because why wouldn’t he?
SA: The Bears won Games 1 and 2, and that got into the Wyverns’ heads and may have led to them constantly beaning Bears’ players. In game 3 Wyvern’s pitcher Chae Byung-yong hit Bears DH Ahn Kyung-hyun in the thumb, fracturing it and knocking him out of the series. When Bears pitcher Lee Hye-cheon threw behind Kim Jae-hyun this triggered a bench-clearing brawl.
JT: Of course the Bears were a bit frustrated since they had 4 errors in that inning and gave up seven runs. Oh and they needed 3 guys to stop Rios from attacking.
SA: The baseball experts at Namu Wiki say that this psychological warfare slash dirty baseball swung the series in the Wyverns favor and they went on to perform the rare reverse sweep.
JT: SK really wanted to win and they were prepared to do whatever it took. Short of throwing bottles of course.
SA: This was the start of the Wyverns Dynasty in that they went on to win in 2008, also against Doosan, beat them in the semi-finals in 2009, then won for the third time in 2010 against the Lions.
JT: Then their dynasty fell when Samsung’s began in the revenge series in which they won 4 games to 1. For 5 years they owned the league effectively, a greater dynasty than the Haitai Tigers and Samsung Lions.
SA: The fact they were able to get that far after losing Coach Kim in the middle of August 2011 was a testament to how efficiently they were run. There is a bit of rumor in the league that Lee was hired with the plan to make him manager eventually and he and Kim beefed about this from time to time. Lee was able to bring his team back to the series but they again lost to the Lions. The dynasty had weakened.
JT: And one of their best pitchers Kim Geonhan was on that Lions team too.
SA: Lee did his best to keep the team competitive and they almost made the playoffs in the last game of the year but lost to Sosa and the Heroes 7 to 2. Now the dynasty was dead and Lee left the Wyverns to rebuild.
Return to championship
JT: Under coach Kim Yong-hee they made it to the playoffs his first year then fell out of contention the second year. Once again, Nexen was too much for them.
SA: Then they hired Trey Hillman from the Houston Astros. Hillman once coached the Ham Fighters to a championship so he had some familiarity with Asian baseball. At the time, SK was also considering Joey Cora and Ozzie Guillén which in hindsight would have made for hilarious press conferences, but anyhoo when they contacted Hillman he was quite excited for the job so bingo bango, it was his!
JT: Enthusiasm helps in a job interview.
SA: Trey emphasized the long-ball more than other coaches and SK hit 233 homeruns both seasons he coached them. First season didn’t go so well due to issues with Kim Kwang-hun’s health and losing their closer Park and starter Scott Diamond’s injury troubles. The fans called him Dilman which loosely translates to Dumb.
JT: 2018 was a lot better for the team. They got healthy players and picked up 1st baseman Jamie Romak from Yokohama. 노수광 their Kia trade also had a great year. If you saw the all-star game that season, he’s the one that wore the motorcycle helmet to the plate.
SA: This was also Merrill Kelly’s last year with the team and the MLB scouts came around, especially after his shoulder healed in April. With improvement to the bullpen-
JT: -which I’m sure Kelly liked.
SA: They performed well all season, staying in second place most of the time. They faced off against their perennial nemesis the Heroes in the semi-finals and while they took a 2-0 lead, things swung against them and the Heroes tied it up. That led to a do or die game 5 in Munhak.
JT: SK had taken a 6 to 3 lead but let it widdle away. They scored three more times to make it 9 to 7 with Kelly pitching but he gave up doubles in the top of the 9th and reliever Kang Seung Ho blew the save by giving up a 2 run homer to tie the game. SK didn’t score in the 9th and it went to extras. In the 10th Kim Min-seong hit a double to score Lim Byeong-wook but they had bases loaded later in the inning and couldn’t bring in another run. A mistake that would cost them the next inning.
SA: Thoughts of the reverse sweep soon left their minds when Kim Kang-min hit a home run in the bottom of the 10th then Han Dong-min, who was hitting 100 in the playoffs, hit a deep blast to center field to send his team to the Korean Series.
JT: Quite the exciting game here. Nexen went from a 0 point 1 percent chance of winning in the 9th inning to a 63% chance, then all the way to 20% when the home run happened. I wanna say I’m impressed but we all know what KBO bullpens are like. *joke sting*
SA: So in the 2018 series they had to face another of their obnoxious rivals. This time it was the Doosan Bears who dominated the league all season. With the Wyverns tired from the whole emotional rollercoaster of a series, this should have been an easy win for the Bears. (pause for 2 seconds) Wrong, Wrong!
JT: It was an even series with both teams swapping wins. Not as exciting and dramatic for the Wyverns as the previous series. Then game 6 happened. Kelly started well but gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th. Then 김태훈 gave up a sac fly to make it 4 to 3. No boring baseball in game 6!
SA: Choi Jeong hit a homer off Lindbolm in the top of the 9th to tie it up, then Han Dong-min hit his game winner in the 13th and Kim Gwang Hun came in to pitch the 9th after 2 days rest to secure the victory. Who doesn’t love November baseball?
JT: Drama fans mostly. Their shows kept getting pushed back. Cranky grandmas don’t like missing their soaps. *joke sting*
SA: Baseball fans thought this would be the return of the SK dynasty, but it was not meant to be as Hillman went back to the US for family reasons and Kelly got picked up by Arizona. Which wasn’t a rebuilding year for them so they hired Yeom Gyeong-yeop to take over. They played very well, earned 2nd place after stumbling in August and faced off against their nemesis the Heroes once again.
JT: Even being the better team on paper didn’t help and they got swept 3 to 0. The only game that was close was game 2 which they could have won if their bullpen hadn’t coughed up runs in the 8th.
SA: This loss against Nexen made SK the first team to win 80 games and not make it to the Korean Series. The next season was worse with Coach Yeom having health issues and problems with overworking the top arms and Gwang-hun went to MLB, plus COVID. They fell to 9th place and Yeom had a stroke in the dugout during a June game which didn’t help matters. Also 2020 was when SKs clean team image got shattered when their minor league players faced accusations of senior players assaulting juniors when some players went out drinking during COVID-19 quarantine and got caught driving drunk and without a license by local police. Kim Taek-hyung was one of the seniors that got suspended and paid a fine, mostly to mollify fans who accused the team of covering up the incident. Because it was COVID, they couldn’t do community service so they got sent off to a temple stay for 3 weeks.
JT: People online were saying Yeom would be banished from baseball, which is quite the reaction but it’s not like he bet on the game or threw puppies out of the press box.
SA: But there was a big problem in SK, besides front office mismanagement and drunk minor leaguers, lurking around the corner when 2021 rolled around.
Why SK sold the team to SSG
JT: So now we come to the big question. Why did SK sell the team to 신새개?
SA: It’s hard to say since SK never released a statement. Speculation from reporters and fans seem to point to two reasons. One, the group president is more interested in amateur sports and is more of a basketball and handball fan, which is why those teams are very good. Two, the team didn’t do much for the brand, in that SK’s moving in a B2B focus especially with their chips and chemicals, though they still have their consumer businesses.
JT: SK telecom and the gas stations, among other things.
SA: Based on my research, Shinsegae was really interested in the team as a way to compete with Lotte. Therefore the stars of both aligned to make a sale happen.
JT: Why not sell it to an ownership group that’s actually interested in the sport? Not every owner can be Michele Kang style but at the very least they need to be competent. Cough NOT PHOENIX SUNS cough.
SA: cough cough Las Vegas teams cough cough.
JT: So what happened with SSG’s bid?
SA: To get around the ownership issues, they put the shares into E-mart so they could still keep the Lions shares, and they don’t run the Lions operations which protects them from double-dealing charges. Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin pledged to build a dome and attach it to a Starfield complex, which means lots of shopping yaaaay!
JT: Send the spouses to the mall so we can watch the game! *whispers* until the credit card texts come in *stop whisper* *joke sting*
SA: So the Wyverns became the SSG Landers on March 30, 2021 and hired a new coach. When Kim Wonhyung took the reins, he didn’t have a lot to work with from the previous seasons and the team only earned 6th place. But the new owners had a plan, one they knew would bring success.
Return to the championship
JT: And now we come to 2022 with the team playing so well they went wire to wire, staying in first the whole season. This was thanks to Kim Kwang-hyun returning to the team after a decent stint with St. Louis but he wanted to be a starter and they wanted him in the bullpen, so back to Korea it was!
SA: He definitely had a great year for the Landers. Helping him from the bullpen were Seo Jin-Yong AKA Big Sexy and Noh Kyung-eun the Bears standout and starting pitcher foreign replacement pitcher Shawn Morimando. Blame Sanchez for the nickname.
JT: Shawn the pizza fan! He’d order a slice of pepperoni pizza from this one brand and the other pitcher Font would order 짜짱면 before the game. Font was also the guy that would fist bump his teammates during his starts but do it too hard so they were afraid of him. It’s supposed to be gentle, not a boxing challenge my guy.
SA: They also got a standout performance from center fielder Choi Ji-hoon from Gwangju! Local boy won a gold glove that season!
JT: We always produce the best baseball talent. Which our front office fails to draft!
SA: With this star-studded lineup, it’s no wonder they got to relax for the playoffs. Waiting for them at the start of the series was an old friend.
JT: Doosan again?
SA: No, their true old friend. The Kiwoon Heroes! They beat LG and KT to get there with the help of Lee Jung Hoo and Yasiel Puig in their outfield. This is back when Kiwoon was good at playing baseball not just drafting and training players. But Kiwoon had 2 bad things affecting their play.
JT: Which were what?
SA: Curses!
JT: WHOOOOOOOOO (ghost echo)
SA: Yeah, they were snakebit yet again. *joke sting* There were two baseball curses working against the Heroes. First one was the LG curse in which any team that beats LG in the playoffs loses in the next round.
JT: Every year there’s always 1 team that thinks they can beat the curse!
SA: Then curse #2 showed up. Whenever a Kiwoon shortstop commits an error in the Korean series, they lose the game and then the series.
JT: Man that just sounds like a one-off event. How many times has it happened?
SA: 3 times.
JT: They should call an exorcist. Or chuck the shortstop into the river like the Japanese did the Colonel Sanders statue. *joke sting*
SA: Anyway, curses notwithstanding, this was a pretty evenly matched series. Game 1 was won 7 to 6 by the Heroes even though Kim Huijip committed an error, but that was because SSG committed two errors including a blown catch by right fielder Han Yu-seom in the 5th.
JT: The curse only works on Kiwoon, guys. You still have to catch the ball.
SA: Both teams had the error bug all series, but SSG had the offensive advantage. But there were times like Game 4 in which they lost when they clearly should have won.
JT: The Landers even landed a 3 run game-winning home run in game 5, and won game 6 from Kiwoon thanks to great defense and 3 errors by the Heroes, as well as a standout save by Kim Gwang-hyun. The curse of the SK red uniform had been broken as well. All these curses. Y’all need to call an exorcist or something. *joke sting*
SA: Probably should’ve listened to your advice because this team has been cursed all season. Let’s talk about it after the break.
Current team
JT: Since their dominating season, the team hasn’t been anywhere near that level of success.
SA: In 2024 they replaced their championship manager with Lee Soong-yong, who beat the team as a player for the Unicorns. They’ve made the playoffs twice but can’t seem to get to the series. And this year it ain’t happening.
JT: That’s for sure even though they just beat up on the falling hanhwa Eagles, But we might as well start out with one of the few bright lights they have had this season with shortstop Park Sung Han. A 28 year old with middling stats before this year has surprisingly had an all-star season for the Landers this year.
SA:Yes, he has a solid .337 batting average in 117 games good for 5th in the KBO this year, he has been a steady hitter that can reach the base paths,not many dingers with 4, but 27 doubles.
JT: He is number 6 in the KBO with 81 times crossing home plate. So his knack for getting on base has been a bright spot for Park,
SA: The have some decent power hitters in the outfield in Heredia and Kim Jae Hwam
JT: Ya but the big blow for SSG was great legend Choi Jeong at 3B who even though his season shortened to 71 games because of hip injury that lingered and they finally decided to shut him down and get surgery he is still top ten in home runs with 20.
SA: At his age and playing though injury is incredible.
JT: I wonder if we will see him back next year, but we will talk about him more a little later.. Anything else about their offense MR. S?
SA: I checked Yanggonara’s overpaid player index and whoo boy a lot of SSG players are on it! Outfielder Han Yoo Saem, pitcher Moon Seung Won, catcher KIM Min Sik, and hell half their pitching staff’s on there too because of low or negative WAR and high salaries.
JT: OH the pitching staff.
SA: Or should I say pitching half because they have finally showed up to play now it's the second half of the season.
JT: Ya the pitching sure collapsed at the beginning of the season with a league worst 6.28 ERA for the staff as a whole.
SA: The recent replacement signing Pedro Avila has been a catalyst for the pitching staff’s turnaround.
JT: Looks like they found their anchor if they can get him to stay, through 7 starts a whopping 1.93 ERA and 4-1 record and only failing to go 6 or more innings in one of his starts.
SA: yes a great replacement for Anthony Veneziano who just couldn't find his rhythm in the KBO.
JT: WIth the foreigners they have not had luck as Thomas Hatch who just seemed to find his footing after being an injury replacement for Mitch White has started having shoulder pain himself just as he was stringing some quality starts together..
SA: A real string of bad luck! Let’s talk a little about the stadium but not that much since SSG is building a new dome stadium that’ll be open in 2028. So, we’re gonna cover an incident that speaks to Incheon fans' love of sports. Namely when they set the field on fire. So in 2011 the fans were mad that Manager Kim Seung-Keun was fired in August, which led to protests, then on the 18th SK lost 2 to 0 and fans stormed the field. They burnt team uniforms and other stuff on the field, wrecked the bullpen cars, and stole equipment and drinks from the dugout fridges. The old days of KBO were something special, lemme tell ya.
JT: That’s why the Wyvern fans were called nolitas which is a portmanteau of 노인 which means old man and lolitas which you probably know already. It was a cult of personality. The fans are most similar to two-face. Happy one day, painted face and going berserk the next day. But Munhak’s a solid ole’ girl! It’s the tank of KBO stadiums. Interesting metaphor there.
SA: Munhak was also where those 25 fans almost died of heatstroke. This was the August 4th game from hell where the stadium temperature was 35 at start time. Not too bad, but think about how hot those seats got. Then things went terrible for the Landers when LG started scoring in the top of the 8th and that’s when the fan passed out on the steps behind first base.
JT: I bet that fan that passed out from cardiac arrest was thinking “man I’m gonna die watching my team cough up a 7 run lead.” But the emergency crew saved him and they held on to win. A little positive note on the season. Any others?
SA: Kim Sung-hyun is retiring and Sept 5th the team will hold a ceremony before the Doosan game. If you’re at the game and wonder who’s on the field with the microphones, that’s who’s being discussed. He’s also from Gwangju!
JT: Local boy made us proud!
Famous Players
SA: Time to talk about the team’s famous players. Obviously Kim Gwang-hyun is gonna be a hall of famer.
JT: He won 3 gold medals for team Korea so he’d better be top 10 all-time.
SA: Also there’s catcher Park Kyung-Wan their one retired number. He won the gold glove 4 times, hit 314 home runs and played over 2000 games along with 3 championships with the team. He’s their Buster Posey. His nickname was 포도대장 because he was like a police chief catching thieves.
JT: Choo Shin-soo who had a legendary 16 year run in the MLB and one of Koreans most world famous players, he did have his controversies the highlighting moments being a slight bit of nepotism getting his uncle PArk Jeong Tae a job as SSG minor league coach, even though Choo said he was the reason he pursued baseball. It wasn’t a good look for him and most notably his .20 Dui at 2.25 am while playing for the Cleveland Indians.
SA: Only twice the legal limit.
JT: Right he is still a legendary Korean player and probably the first korean ball player I knew him and kim byeon sun only because of his submarine style and back to back blown games against the yankees in the world series however his team would overcome that. Who else you got?
SA: Catcher Lee Jae-won is another of their famous players. Seems like they have a lot of those. He won 5 championships with SK and SSG. He’s like their Tim Duncan.
JT: Romak (talk about his return and retirement ceremony this month)
SA: And of course there’s Kim Gyo-ram who was fired for taking part in a martial arts tournament in 2022 and got an eye socket broken. I guess he also counts as a famous player. Anybody else?
JT: As mentioned before we can’t forget about aging legend 3B Choi Jeong as he is the KBO all time leader in homeruns with 528 and counting. I imagine a future retired number for the landers.
SA: Can’t forget him.Let’s hope this is not his last year and we will see him next year for a good send off.
Worst Persons
Bulhwa: Pohang Steelers stadium
Nap: Kia Tigers bullpen Aug 22 grandslam
Radon: Jeonbuk losing to Dangjin in the Korea Cup.
Plutonium: Doosan Bears for releasing Cameron
SA: I was dreading this moment. I thought I was safe. I thought the heat and the landslides had calmed everyone down.
JT: Fear it, run from it, dread it… the worst persons in the Korean sports world! It is inevitable. First up is the Nap or Lead award which goes to…the Kia Tigers bullpen for blowing a game against Kiwoon on August 22nd. Mr. S saw the final moment on live TV on SBS!
SA: I wanna bleach myyyyy braaaaaiinnn! FAAAAAH sound.
JT: I could hear you screaming on the east coast! My wife woke up and asked what’s that sound? I said that sounds like Mr.s. Someone lost, go back to sleep. *joke sting*
SA: Oh great I’m the mount krakatoa of sports. Grandma’s rolling in her grave *joke sting* So, we come to the 9th inning with Kia ahead 7 to 2, but Lee Tae-yang takes the mound and gives up a single to Choo Jae-hyun, then closer Lee Eui-lee takes over, and gives up an RBI single to Davidson to make it 7 to 4.
JT: Fun times in the dome for Kia’s pitchers.
SA: Then he walked Ahn, strikes out a pinch hitter, which sets the stage for Kim Jae-hyun who was batting 100 at this point.
JT: Two balls, two strikes, two outs. This is the part where heroes or goats are made. Should’ve been easy for Lee to take care of things.
SA: A poorly thrown curve later and boooom, walk-off grand-slam home run! Heroes fans go wild! Tigers fans throw their TV remotes into their balconies!
JT: That explains the scream heard round the world!
SA: They’re calling it the Gocheok Grand Disaster on the youtube fan channels.
JT: Are fans running over their TVs and shooting them like the Cowboys fans did when they lost to the 49ers in the playoffs?
SA: I’d like to think we’re not that nuts, but if you see a lot of TV purchases on Carrot Market, well now you know why. Speaking of nuts, watch for San Diego to sign him since Song’s struggling this season.
JT: And just as I was coming back to Gwangju from a road trip, Kia won on a grand slam against Lotte on Tuesday night. That should take some of the bite off the Gocheok disaster. Wow can we get more dramatic, people?
SA: KBO brings out all of the emotional spectrum- sometimes in one game!
JT: The Bulwha award goes to…the Pohang Steelers! During a home game on August 7th, a fan was injured when a chunk of concrete fell on his hand. The fan was not deterred and went to another part of the stadium to continue watching the game instead of going to the hospital as noted in the Korea Times. That’s a dedicated fan for ya! Is he the Black Knight?
SA: (English accent) Tis not but a flesh wound! *joke sting*
JT: So the Steelers moved their matches to Gwangyang, Bucheon and this week's in Gangneung while the stadium gets inspected. Hope they brought some grout and epoxy with them.
SA: The Steelers are the owners of the stadium so they have no one to blame but themselves for this. Can’t blame it on the city like NC tried to do!
JT: They definitely get fluoride…please don’t use it to fix the stadium, guys! You already have enough problems!
SA: More soccer madness this month to talk about. The Radon award goes to… Jeonbuk HD Motors for losing to K3 Dangjin in the Korea Cup round of 16. I saw a portion of the game and Jeonbuk looked half-assed most of the game. The other team’s goalie was really good and it went to penalties which Jeonbuk botched thanks to Kim Ha Jun’s easily blocked shot.
JT: Were they even playing to win?
SA: Good question. Jeonbuk is already in the AFC cup for this season, but next season is still a possibility. They can get in by winning the regular season title or by winning in the playoffs and then the calculators come out. They’ll either get champions or league two with their expected record and level of play.
JT: On one hand, why tire out your players? But on the other hand, why let yourself get embarrassed?
SA: This would be like Prairie View beating Ohio State. The Jeonbuk fans were not pleased but at least they didn’t set the field on fire like the SSG fans did.
JT: Even lowly Gwangju FC beat a K3 team. That doesn’t say much for the mighty Jeonbuk franchise.
SA: And now we have a lot of say in this week’s Plutonium award winners which are…the Doosan Bears!
JT: Come ooooonnnn down!
SA: They are the winners because they cut Dez Cameron, who albeit wasn’t having a great June with a batting average of 206 in the 10 games before he was cut.
JT: It should be noted his WAR was over 2, by the way.
SA: So he went to America and joined the Toronto Blue Jays org, where he hit 367 with 3 home runs, earning a callup to the majors where he’s hitting home runs and led the team to wins over Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, his replacement in right field Ryu Seungmin got off to a hot start but has played terribly and got benched. His foreign player replacement Unio Severino, almost called him uno there, got sent to the second team for 10 days and just returned to the big league.
JT: Uno Reverso!
SA: *laughing* Cameron credited the video team at Doosan for improving his swing and pre-game routine, methods which now serve him and Toronto well.
JT: Cameron doesn’t sound upset about it. Hell it’s like he turned over a new maple leaf *joke sting*
SA: *laughing* yeah he sure did! Too bad Doosan didn’t and they’re still in 5th place!
JT: Did all that trading and roster reworking for nothing. Wonder if the fans are upset with their front office?
SA: They will be if they miss the playoffs and Cameron’s playing in October! And that’s why Doosan is today’s WORST PERSON! In the KOREAN SPORTS WORLD *throws papers* Trade this away!
GOTW
JT: Time for game of the week! What’s the big event this weekend?
SA: The World Master’s Athletics Championships are going on in Daegu until Sept 3rd! This weekend they’re holding the 20k race walk and half marathon.
JT: Race walk? That’s the one race where they swing their hips a lot but can’t run, right?
SA: Precisely, Mr. J! But there’s something special about these events. Everyone participating must be over 35 years old.
JT: I was wondering why I was hearing joints popping sounds all over town yesterday *joke sting* The hills are alive with the sound of ligaments.
SA: There’s even a guy from Thailand participating who’s 106 years old and started exercising at age 80!
JT: Wow, is that the new health strat? Participate in foot races after retirement and you’ll live longer than all of Hollywood!
SA: There’s video of races on the official Youtube channel and I watched some women’s 100 meter races. You can see the grey hairs fly off their heads as they run by. In the 85 and older division you can see a granny running and *laughing* shaking like a car with a bad clutch in low gear!
JT: There were some photo finishes…at 800 ISO shutter speed *joke sting*! Anyway what’s the next sport?
SA: There’s a really important footie match in K2 Saturday with Gimpo FC hosting Suwon. Gimpo is in 8th place and needs a win to stay in playoff contention, especially with Hwaseong struggling to win lately. Suwon’s doing fine and sitting pretty in 1st place but E-Land’s got an easy match so the Suwon players can’t afford to relax just yet. If you’re in the area, check out the game! What about you, Mr. J? What’s your picks this week?
JT: As I golfed a lot on my vacation and as Korean women are the tops in the world in golf my game/event of the week is the 2026 KG Group Ladies Open.
SA: Which I believe started yesterday and runs through the weekend.
JT:Yes round 2 at Sunning Point Country Club in Yongjim Gyeonggi province is going on right now with rookie KLPGA golfer Lee Seo Yoon at the top of the leaderboard after round 1 with -8, you can catch all the action on SBS Golf if you got cable.
SA: And your second pick?
JT: The weather’s not great so I can’t guarantee a good baseball game. If you wanna chance it, KT vs Samsung in Daegu on Sunday might be the best bet. Otherwise if you’re into fighting sports, Road FC #78 Part 2 is happening in Seoul Jangchung Arena on Saturday night. No chance of rainout there, and one of their ring girls was in a Netflix drama called Bloodhounds so if she looks familiar, that’s why.
SA: As always, don’t ignore those flash flood alerts. You don’t want your car to smell like wet dog for a week *joke sting*
Stars of the game:
JT: It’s time for a special stars of the game! Where we talk about an athlete somewhere that deserves the spotlight! A goat, not a scapegoat like Worst Persons. My pick is Shin Chang Moo and Icelandic Strike about to mess this name up hopefully nobody listening in iceland Holmbert Fridjonsson are going to be praised for the heroics off the field rather on the field as they leapt off their team bus at 2:30 am the morning of August 9th to save a driver from a burning EV car. MY dad always says nothing good comes from staying out past 12 hopefully their was no foul play from the burning cars driver, but kudos to shin and Holmbert save of the game that day.
SA: They’re a brave duo, especially with how explosive EVs can get. Give them the keys to the city!
JT: So who’s your pick?
SA: Park Jo Ah from Hadong playing in the US Women’s Pro Baseball League. There are 3 Korean players in the League and I’ve seen Park play the most because she’s on the San Francisco Firebells. Before that, she played for the women’s national team and helped them win bronze in the 2023 Women’s Asian Cup.
JT: Where’s she from?
SA: Hadong, of all places. They have a river, cows, and green tea. Oh and cherry blossoms.
JT: This is like some hollywood sports drama script outline. Throw in a dirt road and some hogs and it would be a Lifetime thanksgiving movie! *joke sting*
SA: She is hitting 423 with 7 RBIs so far. On Youtube whenever they show games, you can see Korean fans blitzing the chat the entire game. So she might be the most famous person to come out of hadong.
JT: An international star from a tiny little county of 40 thousand people? They should be hanging posters of her off the walls of the town hall!
SA: And a quick shout-out to Korea’s U18 basketball team for coming from 3 points down with 35 seconds left to win by 3 against Japan on August 18th in the Asia Cup group stage.
Copy Ending from previous multi-host episode
JT: A shoutout to our listeners in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands! Home of the top team PSV Eindhoven and a bouldering team, which is a choice no doubt.
SA: Why’s that?
JT: I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the Netherlands on a map, but they don’t have any mountains. Kinda hard to boulder without boulders if you know what I mean.
SA: Maybe they import their boulders from boulder colorado *joke sting* hell I don’t know.
JT: We’ll be back in 2 weeks with the wild & wacky history of the Kiwoon Heroes!
SA: Be the hero the world needs, Korean Sports fans!
(AI voice) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast get haircuts done at Manly Men’s Cuts, the best and only haircare professionals on the island of Ulleung! Tired of the judgemental ladies in the salon making fun of you? Come on over to Manly Men’s where they will upsell you on microwaving your balls while they cut your hair! Marvel at the hot wheels collection on the wall while you wait! Ferry not included.
Notes
SSG Landers 2nd team Beating and Harassment Case
https://news.kbs.co.kr/news/pc/view/view.do?ncd=1361912
SSG Landers/Incident - NamuWiki
Incheon SSG Landersfield - NamuWiki
Unrest in Literary Field - NamuWiki
SK Wyverns/Incidents/2010s - NamuWiki
Acquisition of SK Wyverns by Shinsegae - NamuWiki
https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-sports/2026/08/05/GVI2GJXWUVEC3HYLIZJ3JVV2DU/