Park Dong-won (33)’s confession turned the baseball world upside down. I could have kept silent, but I was prepared for that too. Park Dong-won’s confession feels more courageous because he chose the courage to be hated.
The KBO League, which is about to open, is surrounded by scandals one after another. Former Lotte pitcher Seo Jun-won was released from the club on charges of sexual misconduct against a minor and is indicted without detention and is awaiting trial. And during the season, former KIA Tigers general manager Jang Jeong-seok even demanded ‘back money’ from Park Dong-won, who was eligible for free agency. After recognizing the fact, KIA held a disciplinary committee and heard the call, but ordered a dishonorable dismissal.
Jang Jeong-seok’s request for back money was shocking news. Park Dong-won joined KIA as a trade last year. It was made under the leadership of former general manager Jang. The 2023 rookie draft 2nd round nomination rights and infielder Kim Tae-jin also suffered a formidable bleeding. Although it was a preliminary free agent, KIA risked bleeding with Park Dong-won remaining in mind. However, Park Dong-won did not stay at KIA after the season and left for LG. KIA offered a larger amount, but rejected it.
The reason why he couldn’t stay at KIA is now known. The shock of the act of trying to take a huge amount of unfair advantage from Park Dong-won twice during the season, not in the process of signing a free agent, was beyond imagination먹튀검증. I have known him for over 10 years since the days of Nexen Heroes. Beyond his older brother and younger brother, a relationship between a priest and a priest was formed. It was not a conversation that could be exchanged lightly, so Park Dong-won recorded it, and after 7 months of trouble, notified the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (Athletes’ Association) and sent an e-mail to the KIA owner to inform everyone of this fact.
It’s a tangled world of baseball. If you cross one bridge, you are between seniors and juniors. Even in the 10-plus years of knowing Park Dong-won and former general manager Jang Jeong-seok, numerous ties are still with them. Director Jang Jeong-seok’s son, Jang Jae-young, is an active player for Kiwoom Heroes. That’s why Park Dong-won’s confession can affect other baseball players.
Did you have to do that?’, ‘Couldn’t you have quietly moved on’, and ‘Why are you bringing up the past again?’ It created another controversy in the baseball world, which is not always windy. You can point your finger at Park Dong-won’s actions in the baseball world.
However, Park Dong-won willingly chose the ‘courage to be hated’. As a baseball senior, he felt a sense of crisis that his juniors could also become victims. In addition, it was reminded once again that even though there is a system called free agent (FA), it is still in the position of ‘B’.
Jang Dong-cheol, secretary general of the Athletes’ Association, said, “I have been thinking about it even after Park Dong-won moved the team, but I thought that even though he left KIA, as long as that person (former general manager Jang) was on the team, the second and third cases were inevitable.” He said, “If it stays as it is, there will be other people who will suffer damage in the future, so I sent an e-mail to the KIA club’s office and reported it. With the thought that he had to rectify this situation, he mustered up the courage after a long thought.”
Park Dong-won will be stigmatized as a ‘whistleblower’. But if he’s the whistleblower that makes baseball as a whole healthy, everyone needs to fuel his courage. This is why his brave confession deserves applause.