Boss From Abroad
By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter
Since arriving from the United States to start his first baseball season as manager of the Lotte Giants, Jerry Royster has faced some challenges in adjusting to life in South Korea.
He's had to learn the culture and customs of a new country. He's also had to find ways to communicate with others when he can't speak Korean.
``Thank God for interpreters,'' he said.
And while Royster has grown accustomed to many Korean foods, he still hasn't acquired a taste for kimchi, the fermented dish that is served with most meals.
``I'm not a kimchi fan,'' he said with a grin. "Actually, I've eaten it twice, and I've yet to eat the spicy kimchi. I've only eaten the plain kimchi.''
Despite these challenges, Royster, the first foreigner to work as a professional baseball manager in Korea, says he's genuinely happy with his new job. The Giants' ownership and fans are certainly glad to have him, especially with the way the team has improved under his guidance.
In his first year with the Giants, Royster has taken a struggling franchise that hadn't qualified for the playoffs since 2000 and turned it into the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)'s hottest team. The Busan-based club opened the season by posting a 12-4 record through Saturday, putting it in first place in the league standings with a slightly better winning percentage than the reigning Korean Series champion SK Wyverns (13-5).
Crowds are packing stadiums to watch the Giants play, with some Busan sports enthusiasts traveling more than 400 kilometers to see the team compete in road games.
Some fans and media are even comparing Royster's success to that of another foreign coach, Guus Hiddink, the Dutchman who led South Korea's national football team to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup. Royster, however, downplays those comparisons.
``I just kind of laugh at it,'' he said before a game against the Woori Heroes Friday at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul. ``The guy took his team to the semifinals of the World Cup, and all I've done is won 10 games in the KBO, so I don't think the comparison is fair. But I appreciate the fact that most people are seeing our team play better baseball.''
Baseball Background
Prior to joining the Giants, the 55-year-old Royster had been involved in baseball for most of his life.
Born in Sacramento, Calif., he began playing the sport at a young age and signed as an amateur free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he was 17.
Royster went on to play 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an infielder with the Dodgers (1973-1975), Atlanta Braves (1976-1984, 1988), San Diego Padres (1985-1986), Chicago White Sox (1987) and New York Yankees (1987). He played 1,428 games in his career, compiling a .249 batting average with 40 home runs, 352 RBIs and 189 stolen bases.
After his playing career ended, Royster became a coach, working mostly as a manager in the minor leagues and occasionally as an assistant in the majors.
He got an opportunity to manage an MLB team in 2002, when he started the year as a bench coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and then took over managerial duties after Davey Lopes was fired from the position just 15 games into the season. Royster led the Brewers to a 53-94 record that year, before he too was fired at the end of the season.
Royster eventually returned to the minors, where he last managed the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A affiliate of the Dodgers, from 2005-2006. He had a 124-163 record in those two seasons and finished his minor league managing career with a 598-659 mark.
``Everything about all my experiences, especially managing a major league team like the Brewers, you just learn,'' Royster said. ``The more you manage, the more you learn, and I haven't quit learning. I have not quit learning.''
Coming to Korea
While Royster was experiencing mixed results managing in the United States, the Giants spent most of the last decade in a downward spiral.
They ended the 2007 season with a 55-68-3 record in seventh place out of eight teams in the KBO. It was the seventh straight year in which they lost most of their games, finished in the bottom half of the standings and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Looking to improve, the team fired manager Kang Byung-cheol and began looking for a new coach.
As part of its search, ownership sought advice from Bobby Valentine, the highly-respected manager of the Japanese league's Chiba Lotte Marines, the sister team of the Giants. Valentine, an American who had also managed the Texas Rangers and New York Mets, introduced the Giants and Royster to each other.
With Valentine's encouragement, Royster signed with the Giants last November, then moved to Korea in January to begin training camp.
``I was really talked into (coming to Korea) between Bobby Valentine and Lotte ownership, not just the baseball side, but all of Lotte,'' Royster said. ``I've met all the way to the top, to the owner of the company, and it was such a challenge that it was going to be hard to pass up. But Bobby Valentine was the real kicker, just believing that I was the guy to help pick this up and just bring something a little different to Korean baseball.''
Building a Winner
Once Royster became manager, he began watching videos of the Giants and evaluating his players. It didn't take him long to realize the team needed to make changes.
``I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me,'' he said. ``The team lacked a lot of things it was going to take to bring it up.''
One of the biggest aspects of the Giants Royster has worked to change is the team's attitude. He's tried to get the players to be more aggressive and competitive, while erasing the losing mentality of past seasons.
``We're changing the players that were here,'' he said. ``Don't let them do what they did last year. We rarely talk about last year. The only time I talk about last year is with the press, with the media. Otherwise, we don't even mention last year. It's not even a thought. The one thing we've been able to do as a team is focus on what we're trying to do, and I attribute all the success to the coaches and players adapting to the style of baseball I've brought to them.''
Royster's style of baseball has made the Giants the KBO's most dominant team. In addition to being in first place, they lead the league in runs scored (96), fewest runs allowed (60), team batting average (.288) and team ERA (3.19).
The Giants have five batters hitting above the .300 mark, led by catcher Kang Min-ho, who is at .386 with four home runs and 13 RBIs. Infielder Cho Sung-hwan is batting .365 with 10 RBIs, infielder Lee Dae-ho .356 with three homers and a league-leading 21 RBIs and outfielder Jung Soo-keun .323.
The team has also benefited from the offseason acquisition of Mexican-born outfielder Karim Garcia, a former major leaguer who is hitting .304 with six homers and 17 RBIs.
Plus, the Giants feature a strong rotation of starting pitchers, led by Song Seung-joon, who has a 3-0 record with a 2.29 ERA, and Son Min-han, who is 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA.
While there're still plenty of games left to be played, the Giants, whose only KBO championships came in 1984 and 1992, are looking like a team that can contend for a title.
``I'm going to try to win every game and beat the brains out of every team we play,'' Royster said.