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| THE KAIST TIMES http://kaisttimes.com | |||||||
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I begin this writing with a question out of blue: what is the difference between professionals and amateurs? I think professionals fight for victory, while amateurs enjoy games rather than victory. But there was a team that left a 0.125 winning percentage record in professional baseball world. It was the Sammi Superstars - one of first professional baseball league teams. It didn't have any superstar, not even one.
While all the other teams rushed for victory, this legendary team shouted for self-culture through baseball and left unbelievable records which we never find in history. This book tells the story about the "Sammi Superstars" and their fan club. The story goes back to 1982 when the professional baseball league begun with the catch phrase "Dreams to children, Romance for the young."
Since the Sammi Steel Company made their professional baseball team in Incheon, which is comparatively isolated from the mainstream of baseball, baseball fever ensued. The hero of this book - a smart boy whose head was unusually big and had lots of worries - joined the Sammi children's fan club.
While the OB bears, the winner of first Korean Series, gave children a dream, all he got from the Sammi Superstars was an unbelievably humble record (10 wins, 30 losses, 0.125 winning percentage). At the age most boys dream only of rosy things, this boy learned how competitive this society is, many times bursting into tears.
Later, he entered a first-tier college and got a job at a big company, determined not to be in the terrible situation like Sammi. But ruthless society fired him, notwithstanding how hard he worked not to abandon his family. After this experience, he realized the meaning of the Sammi Superstars, and made a Sammi fan club to revive Sammi's baseball style.
This book's subject is actually very simple: not hitting a hard pitch, not making a tough catch. Simply, doing your business imperfectly. But, that one idea - doing your business imperfectly - struck me because I was worn-out. How shall I put it? If I use baseball terms, I was at bat to slam a home run, I had struck out again and again, and I had became seized with panic. I could only think that I must get to base somehow by hitting at least one pitched ball.
Honestly, as a person who has always succeeded, I hate losing and can't get used to losing. I can't accept the Sammi baseball style completely - although I might have concentrated on hitting something every time rather than dominating the game. The important thing is winning, not making one spectacular hit.
Did Sammi Superstars want to lose, really? I don't think their attitude - not hitting a hard pitch, not making a tough catch - is sensible. But at times this attitude might be wise to live by in this world. Acting slowly, not running so fast might sometimes be the key for living better. The present is as important as the future. In the end, the earth will go out of existence, I think. If it doesn't, just forget it. Come on, let's play ball.
[© 2005 KAIST. This work is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons license. Permission is granted to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work in unaltered form, with attribution to KAIST, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved.]