Uncommunicative leadership of the 'Baseball God'

The winning rate of the Hanwha Eagles, which was once considered a candidate for this season’s winner, fell to the 1 percent level. It has had five consecutive losses, and now ranks at the bottom or 10th place in the league. Japanese pitching coach packed his belongings and left the team just two weeks after the season’s opening. Kim Jeong-jun, team manager Kim Seong-geun’s son and Hanwha coach in charge of capacity analysis, even earned the nickname "Vice President" for abuse of power. It effectively reminds people of Korea’s former presidents who had difficulties due to their sons’ corruption scandals.

Manager Kim is the main target of criticism. Baseball bulletins are full of comments criticizing his self-righteousness and uncommunicative leadership. Fans also criticize his secretive way of operating the team and his signature "bee grouping" method in deploying pitchers en masse irrespective of the number of innings, whenever a pitcher gets on a shaky ground. Kim forced his players to engage in "special batting training" until late at night on the day his team suffered fifth consecutive loss. He kept standing relief pitcher Song Chang-shik, who lost 12 points for four and two thirds of innings, on the mound on April 14, causing the controversy of "punishing pitching" also earned Kim the criticism of "exploitative leadership."

Manager Kim even granted his team the nickname "Mari-Hanwha" for attracting fans like "marihuana" by displaying thrilling games last year. Then, he was also backed by his team’s highly generous compensations to its players, with the combined total of its annual salary ranking first among all teams. Performance constitutes the very basis that can change all different eval‎uations about a baseball team. His method, which earned him compliment when his team displayed outstanding performance, has now become an outdated leadership instantly in tune with his team’s deteriorating performance.

Watchers say that manager Kim’s leadership and that of President Park Geun-hye overlap. They say the two are similar in the way they unilaterally make decision all alone and do not allow others to give them straightforward advice. Fans say that what manager Kim needs right now is "father’s leadership" to dump his stubbornness of "Baseball God" and instead to open up his heart to the coaching staff. This is metaphorically compared with "mother’s leadership" that President Park needs. A manager’s crisis is his team’s crisis, but the president’s crisis is a nation’s crisis. Kim only plays with nine teams, but the president now must deal with the opposition parties that control majority in the National Assembly, North Korea, and superpowers worldwide. The president has 20 months remaining in her term in office. Kim has only played some 10 games of the 144 games scheduled this year. For both leaders to regain people’s trust, they should deeply reflect and atone.