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Kim Young-deok (86), the inaugural manager of the OB Bears, was an outstanding right-handed pitcher during his playing days. He debuted in Korean industrial baseball in 1964 with Haeun Corporation. He pitched 255 innings with an astonishing earned run average of just 0.32. As a batter, he was a ‘two-way’ star, hitting a .300 batting average (6th place) and four home runs (tied for 2nd). On September 25, at the Yongsan Army Base, he also recorded the second perfect game in Korean adult baseball history against the Railroad Administration team. He was 28 years old that year. Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, as a Korean resident in Japan (Zainichi), he played eight years in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Nankai Hawks under the registered name ‘Kanehiko Takashige.’ His skill level was on a different plane compared to domestic players. In a 2007 interview with the author, Kim recalled, “I believe the slider was first thrown in Korean baseball by Shin Yong-gyun, a Zainichi player from the Japanese amateur baseball team Yashikakamera. I was probably the first pitcher to throw a forkball and a sinker.”

Kim chose Korean industrial baseball after the 4th Asian Baseball Championship held in Seoul in September 1963. Today, this tournament features national teams composed of high school and college prospects. At that time, it was the highest-level international stage where Korean baseball could challenge for the championship. Korea won the tournament for the first time with a perfect 3-0 record in the first round and 2 wins and 1 loss in the second round. It was the first international tournament victory after liberation. Notably, Korea defeated Japan, whose team was mainly composed of Sekisui Chemical players from amateur baseball, twice: 5-2 in the first round and 3-0 in the second round. These were Korea’s first victories against Japan since liberation. Korea’s first championship and first win against Japan were reported in the Japanese media as well. Kim, who was spending the final years of his playing career with Nankai, saw the news and thought, ‘I can continue my playing career in Korea.’ At that time, due to conflicts between professional and amateur baseball in Japan, former professionals could not play in amateur baseball. He entered the Korean scene through the arrangement of Baek In-cheon, a Kyungdong High School alumnus who played for the Toei Flyers. The following year, he conquered industrial baseball.

Expectations for Kim Young-deok were high ahead of the 5th Asian Baseball Championship held in Manila, Philippines, in 1965. However, Kim did not appear in a single game. This issue led the Korea Baseball Association to receive an investigation order from the Korea Sports Council after the tournament. According to media reports at the time, on December 6, the third day of the tournament, Kim left for Japan due to passport expiration issues. Zainichi Koreans were subject to restrictions requiring them to stay in Korea for a certain period before re-entering Japan. However, there was an ambiguous situation. The most important game against Japan was scheduled as the first game on December 4, so he could have pitched according to the schedule. The report sent by the Baseball Association to the Sports Council stated, “He experienced a recurrence of lower back pain during the training camp.” However, Kim told a different story: the Japanese team protested, claiming “Kim Young-deok, a former professional, is an ineligible player.” At that time, the boundary between professional and amateur status was clear, and Kim’s player status was controversial enough. The Korean team might have prioritized the precedent of pitcher Yoo Wan-sik and catcher Jang Seok-hwa, both former Japanese professional players who returned after liberation and participated in the first tournament in 1954.

The status of Korean baseball has risen to an incomparable level since then. In the 1960s, winning the Asian Baseball Championship was the ultimate goal. Now, Korea aims to win the top international tournaments such as the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Korea won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and aims to return to the semifinals in the WBC scheduled for next March. Professional players have been allowed to participate in the Olympics for a long time, and in the WBC, players can choose their national team based on their parents’, grandparents’, or birthplace. For example, Joo Kwon (KT), originally from Jilin Province, China, played for the Chinese national team in the 2017 WBC. Japanese professional baseball teams also actively respond to foreign associations’ requests for player call-ups. Players such as Asuaki Yamasaki, the closer for the Yokohama BayStars, and left-handed pitcher Chiaki Tone of the Yomiuri Giants are potential candidates for the Philippine national team. Both players have Filipino mothers.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), which oversees WBC player selection, has so far composed the national team only with Korean nationals. However, newly appointed KBO Commissioner Heo Gu-yeon has taken a progressive stance, stating, “We can select Korean-descendant players (with different nationalities) by moving away from pure-blood ideology.” Players like Dane Dunning (Texas), Mitch White (LA Dodgers), and Tommy Edman (St. Louis) have been mentioned. There is a rarely mentioned name as well. Seiji Uebayashi, a talented outfielder of Korean descent, plays for the SoftBank Hawks, the successor of Nankai, where Kim Young-deok played. Uebayashi, 27 years old this year, joined SoftBank in 2014 and posted an OPS of 0.803 with 22 home runs and a league-leading 14 triples in 2018. He is highly regarded for his defensive skills. Uebayashi was born to a Korean mother and a Japanese father. His mother, a so-called ‘Newcomer’ (Korean who settled in Japan after liberation), runs a Korean restaurant in Saitama City near Tokyo. SoftBank has dispatched its third squad to Korea from 2012 until before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, playing unofficial games against KBO League’s second-tier teams. Uebayashi also played in Korea during his third squad days. After the schedule, he visited Korean relatives to greet them. An insider familiar with Japanese baseball said, “Uebayashi is aware that he is eligible to play for the Korean WBC team.”

Uebayashi has worn the Japanese national team uniform. In the opening game of the 2017 Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC), which features professional prospects, he hit a game-tying three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning off Korean pitcher Ham Deok-ju. It is a pleasant thought to imagine wearing the uniform of his father’s country once and his mother’s country another time. Although Uebayashi struggled with a batting average in the .100s over the past three seasons, he revived this year with a .301 average in 33 games. Unfortunately, he injured his Achilles tendon during pre-game training on May 18. His return during the season is uncertain.

The exact number of Korean-descendant players currently active in Japan is unknown. Few openly disclose their Korean heritage like Uebayashi. Park Young-gil, former Lotte manager and outfielder for the 1965 national team, said, “Although discrimination has decreased compared to the past, many Zainichi players feel burdened to reveal their Korean identity. However, if the player is talented and willing, they should be actively accepted.” A senior KBO official stated, “The door is open for players active in Japan to join the national team. Of course, respecting the player’s wishes is a priority.”

Korean baseball began seriously accepting Zainichi Korean players from the 1960s. In the 3rd Asian Baseball Championship held in Japan in 1959, Korea was overwhelmingly defeated by Japan with scores of 1-20 and 1-7. In the 4th tournament in 1962, Korea lost both games but narrowed the score gap to 0-2 and 1-2. The left-handed pitcher who performed brilliantly in those two games was Zainichi Korean Kim Seong-geun. In the 1963 tournament against Japan, submarine pitcher Shin Yong-gyun pitched a complete game in the first match and a shutout in the second, becoming the hero of victory. Before international achievements, Zainichi Korean players played a significant role in the qualitative development of Korean baseball. After the launch of professional baseball in 1982, former Nippon Professional Baseball titleholders such as Kim Il-yong, Jang Myung-boo, and Kim Ki-tae were active. The recruitment of Zainichi Korean players declined after the 1985 Plaza Accord, which caused the yen’s value to rise and widened the salary gap between Korean and Japanese professional baseball. However, the KBO opened wider doors by introducing the foreign player system in 1998. Korean baseball’s history has grown through global exchange. The KBO’s changed stance on WBC team composition is connected to this history. And now, more diverse ‘Koreans’ live in Korea and worldwide than in the 1960s. This is why a ‘multinational baseball national team’ can have meaning.

Director, Korea Baseball Society

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.