Baseball books soar as regular season kicks off
Fans pack the Gocheok Sky Dome ballpark in Seoul during the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League’s spring exhibition game between the Nexen Heroes and the Samsung Lions, Sunday. This year’s KBO League started its new season Friday. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
A cover for “Pro Yagu Scouting Report 2017”
A cover for Son Hyeok’s “Mental Coaching of the Pitcher”
The new Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League season started Friday, aiming to reach its biggest ever attendance mark this year.
Last year, the nation’s top baseball league set a new single-season attendance record, attracting some 8.34 million spectators. The sport’s governing body said it set an attainable goal of over 8.78 million this season, with an average 12,203 fans a game.
With the popularity of professional baseball, sales of baseball books are also increasing.
Interpark Corp announced Wednesday, sales of sports books increased 13 percent in March compared to February.
The local online ticket and bookseller also said baseball books “Pro Yagu [baseball] Scouting Report 2017” and Son Hyeok’s “Mental Coaching of the Pitcher” ranked third and sixth in its bestseller list in the hobby and leisure section.
The 2017 edition of “Pro Yagu Scouting Report” has been an essential guidebook for KBO League fans since its first edition in 2010. The guidebook provides not only players’ profiles but also devotes pages to team analysis.
It is written by prominent baseball writers -- cartoonist Choi Hoon, who has drawn baseball cartoons since 2004; SBS TV baseball reporter Lee Sung-hoon; the Kyunghyang Shinmun baseball reporter Lee Yong-gyun; Ilgan Sports baseball reporter Choi Min-kyoo; and Yoo Hyo-sang, operator of the online baseball information site Yaguchingu.
Baseball commentator Son Hyeok’s new book is recommended reading for pitchers as well as baseball fans.
After spending years as a pitcher in the KBO with the LG Twins, Kia Tigers and the Doosan Bears, Son has studied ways to teach pitchers how to pitch better. He writes that he penned the book because of the Nexen Heroes pitchers whom he instructed as a pitching coach for two years from 2015 to 2016.
In the book, Son doesn’t talk about pitching mechanics but he pays attention to pitchers’ mental state in being more efficient on the mound.
He writes that most pitchers think they fail to achieve correct pitching mechanics when they struggle on the mound, but the author advises them to look back on themselves first.
What he advises in the book is not something new or special. Based on his experience and examples from successful pitchers, Son gives more detail on their mentality on the mound. He writes that pitchers are required to think positively and pay constant attention. He also emphasizes pitchers should dismiss worldly thoughts once they step up.