Ma Returns to Giants
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
In limited appearances for the LG Twins last season, Ma Hae-young looked like a man without a pulse.
So it's anybody's guess how the aging veteran convinced the Lotte Giants that there is some quality baseball left in him.
Ma signed a one-year, 50 million won ($52,640) contract Thursday to return to the Busan-based Giants, where he started his professional career in 1995.
He is expected to compete with Park Hyeon-seung and Jeong Bo-myung for the starter's job at first base, left open with franchise slugger Lee Dae-ho converting to the hot corner.
The Giants also hope the 38-year-old can provide much-needed veteran leadership, as he was always considered a positive locker room presence at every stop in his well-traveled career.
Ma's effective-enough English skills would also ease the burden on new manager Jerry Royster, the first foreign skipper ever in Korean professional baseball.
``I appreciate the opportunity I was given by the Giants, despite my age,'' Ma said. ``This is certainly my last stop in my baseball career, and I will find a way to contribute.''
Ma batted .296 and hit 128 home runs with 499 RBIs in his first six seasons with the Giants, establishing himself among Korean baseball's most feared hitters with his combination of power and plate discipline.
Ma moved to the Samsung Lions in 2001 and proved as the difference when the team won its first Korean Series title the following year. His dramatic walk-off home run in Game 6 became the Korean equivalent of Kurt Gibson's famous blast in the United States.
However, after hitting 38 home runs with 123 RBIs for the Lions in 2003, Ma's numbers have dropped significantly since signing a four-year, 2.8 billion won ($2.9 million) contract with the Kia Tigers ahead of the 2004 season.
Ma did hit 12 home runs in 2005, but his numbers dropped to five home runs and 28 RBIs in 2006, despite playing in 80 games for the Twins. Last year, Ma hit .071 with three RBIs in 11 games for the Twins, and the Seoul-based club refrained from re-signing him to a new contract.
It remains to be seen whether Ma can defy logic and squeeze out one last quality season, or if he will be gone from the game and prove that numbers never lie.