Interview with LG baseball coach Yeom Kyung-yup, who led the team to its first ‘unified victory’ in 29 years
“Before I took over, I thought LG could only win by getting rid of the fear of the end once it collapsed.
Focus on playing baseball and aggressive team colors Preparing for two failures.
Give the fans a gift of victory.”
The phrase that the club placed inside Jamsil Stadium at the request of coach Yoon.
“Fear and hesitation are my worst enemies!
These words are posted on the passageway leading to the LG Baseball Team’s locker room at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. It’s a request from LG coach Yoon Kyung-yup, 55, who took over the reins last November. The players have been repeating the phrase over and over again as they enter and leave the locker room.
This season, LG players took the field without fear. They won the regular season title. In the Korean Series against KT, they didn’t hesitate. They lost Game 1, but swept Games 2 through 5 to win the title for the first time in 29 years since 1994. “Until last year, LG was a team that collapsed in a crisis and couldn’t get back up once it was down,” said Yeom on the 15th at Jamsil Stadium. I thought we could win the championship by getting rid of fear.”
Manager Yoon Kyung-yeop, who led LG to the top of the Korean Series for the first time in 29 years, spoke to the cameras at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Friday. Having won the Korean Series twice as a player, twice as a front office employee, and once as a manager, Yeom kissed the trophy as a manager. “I’m most happy to win this year’s championship, my first experience as a manager,” he said.
As a way to eliminate fear, Yeom ordered his players to play “running baseball”. He told them to play aggressively, even if it meant dying. LG recorded 166 stolen bases in the regular season. They were first out of 10 teams. They also had the most thrown outs, 101. With a stolen base success rate of only 62.2 percent, there was a lot of criticism from both inside and outside the organization, asking, “Is this an obvious game plan?”
“The fans and the media saw the stolen base numbers, but what I focused on was creating an aggressive team color. I thought the players could become more solid through playing baseball, rather than the effect of stealing itself.”
At some point, the LG players became bolder. Even when they were losing, they didn’t feel like losing. This year, LG won 86 games (2 ties, 56 losses) in the regular season, 42 of which were come-from-behind victories. “As our performance improved, the players instilled confidence in me, and that’s how LG became stronger in times of crisis,” says Yeom.
Game 3 of the Korean Series was the deciding game of the year. In the third game, which was played after the two teams exchanged a 1-1 tie, LG fell behind 5-7 in the bottom of the eighth inning when KT’s Park Byung-ho hit a home run. Yeom said, “The momentum shifted. The old LG would have collapsed there. But our players had experience in overcoming bigger deficits in the regular season. We all said, ‘We can turn it around’ before anyone else.”
Two batters later in the top of the ninth inning, Oh Ji-hwan hit a dramatic three-run homer. “KT closer Kim Jae-yoon made a mistake, and Oh Ji-hwan didn’t miss it and turned it into a home run. At that moment, I felt that the ‘energy of the universe’ was heading our way,” said Yeom.
Game 2 on the eighth was equally dramatic. LG gave up four runs in the first inning as starter Choi Won-tae struggled. However, seven relievers pitched eight and two-thirds scoreless innings, and the offense rallied to win the game 5-4. The Korean Series revealed the ‘upset DNA’ of the LG team.
Yeom is no stranger to failure. In 2014, when he led Nexen to the Korean Series, Yeom broke down in tears after losing 2 games to 4 to Samsung. In 2019, as head coach of SK (now SSG), he led the league throughout the regular season before allowing a late-season upset to Doosan. Pushed into the playoffs, SK had to pack up early after losing three straight games to Kiwoom.
“In 2014, we played fearless baseball, but we couldn’t overcome the objective power difference. In 2019, we couldn’t get over the final hurdle in the regular season.” “We learned from the last two failures, and this year we made all the preparations, including diversifying our pitching staff. We were fortunate enough to be able to present the championship to our fans who have been waiting for us for a long time.” When the championship was finalized, Yeom cried tears of joy with his players.
He personally sent 10 million won each to catcher Park Dong-won and pitcher Yoo Young-chan the day after the championship. He had promised to give 10 million won to Su-hoon as a separate prize from the Korean Series Most Valuable Player (MVP), but when Su-hoon became the second player, he paid 20 million won. “I was thinking about how to show my gratitude to the players who followed me throughout the season, so I decided to give them the prize money,” he said, laughing, “I don’t mind spending any amount of money as long as we win.”
With the most power, confidence, and experience, LG is considered a team that can win anytime in the future. There is even talk of this year being the start of an “LG dynasty. “Our team is moving as a ‘one-man team,’ from owner Koo Kwang-mo to the front staff to the players, with the same goal in mind,” said Yeom. 토토사이트