episode_0036

“Oh! Right! I remember now! It was Wesley! Poor Wesley! Wesley also became a ghost!”

As usual, Rosby was practicing his swing against the pitchers he faced, when suddenly he shouted alone.

“What nonsense are you talking about all of a sudden?”

What is this? Is that person finally losing his mind?

“The ghost following that woman! I was confused as to who it was shedding tears of blood, but it turned out to be my friend Wesley!”

If it’s that woman, is he referring to Chun So-young? Rosby had only ever called one woman “that woman,” and that was Chun So-young.

“Yes. That woman!”

“But who is Wesley?”

“These days, kids don’t know Rickey. It’s astonishing. You really don’t know Wesley Rickey?”

“So what?”

“…Nothing.”

I immediately turned on my phone and searched for Wesley Rickey on the all-knowing God Wikipedia.

“Let’s see, Wesley Rickey. Oh, this person is in the Hall of Fame? Seems like he did some baseball?”

“Heh, as a player, Wesley was a pathetic human being.”

“So as a manager? Was he a great manager like Stengel who built a dynasty?”

“As a manager, he was just okay. He was a trash lord who couldn’t even win a World Series with me playing for the Cardinals back then.”

“…Then who was he?”

He wasn’t a player, nor a manager.

“He was the GM of the Cardinals. He handed over the managerial duties to me and moved up to GM. In the end, it was only after I played as both player and manager that the Cardinals’ streak of failure ended. As a manager, it’s proof that I was much better. Hahaha.”

So if he was a GM, was he an executive? Can such a person be honored in the Hall of Fame? I quickly searched through Rickey’s entry and found out who he was.

“Oh! This is the guy who recruited Jackie Robinson!”

The executive who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, which hadn’t allowed black players before. Jackie Robinson, the first black player in MLB, had his number 42 retired by all MLB teams as a permanent tribute.

“No wonder, to get into the Hall of Fame as an executive, you have to do something like this.”

“That was his only flaw. Bringing those black bastards into the sacred baseball realm. I vehemently opposed it, but his stubbornness couldn’t be broken.”

It was a typical racist remark from Rosby. Knowing that this Rickey person was so famous, my curiosity about him grew a little more.

“Wow, this guy is amazing, isn’t he? Rickey created the training system for Major League Baseball, right? He also created the farm system. Oh! He almost single-handedly introduced Sabermetrics too?”

“Yes, at the time, many people said it was useless, but he brought in some nerd and turned stats into records.”

“With the farm system, he developed famous players like Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean.”

“Yes, Wesley had a good eye for players. He used to boast about the player evaluation method he created even to me.”

“What is that?”

“You were playing baseball without knowing that? It’s the 20-80 scale. Of course, there was never any expectation that such a thing would exist in this country of monkeys from the beginning.”

“What are you talking about! We use that too!”

It wasn’t commonly used in the KBA, but I had heard stories that Major League scouts sometimes evaluate players using that method.

“Haha, even if you do, it must be a poor method. After all, the method we use now wasn’t Wesley’s method.”

“So what was it?”

‘Actually, I don’t understand everything Beasley says. He was such a genius ahead of his time. The company he learned under Beasley made it easy for ordinary people to understand with the 20-80 scale. Oh, you fool, you don’t even know who Campanis is.’

Rossby acknowledging someone else, Beasley Ricky seems like a really remarkable person. But who is Campanis?

‘But what’s good about following Cheon So-young? Maybe that person also liked women like Mr. Rossby?’

‘Liked women? Haha. I just loved all women fairly. Anyway, I never heard any stories about liking women specifically.’

‘Really? Then why follow her?’

‘Why? I saw that woman had some money, so maybe that’s why? If she had money from when she was alive, she couldn’t have spent it all. Do you know the reason behind creating the Sabermetrics or Farm System was all about money? Of course, you probably don’t. By cutting players’ salaries with Sabermetrics and using directly grown players from the Farm System, there was no need to buy players unnecessarily from the minor leagues. Haha’

‘Indeed, every great person has at least one flaw, right?’

Revealing the money seemed to sting a bit.

‘She tried to hit me, so I seduced the owner’s wife. That’s why my salary has never been cut. Hahaha.’

Indeed, Rossby is a crazy guy.

‘Anyway, why did such a nobleman come all the way to this shitty land?’

‘How would I know? Wait a moment.’

At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.

‘Maybe he came here like Mr. Rossby?’

Actually, Rossby wasn’t a ghost who should be here. The ghost that Rossby claims is Ricky is the same. Maybe, like me, he went to America and carried a ghost around?

‘That could be possible. You could find out why Beasley is in that state, but you can’t ask him directly. Yeah. Figure out why Beasley is in that state.’

Damn, is it all about hitting in the end? But I was curious too. If that ghost was like Rossby, there might be a possibility that Cheon So-young had some ability. For example, sharing senses with ghosts like me. Of course, it could be otherwise.

‘But was it difficult to get closer to that woman?’

I got scolded for asking if she had a boyfriend. Ah! I had a good idea.

‘That Ricky person. He said he was tied up in chains shedding tears of blood, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘How about I exorcise him?’

‘You crazy bastard. Are you trying to kill my friend?’

‘Oh, so Mr. Rossby had friends too. But it’s not like he’s losing anything. And anyway, isn’t he already dead? He’s a ghost….’

As I kept asking, a fundamental question arose. Why did these humans become ghosts?

‘Want to know?’

‘Yes. I need to know to deal with it. I was so surprised when Mr. Rossby suddenly disappeared. He should stay by my side until I quit baseball.’

The pitch types that Rossby revealed were like drugs. It didn’t matter when I didn’t have them, but once I knew the taste, I couldn’t stop.

‘Oh, have you tried drugs too?’

‘Are you crazy? Our country is a drug-free country.’

Although recent news didn’t seem to confirm that, in any case, it must be a drug-free country. And I had no intention of ever doing drugs.

‘Yeah. Don’t do drugs. I’ve seen enough people ruin themselves by getting addicted.’

‘For once, you’re giving normal advice? Are you going to say you have to have sex sober again?’

Rossby’s pattern was predictable.

“Stupid monkey offspring! You wouldn’t make such jokes if you had seen those guys who came back from war, smoked drugs, and played baseball dying miserably.”

“…I’m sorry.”

To suddenly start talking seriously…

“Ahem, the reason I became a ghost…”

Rossbi, unable to bear the awkward atmosphere, spoke first.

“I don’t know exactly what happened. I just had something I desperately wanted right before I died.”

“What was that?”

“In my time, there was a monster named Babe Ruth, the greatest hitter in history. What I desperately wanted was to surpass that guy. If I had surpassed him, I could have seduced more women. If only he hadn’t been there, I could have had more women…”

From what I saw, it seemed like Rossbi couldn’t seduce more women not because of his baseball skills but because of his character. However, Rossbi seemed to think it was because of his skills.

“If this grudge is resolved, I feel like I could achieve enlightenment.”

So, was he telling me to become the best second baseman in the Major Leagues? Anyway, if that was Rossbi’s reason, maybe that gentleman, Riki, became a ghost for a similar reason.

“But isn’t Riki evaluated as the best manager in the Major Leagues? That’s what it says on GodWiki.”

“That guy also had his own inferiority complex.”

To see this person making such an expression… Rossbi’s expression seemed different from usual, somehow more emotional.

“Anyway, we can’t know for sure now, right? We’ll have to find out gradually.”

Still, knowing that there was something in common between Cheon So-young and me made me feel like I could get closer to her.

—

“Mangho, are you going there for training again today?”

“Yes. The club allowed it, and the facilities there are better than at school.”

“Well, nothing we can do about it.”

It can be said that the most desired school for elite athletes preparing for sports since elementary school is undoubtedly Korea Sports High School. Although the baseball team was relatively new and weak, in other aspects, the school was undoubtedly the best in the country.

Except for the few students who failed to compete, graduates of Hanche High School either continued their lives as athletes in the semi-pro league, pro league, or university sports teams if they didn’t submit career plans.

And if the school already knew the students’ career paths, sometimes they didn’t even attend school but received training in the pro league or semi-pro league. This was especially true for individual sports.

I didn’t know if other schools did the same, but Korea Sports High School did.

Of course, not all students submitted career plans. Usually, for the teammates who had worked hard together for three years until graduation, they would finish competitions together. Those who submitted career plans were rookies who thought they needed special management by the club.

…Like me now.

Training in a place with better facilities than school was naturally more efficient, and training alone through personal training was much more effective than training with guys who weren’t at the same level.

“But you still train with the team.”

“Yeah, train well and come back.”

“Okay.”

So, after receiving the call-up a week ago, I was training in the training room operated by SY Agency in the morning with the school’s permission. Of course, there were no classes in the morning during vacation, but Korea Sports High School was the same when it came to no breaks for the sports teams.

And indoors with air conditioning was better than under the scorching sun.

After exchanging greetings with the coach and coming out, the car sent by SY Agency was waiting for me in front of the school as usual.

“Huh? Today…”

However, the person in the car wasn’t the SY Agency staff who always waited for me but Cheon So-young.

“It’s the weekend, and I came because I wanted to observe how our first-round draft pick is training. Is that okay?”

“…Of course.”

Isn’t it obvious that it’s better to ride in a car with a woman than with a boring man?