Episode Details

With this year’s MLB free agent market enlivened by international players, Ben Lindbergh talks to three guests about three baseball-rich countries. First, Jeeho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency joins to discuss the response in South Korea to Jung Hoo Lee 이정후’s signing, Shin-Soo Choo 추신수’s forthcoming retirement, the legendary career of Choi Dong-won, and the ongoing reckoning with bullying in the KBO and Korean culture at large. Then (44:21) Ben talks to NPB historian Rob Fitts about trailblazing Japanese pitchers Eiji Sawamura and Masanori Murakami, and how baseball would be different if Japanese players had entered MLB earlier. Lastly (1:12:02), Ben brings on Sami Khan, co-director of The Last Out, a documentary about three Cuban players who hoped to make the majors, to discuss their harrowing defections and how a talent exodus affected Cuban baseball.

Audio intro: Andy Ellison, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Ian Phillips, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Yoo on Lee
Link to Yoo on Lee 2
Link to Yoo on Lee 3
Link to Yoo on Lee 4
Link to Yoo on Choo
Link to Yoo on Fedde
Link to other Fedde article
Link to Choi Dong-won wiki
Link to Choi Dong-won Award wiki
Link to Yoo on An’s bullying
Link to Yoo on An 2
Link to An scouting report

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