Lee Dae-ho's return excites Giants' fans

Lotte Giants’ first baseman Lee Dae-ho makes a heart shape with his fingers during a news conference to celebrate his rejoining of the baseball club at Lotte Hotel World in southern Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Slugger Lee Dae-ho, 35, received a hero’s welcome in his hometown ― Busan, the “city of baseball” ― after he returned to the Lotte Giants after clinching a four-year contract with the club last week.

“I feel great returning to the Giants after five years,” he said during an official ceremony to celebrate his rejoining the Giants at Lotte Hotel in southern Seoul, Monday. “I’m so excited because I will meet my fans again… I had long thought the Giants were the team I had to return to at some point in my baseball career because of my fans that always encouraged me to do better. And I think time was on my side.”

Lee made a return to the Giants after a five-year hiatus during which he had played in the Japanese baseball league for four years and then had a one-year stint in the Major League Baseball (MLB) as a platoon player for the Seattle Mariners last year.

During the 11 seasons Lee played for the Giants, he hit .309 with 225 home runs and 809 RBIs. He earned the nickname “the cleanup hitter of Joseon” which reflects his fans’ firm belief that he is the greatest baseball player of our time.

As a cleanup hitter of the Giants for four years between 2008 and 2011, he was a key player behind his team’s advances to the playoff season for four consecutive years. His great performance continued in Japan. In 2015, he won an MVP award after he hit a two-run homer to lead his team there, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, to win the Japan Series.

Lee is a rare player who has experienced and pulled together outstanding performances in baseball leagues in Korea, Japan and the United States.

The “Lee effect” on the Giants will be visible at Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium once the 2017 season starts, according to experts. They say his return would bring Giants’ fans back to the stadium.

Lee is described as a human magnet attracting baseball fans to the ballpark.

During the heyday of the Giants, the ballpark, which has 27,500 seats, used to be crowded with baseball-loving Busan citizens. Fans there used to chant loudly when their favorite athletes were at bat, and the ballpark was called “the world’s largest noraebang or karaoke.”

Fans, however, have gradually turned their backs on the baseball club after reports about its alleged bad treatment of star players, including Lee. The financial compensation given to Lee didn’t match his accomplishment during the 2010 season when he set a world record of hitting home runs in nine consecutive games. After the productive season, Lee requested the club pay him an income of 700 million won. But the club didn’t make any concessions from its initial offer of 630 million won. The two sides brought the case to the KBO for settlement after their negotiations failed to narrow the gap. The KBO ruled in favor of the Giants. While watching the dispute and the way the Giants and the KBO resolved the wage dispute, Giants fans became tired of the club. They felt the club refused to treat their hero adequately and some of them didn’t show up at the stadium.

The numbers of spectators at the stadium before and after Lee’s departure were distinctly different. The Giants attracted over 20,000 baseball fans per game until 2012, but that figure has since halved.

The team’s poor standings in the KBO league following Lee’s departure for greener pastures in Japan and then the MLB further fueled their disappointment. The Giants placed 8th with 66 wins and 78 defeats out of 10 baseball clubs during the 2016 season. It stood in fourth in 2011 when Lee played for the team and advanced to the playoff season.

Fans’ hard feelings about the Giants showed signs of turning into hope, following the club’s clinching of a contract last week to bring Lee back to the team. With the contract sealed, the former Seattle Mariners’ first baseman became the highest-paid baseball player, set to receive a record-high 15 billion won during the four years.

His popularity in the southeastern port city is unrivaled and created a joke ― if a polling agency were to take a popular vote of people from all walks of life, Lee would top the survey.

Some Busan citizens say the slugger is more influential than the nation’s president.

One internet user shared an interesting posting that can give those outside the city clues about how popular Lee is in his hometown.

“In Busan, babies stop crying when they hear about Lee. Those who are fighting each other would stop brawling if someone talks about Lee. Those who are trying to commit suicide would rethink and families who are mourning for the loss of their loved ones would stop weeping because of Lee.”

Baseball analyst Choi Hyo-seok said Lee made Busan citizens feel proud of him. “Lee is the source of their pride for the city where they were born and raised,” he said.