[Current & Culture] Cheering for an Era of Lee Dae-ho

Published 22 Jul.2022 14:06(KST)

Last week, the professional baseball All-Star Game was held. Since it had been on hiatus for two years due to COVID-19, it was a festival held for the first time in three years for baseball fans. Here, the win or loss of any team does not matter. Just watching players from the team you support is enjoyable, and seeing the skilled players gathered from each team is thrilling.

This All-Star Game was even more special than before. It marked the start of the retirement tour of Lee Dae-ho, known as the "Cleanup Hitter of Joseon." Born in 1982, Lee Dae-ho is spending his retirement season. Having led the league in batting in the first half, one might wonder if he really needs to retire or if he could play for at least one more season. Giants fans would especially feel this way. Much of the All-Star Game was devoted to highlighting his retirement. Although I am not a Lotte Giants fan, it was still fine. He is, perhaps, baseball itself from a certain era. His name has remained vivid from the moment I began to love baseball until now, along with the weight of the phrase, "Cleanup hitter of Lotte, Lee Dae-ho steps up to the plate."

Whether it’s baseball, soccer, or any sport, when watching, I tend to compare the players’ ages with mine. Their profiles always include TMI such as their alma mater and age. Since I have been watching baseball since elementary school, I started when the key players on the team were older than me, then at some point we were about the same age, and eventually I became the oldest. Now, Lee Dae-ho, who is about to retire, is only one year older than me. I have reached the age where I would have to retire from any baseball team. At times like this, one feels a bit melancholic. Watching the players’ ages made me sense my own aging. Seeing players my age in their prime and then decline is very sad. The sight of Oh Seung-hwan giving up a walk-off home run feels unfamiliar.

During the cleaning time of the All-Star Game, Lee Dae-ho’s retirement tour event began. Seeing him greet the crowd with his family, I realized that the era of baseball I loved was coming to an end. Lee Seung-yeop, whom I loved the most, Park Yong-taek, who was always at Jamsil Stadium, and Yoo Han-joon, the heart of Suwon, all retired one after another over the years. They were all players about my age. Perhaps Lee Dae-ho, who was holding the batter’s box as the last player of that generation, is now retiring.

When I was feeling complicated, I received a call from my younger brother, a Giants fan who is the same age as Lee Dae-ho. He called while crying and said he somehow felt the same, that not only an era but also he himself was fading away, and it hurt his heart. I felt exactly the same. When I asked him if he would join me for the regular season retirement tour, he, a Korean language teacher, replied with the best one-line poem of his life: "I cannot walk all ten steps with him, but at least I must walk one step together. Let’s go together."

I hope not only Lee Dae-ho but also many more players can have retirement tours. Without imposing too high qualifications, if the team and its fans decide, all baseball fans of that era should be able to celebrate his retirement. Even if he did not grow as a franchise player on one team, memories of him hitting a clutch hit or striking out a batter at the ballpark you visited with your father exist for everyone. May you walk one step together with them and find comfort for your own era as well.