“I’m sure you’ll direct later.”
Former KIA Tigers manager Kim Ki-tae (55) also recognized at a glance, and KIA manager Lee Bum-ho (42)’s leadership quickly captured the hearts of the team.
Lee Bum-ho had his inauguration ceremony at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the “Kia Autoland Gwangju” auditorium in Seo-gu, Gwangju. It has been about a month since he was inaugurated as the 11th manager of Kia during the Australian spring camp on April 13.
The faces of the players who attended the inauguration ceremony ahead of the opening game of the 2024 KBO League exhibition game against the NC Dinos in Changwon continued to smile. It was a completely different atmosphere than when he left the spring camp for Canberra, Australia on January 30.
At that time, the KIA team left Korea amid a chaotic atmosphere in which former coach Kim Jong-guk (51) was investigated by the prosecution on charges of malpractice and was eventually dismissed a day before the camp departure. The KIA team started to find a coach who would quickly clean up the atmosphere of the team, and manager Lee Bum-ho, who was the KIA’s first-tier batting coach at the time, was selected.
Kia’s decision has been a huge success so far. This was confirmed by the atmosphere of the team when it returned home from the 2nd spring camp in Okinawa, Japan on Saturday. “Honestly, you are the same as when you were a hitting coach,” Na Sung-beom, who was standing in front of reporters as the team’s representative on the day (on Sunday), also said. “You always make players comfortable and make jokes and play jokes when you pass by. I think it’s the same as the position has changed.” “When it was first announced at the camp site, it didn’t feel real, but I got used to it. Now that you have the inauguration ceremony, I plan on serving you better.”
Manager Lee Bum-ho was constantly assessed as a manager both inside and outside Kia’s team. Kia also gave high marks to Lee’s leadership from an early date. This is why it sent him to the Japanese Softbank Hawks in 2019 and the Philadelphia Phillies of the Major League Baseball in 2020, and appointed him as the head of Kia Futures team in 2021.
Three years later, Lee took the helm of Kia, a prestigious pro-baseball team, three years after serving as its leader. The news pleased Lee more than anyone else is his teacher as a player and former coach Kim Ki-tae, who led Kia to its last championship in the Korean Series. Kim Ki-tae served as Kia’s manager in 2015 and won the Korean Series title with Lee Bum-ho in 2017, before leaving mid-2019. At the news of Lee’s inauguration as Kia’s manager, he also sent a text message to congratulate his student on his future career.
Manager Lee said, “Kim Ki-tae called me first because he sent me a congratulatory message first (to become a coach). Manager Kim is the coach who was with me when I won my first championship in KIA and when KIA was at the top. He is also the one who always trusted me and said it was okay when I was in poor physical condition as a player. He was also the one I wanted to imitate the most when I was active.” “He said to me, ‘I’m sure you will be a coach later’ if you have any foresight, and he said, ‘I told you so’ when I called him this time.” I decided to call you often because I am not in good health right now. I hope you get better, and I will try to learn a lot from you,” he expressed his gratitude.
As the former coach Kim Ki-tae had expected, Lee’s mild leadership is quickly gaining trust from Kia’s players. The bond that he has built since his playing days by staying at Kia for 14 years has played a major role.
“Honestly, there were a lot of articles about the new manager. There were many candidates including Lee and Lee Jong-beom, and I honestly thought that I would like them to be someone who knows us better than a baseball senior who I don’t know,” Na Sung-bum, the captain of this season, said. “Coach Lee Bum-ho was someone I approached a lot when I was in trouble when it was my first time at KIA. He was someone I could ask things I didn’t know often and approach comfortably, but it was really nice that such a person became the manager. I think everyone liked it, not just me. All the players talked about good things only.”
Lee aimed to create an optimal environment where players can only enjoy the game itself. Although it was a short period of time, I could feel the sincerity indirectly by accepting all of captain Na Sung-beom’s suggestions.
Coach Lee said in his inaugural speech, “The baseball I want to pursue as a coach is ‘Baseball with smiles’, and vowed to create an atmosphere for players to always smile and enjoy playing on the ground.” He added, “I will convey the positive energy of ‘Do as best as you can’ rather than ‘This can’t, that can’t’. As a coach, I will play a role in accurately presenting the goals our team needs to achieve and helping players to play as much as they want under those goals 업소알바.”
Na also noted this. “He said he would help the players to display their skills on the field all the time. I took it as saying that as much as it gives the players the freedom to do well, prepare for the game well. The coach is very considerate of the players, and I think our players should do well accordingly,” Na added.
