On March 13, Hong’s wife, Kim Jung-im, posted a post on her Instagram that began, “Today is the first day of the U15 Youth National Baseball Tournament, the last national tournament in 2023 in Gijang, Busan! The first game on the first day of the big tournament was in our absence.”
“On that first game, my son Hwa Chul-i pitched as the first starting pitcher, but I felt very uncomfortable about not being able to go to the Gijang baseball field in Busan since last night, so I had a very bad stomachache since last night, and when I woke up at 6 a.m. to wake up my high school daughter, I was upset about the reality that I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, so I was crying a lot, but the stories and photos from the field sent by my relatives made me cry like there was a hole in my heart,” he continued.
“One of them was a photo of the mother of the No. 4 hitter from Daedong Middle School, who sent us this priceless photo saying, ‘My son is on the opposing team, but Hwachul fought so well. Later, she told me that these two kids would definitely be on the same side. We shared a DM saying that we’re going to play together on a team called Korea, so let’s work hard to communicate and raise them together!” I asked, “Aren’t there already so many baseball players like this in my life?
“So I share all the good things with him and find them for him and ask him if he has any trade secrets. Every time he says, ‘Mom, they’re all my competitors!’ I want him to have a big heart, and I say, ‘Your competitors aren’t here, and if you’re not going to lose here, you’d better think of something else quickly. Even if you’re good here, when you go out into the world, they’ll be like, ‘What are you? After 19 years as a professional baseball player, I retired and went to the United States to study baseball again, and I realized that there are things that I missed in the past 19 years.”
I learned that the most important thing is not to overwhelm them at a young age so that they can run well, not so that they can barely stay in the lead, not so that they can run without limits, not so that they can be finished, but so that they can run without limits,” he said.
Finally, “Today is a crucible of emotions. I’m going to eat a good meal and enjoy the next two days without having to wash my son’s baseball uniform until the wee hours of the morning.” We won the cold game. Hwachul pitches 4 scoreless innings and wins the game cold in the 5th inning! I think our baseball team is growing slowly and steadily. It’s the best,” he added.
Born in 2008, Hong Hwa-cheol is 16 years old and is currently in the third grade at Baejae Middle School. Hong played professional baseball from 1999 to 2016. 파워볼
