Kim In-sik and Kim Tae-hyung's warm hug that led to 'Doosan Jamsil's victory'

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Dae-ho Lee = The game on the 12th between the Lotte Giants and Doosan Bears is the ‘final game of the KBO League regular season at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.’

To mark this historic game, Doosan invited former coach Kim In-sik (79) to throw the first pitch.

Former manager Kim slowly climbed onto the mound with support from Doosan manager Kim Won-hyung, grabbed the microphone and left a greeting to the fans.

He said, “I am deeply moved to come to Jamsil Stadium like this,” and looked back, “We won the championship in 1995, but the win in 2001 left a very deep impression on us.”

Doosan has reached the top of the Korean Series a total of six times, including during its predecessor as OB.

In 1982, when the late coach Kim Young-deok was leading the team, it was not Jamsil Stadium as their home, but Daejeon, and the Korean Series championship was also confirmed at Dongdaemun Stadium.

The person who first gave Doosan a true ‘Jamsil championship’ was former coach Kim.

Former coach Kim, who took the helm in 1995, united the team that had been scattered due to the 'protest wave' the previous year and led them to win the Korean Series.

However, there was a separate reason why Coach Kim mentioned the 2001 championship instead of 1995.

That year, Doosan moved up from the semi-playoffs and caused a stir by defeating the Samsung Lions in the Korean Series and winning the championship.

This season, Doosan finished the regular season in 5th place and must begin the wild card match.

Former coach Kim said, "Just like we won the championship in 2001, I hope this time Doosan starts from the wild card and progresses step by step until the end. No one knows how to play baseball," earning applause from the audience.

The moment former manager Kim finished throwing out the first pitch and was about to take a commemorative photo with manager Won-hyung Kim and catcher Eui-ji Yang, Lotte manager Tae-hyung Kim came running out from the dugout on the other side.

Coach Kim Tae-hyung led Jamsil to three more championships as the head coach of Doosan in 2015, 2016, and 2019.

The two head coaches who were responsible for Doosan's Jamsil championship came together on a historic day.

Before the game, coach Kim Tae-hyung, who was pleased to hear that former coach Kim was coming to the baseball stadium to throw the first pitch, said, "I should go and say hello," and warmly hugged former coach Kim, whom he had not seen in a long time.

Former Nogu coach Kim even flinched for a moment at the momentum.

Meanwhile, for the final game of the regular season, all 23,750 seats at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul were sold.

This is the 33rd sell-out this season, and the cumulative season attendance was 1,507,522, exceeding 1.5 million spectators in a single season for the first time in the club's history.