SEOUL– When it comes to personnel moves, the Kiwoom Heroes haven’t always made the smartest or wisest of choices. They have signed players with shady, troubled pasts and sacked a first-year manager with a winning record for apparent differences with a particularly meddling front office.
Bringing back their one-time franchise star Kang Jung-ho, who has been out of baseball for nearly three years following a series of off-field problems, became the latest addition to the Heroes’ dubious transaction history Friday.
In the 34-year-old infielder, the Heroes will be getting an erstwhile slugger who drank and drove his way out of baseball, and who caused so much ill will among KBO fans that it’s doubtful he will ever be in their good graces again.
It’s also a head-scratching acquisition from the purely baseball side of things, because Kang isn’t even eligible to play this year because of a looming suspension, and he likely won’t be much help to a team that has some talented young players all over the infield who deserve regular playing opportunities.
The Heroes said they will pay Kang the league’s minimum wage of 30 million won (US$24,750) for one season. But it will not be 2022, because Kang, once he is formally registered with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), must serve a one-year suspension.
The KBO handed down the punishment, along with 300 hours of community service, in May 2020, as Kang was eyeing a return to the South Korean league. Kang, who first played for the Heroes franchise from 2006 to 2014 before signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, had been released by the Pittsburgh Pirates in August 2019. This was after being granted a second chance following legal trouble.
In December 2016, Kang drove his car into a guardrail in Seoul while under the influence of alcohol and then fled the scene. It was his third DUI arrest, and he received a suspended jail term for that offense in 2017. He didn’t play at all that year.
At the top of his game, Kang was as feared as anyone at the plate in the KBO. In 2014, Kang set a KBO record for most home runs in a season by a shortstop with 40 and put up a .356/.459/.739 line. And the bat translated nicely to the majors, where he had 36 home runs in his first two seasons despite missing a big chunk of time with injuries.
But that prime has long passed, and it is fair to wonder why the Heroes decided to take a gamble on a washed-up player with so much baggage.
Ko Hyung-wook, the Heroes’ general manager, said Friday he wanted to give Kang an opportunity to repent for his mistakes.
“We didn’t think much about how he can help the team. We want him to show fans that he regrets what he’s done in the past,” Ko told reporters at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul before a preseason game. “He is someone who showed leadership during some difficult times for our franchise. And I think he set a great example for younger players when he moved to the majors. What he did was wrong, but we wanted to give him another chance.”
Kang had tried to rejoin the Heroes in 2020 but ultimately abandoned that bid in the face of mounting criticism. Ko admitted he doesn’t believe public opinion has turned in Kang’s favor just because some time has passed and begged baseball fans’ forgiveness for both Kang and the Heroes.
“I’d like to apologize to our fans, but a lot of time has passed. I hope they can forgive us,” Ko said. “I know the apology should have come before the signing, but the papers have been signed, and we can’t turn things back now.”
Asked if he was worried about any bad influence Kang may have on the rest of the team, Ko said, “He was an exemplary player, and I think young players have much to learn from him.”
But what about those three DUI arrests?
“You shouldn’t learn from things like that.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency