The Pitcher Just Hits a Home Run - Chapter 404
Only Ranovel
Episode 404 Side Story 7) He is the greatest batsman in the world
Season 46 was truly an ‘amazing’ year.
The New York Mets, who miraculously won the championship over the Yankees in 2044, collapsed miserably in 2045, failing to achieve a winning percentage of .500 in the regular season.
And in 2046. The Mets achieved another ‘amazing’ feat.
[New York Mets······. Championship!! It’s a win!!]
However, there was a record that was more surprising and eye-catching than the ‘amazing’ achieved by the Mets, and that was the record set by one player in the World Series.
1 hit, 1 home run, and 23 walks in 24 at-bats.
There is a saying in the internet community that if you think there is something a little strange in the Major League after 2028, just pick Choi Soo-won and most likely everything will fit in. And that adage was true this time too.
Yes, it was Choi Soo-won this time too.
Home run king in the 38-year-old season.
He hit 64 home runs, not one but two more than the 62 home runs of Aaron Judge, who was on the same team, and Alexander McDowell, who was a rival of the era.
Thanks to this, even now that the World Series is over, the video that people watch the most is not the highlight video of the World Series.
The 161st game of the Yankees’ regular season took place at Fanway Park. It was a video of Choi Soo-won, who had not added a home run for 4 games out of 61 home runs in the season, breaking a new home run record by adding a whopping 3 home runs at once against the Boston Red Sox.
In particular, the video that people liked was a video of a fan who was cheering for the Boston Red Sox at the time falling into a mental breakdown in real time, and the highlight of the video was that he threw down the camera he was holding and smashed it at the same time as the third home run.
Likewise, what was Choi Soo-won, who made Boston Red Sox fans’ blood pressure explode in 2046, when the World Series ended?
“Honey, has anyone come into my study?”
“Kids are running around the house a lot these days. I guess I go there almost every day. But why? Did something break?”
“No, no. “I just thought the room was a little disorganized.”
“Should I warn the kids not to go in?”
“No, you don’t need to.”
Yeah, there was no need for that. Because this was beyond the scope of pranks that children could pull off.
NEW ALL-TIME HOME RUN KING.
The card that was clearly in the dresser was Hank Aaron’s autograph card from 1974.
1974 was a monumental year in which Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s 714th career home run, so the number of these cards released at the time was quite large, and even considering Hank Aaron’s autograph, the prices of the cards were relatively high. It wasn’t. The value of Choi Soo-won’s first major home run ball sitting on the desk here would be 100 times higher. So, he would definitely not be a thief.
The card, which had been kept in good condition as if it were new, had been erased about 1/3 of the time. However, if the erased 1/3 was pure white paper, that was not the case. A red hat. And the letters RECORD.
It was difficult to guess who it was.
But that wasn’t what mattered now.
Just before going back in time.
This card, which I received from Baek Dong-hwi, has the special feeling of having traveled back in time, and even though no special measures were taken, it maintained its appearance for 20 years without fading, as if it had been separated by time.
When I debuted in the KBO or when I advanced to the majors. Or when he won his first MVP, or even when he went back in time and finished the 2042 season.
And now that has changed.
Of course, it could have been someone’s prank. But for some reason, I had a strong feeling that that wouldn’t be the case in Suwon. In that case, there was only one guess: something supernatural had intervened, as if he had traveled back in time.
“Is it really a home run?”
64 home runs.
This season, he played in all 162 games for the first time since his major debut. As a result, in terms of percentage, he was a little younger than his early to mid-20s, but in absolute numbers, he recorded the most hits and home runs in his career at the age of 38.
As of 2045, Choi Soo-won’s cumulative batting statistics were 2,736 hits and 670 home runs in 2018, which is of course an all-time high, but considering that he is considered the best hitter of all time, it was also true that it was a bit lacking.
However, after completing 46 seasons, his cumulative total is 2,940 hits and 734 home runs. Ranks 38th all-time in hits. It was the fourth-highest home run hit of all time.
“Hank Aaron hit 734 home runs until 1974… After all, was Baek Dong-hwi’s desired goal to surpass Hank Aaron’s cumulative record? or not······.”
It’s unknown.
However, the card that has not changed for the past 20 years has changed, and the new home run record recorded this year. Or, if it was a cumulative 734 home runs, the answer was simple.
2047 season. Break the cumulative home run record. And if possible, we aim to go even further than that.
Of course, there were obstacles to breaking the cumulative home run record next year.
It was none other than Alexander McDowell. This was literally the reason why Choi Soo-won ranked 4th in history, not 3rd, even though he recorded a cumulative 734 home runs this year.
Barry Bonds’ 762
755 by Hank Aaron.
and 743 by Alexander McDowell.
In fact, Choi Soo-won was once again called a ‘competitor’ thanks to his ridiculous home run record this season, but as of last year, the numbers were 717 and 670 respectively, so at least in terms of cumulative home run numbers, Alexander McDowell is a few steps ahead. was going out
But a whopping 64 in his age-38 season.
What the media was paying attention to now was not whether Choi Soo-won could surpass Alexander McDowell’s accumulated home runs. Because that part was already an established fact. What the media is talking about right now is whether Choi Soo-won can become the first player in history to reach 800 home runs.
He is now approaching 40 years of age.
Past history has proven how different one year can be for players of that age. Therefore, no one expected that Choi Soo-won in 2047 would be able to show the same level of performance as in 2046. I just hope that his aging process slows down a bit. So he really just hoped he could show off his cumulative 800 home runs.
And then the 2047 season arrived.
─The home run competition is intensifying!!
─I cannot give up the home run king title!! Alexander McDowell’s Noikjang!!
─The pace is even faster than last year!! Is it possible to set a new home run record at age 39?
As always, Soowon Choi shattered people’s expectations and exceeded their expectations. It was in Game 47 that he reached the 20 home run mark last year. And this year, it was only in 39 games that he reached the 20 home run mark.
Only one home run away from Hank Aaron’s 755th home run.
Even Barry Bonds’ 762 home runs are left with only 8.
-Taaagh!!!
Alexander McDowell succeeded in hitting his 19th home run of the season in just 40 games, matching Barry Bonds’ 762 home runs.
Baseball is a very old sport. Therefore, in baseball, the all-time record is usually set, and new records tend to follow that record. But this case was very special.
─Choi Soo-won has the most home runs of all time, now only 5!!
─Choi Soo-won has the most home runs of all time, now only 6!!!
The order of the articles was not wrong. Articles about the record-breaking number of home runs being broken in real time and the miracle created by a competitor who was chasing it by less than 10 came out every day.
The popularity of baseball has grown really quickly over the past 20 years.
The number of World Series viewers of 100 million proves it. But even so, there was clearly an insurmountable wall between baseball and American football. That has been an unchangeable truth since the gap began to widen in 1980. But just for one moment. There was a time when MLB’s popularity threatened the NFL in 1998 and 1999. It was the same time when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were competing for home runs.
All games between the New York Yankees and New York Mets began to be broadcast live across the country, beyond the region. The opposition of YES Network, which has exclusive broadcasting rights for the Yankees, and SNY, which has exclusive broadcasting rights for the Mets, was resolved through persuasion from the secretariat and appropriate money.
The popularity of baseball, which seemed to have already reached its growth limit, rose rapidly. It was a great pace that reminded me of the time when Choi Su-won first appeared in the league in 2028.
The All-Star break has passed.
And the Subway series followed immediately.
The match between the two players, who were recording their 41st and 37th seasons respectively, set a record of 120 million concurrent viewers. It was an overwhelming number that was hard to believe that it was just a regular season game.
The season continued.
What people didn’t expect this season was not only that Choi Su-won would show performance comparable to last year. Alexander McDowell was going through a normal aging curve and thus had never hit more than 40 home runs since his last age-35 season. However, in his 39-year-old season, when it would not be surprising if he retired now, he showed off his spirit by hitting 41 home runs in just 112 games. It was a miracle created by a huge sense of rivalry toward Choi Soo-won.
But the miracle stopped there.
Getting older is a truly sad thing. A tired body does not recover easily, and this is the same even for major league players who have been managed to the extreme.
Alexander McDowell’s home run pace stopped at some point.
Of course, Choi Soo-won did not run with crazy momentum like he did at the beginning of the season. However, although the pace has slowed down, Choi Soo-won’s home run number has steadily increased and it is finally the 149th game of the season.
-Just!!!
Choi Soo-won’s batted ball went over the fence with a cheerful hitting sound.
51st home run of the season.
Total 785.
It was the moment when he finally surpassed Alexander McDowell and recorded the most home runs of all time. And at that moment, Choi Soo-won felt that something that could not be expressed in words had changed.
The celebration party did not last long as the competition for the district championship was in full swing at the end of the season. But it was actually nice to see it. He just wanted to run to his study right now and see what the Hank Aaron card, which had changed by about a third, had turned into.
There was no Hank Aaron card in the drawer that said NEW ALL-TIME HOME RUN KING.
Instead, there was a card there. And on that card was a very familiar face. Yes, this is the face I see every morning when I wash my face.
NEW ALL-TIME HOME RUN KING.
Choi Su-won
Suwon lifted the card without realizing it and looked at it closely. A photo that looks like it was taken at a game just moments ago and an autograph that he doesn’t remember doing. And the lumpy feel of ink on the back. He handed over the card.
-congratulations. You have surpassed the record for most home runs held by the greatest baseball player of all time, Hank Aaron. In memory of him, one of Hank Aaron’s greatest talents [Popularity Beyond Racism] is granted.
“uh?”
No, wait a minute.
Choi Soo-won was greatly embarrassed. But the embarrassment didn’t end there.
The exact spot where he held up his card.
1985 RECORD BREAKER
PETE ROSE
1985. Pete Rose’s card, which broke Ty Cobb’s record of 4,191 hits, was clearly visible.
39 years old.
Suwon’s accumulated hits are 2,917.
And the number of hits left until Pete Rose’s 4,256 was 1,339.