There was an interesting moment in tonight’s Lotte/Hanwha game. Definitely a cultural misunderstanding, but as someone who’s lived in Korea for a while, I think I’m able to see this from both sides.
Ma Hae-yeong, a longtime Lotte fan favorite at the very (very) end of his career, was walked with the bases-loaded to net his 1,000th career RBI.
As one might expect the ball was taken aside for a keepsake. Somehow, pitcher Marty McLeary ended up with the ball in the dugout. The camera flashed back and forth between the dugout and the action, and McLeary was seen pretending to keep the ball when one of the Lotte assistants asked for it. I could see the assistant was trying to explain that the ball had special meaning to Ma (which, of course, McLeary was aware of).
McLeary handed the ball to Karim Garcia, who, in joining in “the joke” pretended like he was going to throw the ball into the stands. As he did so a couple of the players/assistants laughed nervously, a few others gave stern looks.
After the commercial the announcers replayed some of the footage and added their own serious take on it, saying “they (the Lotte players/assistants) might not appreciate that.”
I think Garcia and McLeary were being a little jerky, but might have done the same thing had, say, Brian Giles, or Bobby Abreu, to name a couple guys who just passed the milestone, had just cracked their 1,000th RBI. That sort of humor is common the states. Koreans, out of respect to Ma, who is by far the oldest player on the team and a local hero, wouldn’t make any sort of joke out of Ma’s accomplishment.
A little later McLeary was seen watching Ma write something on the ball. He was laughing and I assume talking to Garcia. Maybe he thought it was funny Ma was writing on the ball so quickly?
Hard to say and I don’t want to speculate beyond what I could clearly see. But it was an interesting lost in translation kind of moment.
Hopefully it didn’t become a bigger problem for anyone. Lotte, who were swept by Hanwha, have bigger problems to deal with.
4 responses so far ↓
1 simon // May 9, 2008 at 7:00 am
Definitely a lost in translation moment, but I’ve never seen commemorative balls being used for jokes in the majors, can’t think of any instances, though it would seem more likely in laid back North American culture.
It’s funny how some aging Asian star players end up looking like smart uncles. Maybe it’s just the glasses but Ma reminds me of Furuta and Hatsushiba in their later years.
http://pub.ne.jp/raribo2006/image/user/1191888099.jpg
http://blog32.fc2.com/z/zhong1cun1/file/hatsushiba.jpg
2 Shinsano // May 9, 2008 at 8:51 am
You might be right Simon. I don’t know why, but something’s pushing to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. Maybe because I’m a foreigner in Korea. McCleary has only been here three or four months and is generally sucking…I guess I’m wont to be sympathetic.
But I’ve never actually seen people joke with a milestone ball either. And Ma did lead Lotte to its last championship. If anyone, he deserves their respect.
3 Shinsano // May 9, 2008 at 8:56 am
Funny, he does look like that first picture. Second one isn’t working.
4 Tix // May 9, 2008 at 9:01 am
I’ve never lived in Asia, and I’ve never hit a ball that was anything close to a milestone but this sounds like no big deal. I could see it happening in the major leagues. Derek Jeter grabbing Bobby Abreu’s 1,000 RBI ball and pretending to throw it into the crowd…..
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