2024-05-07 09:54:41
Do you remember ‘fist baseball’, which could be played anywhere with just a rubber ball or a tennis ball? Jjimppu, Jjimppong, Jjamppong, Son Yagu, etc. were called by various names depending on the neighborhood. At one time, it was a ‘national game’ and exercise loved by all children.
But maybe the day will come when this fist baseball becomes an official Olympic sport. This sport, with the cool name ‘Baseball 5’, is only in its infancy in Korea, but is already gaining great popularity in Europe, South America, and Africa.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) created the official rules for Baseball 5 in 2018 with the aim of ‘internationalizing baseball’ and targeting young baseball fans. Less than 10 years later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopted Baseball 5 as an official sport at the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games in Senegal. The nostalgic fisticuffs baseball has now developed into a sport enjoyed by people all over the world.
![Cha Myung-joo became a rubber arm → fist baseball evangelist… Jjimpu, the ‘national pastime’, in the Olympics?[이헌재의 인생홈런]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/05/06/124803623.1.jpg "Cha Myung-joo became a rubber arm → fist baseball evangelist… Jjimpu, the ‘national pastime’, in the Olympics?[이헌재의 인생홈런]")
Korea also has a Baseball 5 national team. It is also interesting to note that the coach of this sport, which uses a rubber ball, is Cha Myeong-ju (51), who was called ‘rubber arm’ because he frequently pitched as a professional baseball player.
Cha Myung-joo, who received 500 million won as a signing bonus as Lotte’s first-round designated player in 1996, appeared in 613 games for Lotte, Doosan, and Hanwha over 11 years. From 2001 to 2003, during his time at Doosan, he won the hold king for three consecutive years. He set the record for most appearances on three occasions: in 1999, 2001, and in 2005 toward the end of his career. He was on the mound in a whopping 84 games in 2001, when there were 133 games per team. Cha Myung-ju said, “I threw it really hard. Regardless of his appearances, there was rarely a day when he didn’t warm up in the bullpen. “He once pitched in 10 games in a row,” he said with a laugh.
After retirement, Cha Myung-ju ran a training center specializing in baseball players. And he coached young players as a member of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) development committee, and is currently working as a member of the talent donation committee. At the same time, he also serves as a director of the Korea Baseball Softball Association. He took charge of Baseball 5 as a director of the association and became a manager and evangelist for the sport.
Baseball 5, one of the improved baseball sports along with T-ball, has many interesting aspects. First, it is economical and safe because it requires no equipment other than a rubber ball. Five players per game play for five innings, and as it is a mixed gender sport, at least two players must be of different genders. There is no need for a large space and the game progresses quickly. One set of five innings is over in 10 to 15 minutes. Even if you do 5 sets, it takes about an hour.
The distance from home plate to the fence is only 18m. However, if you go over the fence, that is, if you hit a home run, you are out. Even if you hit the fence directly, you are out. It is important to strategically hit the in-play ball to a place where there are no defenders and run the bases quickly.
Myungju Cha said, “It’s a really good exercise for children’s growth. Baseball may require children to be in the third grade of elementary school, but this sport can be played at the age of 6 or 7,” he said. “Because it uses a rubber ball, it is good for hand development, and because you have to jump with your feet, you get a lot of exercise.” “It is an appropriate sport to be incorporated into school sports along with T-ball,” he said.
Baseball 5 is also of great help to Cha Myung-joo’s health. When he was a player who pitched continuously, his weight was around 80 kg. However, after his retirement, he was unable to exercise properly while working on his business, so his weight rapidly increased to over 90 kg. He said he felt like his body was sagging.
However, since a few years ago, as I coached Baseball 5 players and played with them whenever I had the chance, my saggy belly fat went away.
At the same time, I also went on a diet. I used to go out drinking often, but now I don’t drink unless I can’t avoid it. And for some time now, I have been practicing ‘one meal a day’ whenever possible. Eat dinner with your family. Thanks to these efforts, I currently maintain my weight in the mid-80kg range. He said, “Because he works for the association, he has a lot to attend international conventions and conferences. “It is important to show a healthy appearance to the people I meet,” he said. “Because I am still donating my talents, I often have to demonstrate throwing a ball. “As you get older, you have to pay more attention to taking care of your body,” he said.
Even though he frequently appeared in so many games during his active career, he never suffered serious injuries to his shoulder or elbow like other pitchers. His secret is to consistently perform shortening exercises, such as weight training, and eccentric exercises, which stretch and stretch the muscles as long as possible.
As a Doosan player, he followed the advice of coach Choi Il-eon and learned the importance of eccentric contraction exercises at the World Wing Center in Tokkori Prefecture, Japan. It was an exercise that increased the range of motion of joints and focused on flexibility. During his days as a player, he came to work about two hours earlier than other players and continued to do flexibility exercises like this. The reason why the baseball player training center he established after his retirement was successful was because of a program that focused on flexibility in addition to simply strengthening muscles.
He recommended several simple exercises that even ordinary people can do. A representative example is an exercise that pulls the wing bones back. It is a simple movement that involves holding both arms close to the body and quickly pulling the wing bones back. You can do it either sitting on a chair or standing. Think of it as doing a bench press while standing. Cha Myung-ju said, “Modern people’s bodies are usually bent forward. “For this reason, it is necessary to exercise the back muscles more than the front muscles,” he said. “If the strength of the wing bones decreases, stiff shoulders or frozen shoulders occur. “If you pull your shoulder blades back 10 to 20 times whenever you have time, you can prevent shoulder pain in advance,” he said.
He also frequently exercises his hip joints to maintain flexibility in his lower body. This also does not require any fancy tools, just lift your legs and move over the back of a chair according to your individual range of motion. He said, “You can prevent back pain with the simple movement of rotating both legs from the outside to the inside 10 to 15 times a day.”
Myung-Joo Cha is one of the ‘Class of ’92’, one of the representative golden generations of Korean baseball. ‘The Korean Express’ Chan-ho Park, Seon-dong Lim, and the late Seong-min Cho are fellow students. Among them, he has a more special relationship with Park Chan-ho, who went to Hanyang University together. To prevent the temptation of Binggrae Eagles (Hanwha’s predecessor), Hanyang University had Park Chan-ho stay at Cha Myeong-ju’s house in Songjeong, Busan, and the two lived together for nearly a month.
Although he was not included in the ‘Big 3’ high school pitchers, he was also evaluated as the best left-handed pitcher, and received a large signing bonus of 500 million won when he joined Lotte. However, he said that in his heart, from that time on, he had a strong desire to study rather than advance to the pros. He said, “I only played until the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and then tried to quit baseball. However, while he was at the airport to board a plane to leave the country, his father signed a contract with Lotte, and he suddenly joined the professional team. He said, “He was not able to show great performance at Lotte because he was not able to prepare properly as he decided to go professional late.” After failing to live up to expectations for three years at Lotte, he was traded to Doosan in 1999, and only after establishing himself as a middle relief pitcher did he regain the reputation of his high school days. In 2001, he also contributed to Doosan’s Korean Series win.
After working hard for a long time, he achieved his dream of becoming a Manhakdo student. He entered graduate school at Kookmin University in the fall of 2017, when he was 46 years old, and completed a doctoral program in biomechanics (biomechanics) last year. He is currently working on his thesis and is also lecturing on baseball coaching at the Graduate School of Sports Industry at Kookmin University. He said, “My remaining goal is to combine the baseball I’ve played my whole life with the biomechanics I learned at school to help my juniors perform at their best without getting injured.”
Reporter Lee Heon-jae [email protected]
2024-05-07 09:54:41