Fifty-one Baseball Players Suspended

Fifty-one professional baseball players were suspended for the rest of the season.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) held a board meeting with the group of eight team owners, presided over by Commissioner Park Yong-oh, on Tuesday afternoon. In the meeting, the board of executives decided to suspend all players involved in the current massive military dodging scandal for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.

The board of executives issued a statement to fans, apologizing that the attempt to avoid military service, which is one of the basic duties one is obliged to perform as a citizen of Korea, is indeed a serious criminal act.

The board of executives decided to make some amendments to the KBO rules, so that those involved in the dodging of military service will be permanently expelled from the KBO.

The suspension is likely to play a key factor in the playoffs. What will the suspension bring to each team in their quest for the championship trophy? Is the extreme measure taken by KBO fair?

Hyundai and Kia Sigh in Relief, Bad News for Samsung, Doosan, and SK—

None of the teams are happy to see their players packing up in the middle of the season. However, as the regular season nears the end and the competition for the last playoff spot heats up, there are some teams who are happier than others.

The Kia Tigers has the fewest number of suspended players, two. In spite of the absence of their closer Yoo Dong-hoon, who led the league with the lowest ERA, competent Shin Yong-woon and Lee Kang-chul are sharing the role of closer.

The Hyundai Unicorns will not have too much leakage, as two players –third baseman Chung Sung-hoon and fifth starter Ma Il-young – will be suspended. It will not be too much of a problem to play though the post season with four pitchers on the rotation.

The Samsung Lions seem to be most devastated by the suspension. The entire key members of the bullpen are off the roster, namely Oh Sang-min, Yun Sung-hwan, Jung Hyun-wook, and Ji Seung-min. The absence of Hyun Jae-yoon, who replaced Jin Kap-yong as a catcher, seems fatal. The Lions, which has been reborn as a defensive team after Coach Sun Dong-yol came to the Lions, should strengthen its offense.

The Doosan Bears’ Lee Jae-woo and Roh Gyeong-eun, fourth and fifth in the starting rotation, main closer Lee Jae-young, and the shortstop Son Si-heon are suspended, which puts the Bears in a dangerous position to maintain third place.

SK Wyvern’s rotation is merely affected by the measure taken by KBO. However, their leadoff hitter Lee Jin-young and Chae Jong-beom, who has a batting average over .300, are out of the lineup, which means they have to restructure the order.

Unsettled Debates—

The degree of punishment announced by the KBO is much stronger than what most had expected. This measure can be seen as KBO’s commitment to restore its prestige and to restore baseball’s popularity.

However, this punishment is only applied to 51 players who are currently under arrest or under police investigation. Those who have allegedly avoided military service by illegal means but whose period of statutory limitation has already passed will not be affected by this measure. This leaves room for debate in terms of fairness and balance between the two groups of players. The majority of the “star” players engaged in this scandal are safe, because their statutory limitation has already passed.

Also, among the 51 suspended players, if the police fails to prove charges or the court announces an acquittal, there is no way for the suspended players to be compensated for the unjust punishment. The board of executives had discussed this problem during the meeting, but was unable to find an adequate solution and decided to enforce the suspension.

Hwan Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com