JTBC’s ‘Strongest Baseball’ has appointed former kt wiz coach Lee Jong-beom as its new manager.

‘Strongest Baseball’ is a program in which retired professional baseball players form a team and challenge themselves to play baseball again, and the new season is scheduled to air in September.

The production team for ‘Strongest Baseball’ stated, “We are grateful that Manager Lee Jong-beom, a legend in the Korean baseball world, joined us after making the difficult decision to leave his professional baseball team.” They continued, “We apologize for any inconvenience we unintentionally caused to the team and professional baseball fans during the hasty casting process due to copyright infringement.We will do our best to create baseball content that contributes to the growth and development of Korean baseball.”

Director Lee Jong-beom explained the background of his joining, saying, “I decided to take on a new role in a program with good intentions that can contribute to the promotion and expansion of Korean baseball, as well as to the re-examination of retired players.”

● The following is a Q&A with Director Lee Jong-beom.

Q I am curious as to why you accepted the offer to become the manager of ‘Strongest Baseball’.

In early June, I had dinner with the PD in charge of ‘Strongest Baseball’.At first, I didn’t even know that he was preparing for ‘Strongest Baseball’.We had a connection since I appeared as a guest on a soccer variety show in the past, and we sometimes have dinner together.During our conversation, I was offered the position of director of the new ‘Strongest Baseball’, but I declined because I am a current coach.

But a few days later, I was contacted by some retired juniors, and they asked me to become the center and lead ‘Strongest Baseball’, and I thought about it for several days.I knew well that ‘Strongest Baseball’ played a big role in the popularity of Korean professional baseball, so I consulted with Manager Lee Kang-cheol, and thanks to the manager’s generous understanding of my thoughts and position, I was able to take on this new challenge.

As baseball entertainment becomes popular, some juniors are enjoying a second heyday and receiving much love, but there are many juniors who are not like that.If ‘Strongest Baseball’, which has been struggling recently, can come together again, it can provide opportunities to more juniors, and I also wanted to take on that challenge, so I accepted the position of manager.

Q Were you concerned about leaving the team in the middle of the season?

First, I would like to apologize to the fans who support kt Wiz.The decision to leave the team in the middle of the season was not easy.After receiving the offer, I thought about it for several days with great concern and discussed it with Manager Lee Kang-cheol.

At first, he was worried, but it was more about his close junior’s baseball career than about the team’s power drain.He had a strong desire for his junior to follow the path of an orthodox coach.However, he understood and allowed my desire to try a new challenge because there were juniors who needed me.

I knew that my decision could be criticized as an unusual move in the baseball world, including the team’s absence.When I received the offer to become the manager, I had just stepped back to help the team’s capable junior coaches grow.The junior coaches were doing so well, and I was worried that my presence could be a burden, so the manager also took this into consideration.

After giving permission, he was very considerate.Although it was in the middle of the season, he took care of me so that I could leave early and focus on a new challenge.The day before I left, he called me in separately and gave me generous advice on the coach’s mindset and things to watch out for.He was a really good senior.

Q What are your ambitions as the ‘strongest baseball’ manager?

I knew very well that if I accepted the position of the ‘strongest baseball’ manager, I would be subject to a lot of criticism.If I had only wanted the position of manager, I would not have chosen ‘strongest baseball’.I think that saving ‘strongest baseball’ can make the boom of Korean baseball even bigger.In particular, the newly launched ‘strongest baseball’ also promised support for amateur baseball, including youth baseball.

It is something that leads retired players to new challenges and helps develop the baseball world, but I don’t think that entertainment is a completely different world from professional baseball.

It’s entertainment, and I think it’s a program where retired players play baseball with sincerity.They are all former professional players and have pride and self-esteem as professionals.I will try to play baseball with sincerity and passion.

Hong Se-young, reporter for Donga.com projecthong@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.