'Last Dance'

Another legend is leaving the field. Choo Shin-soo (41) of the SSG Landers will mark the end of his 24-year professional career next season.

"Choo Shin-soo conveyed his intention to retire after the end of the 2024 season while discussing his career path," SSG said on Wednesday. "He signed a minimum annual salary of 30 million won and will donate all of his money. The club has also decided to join the campaign." Choo's annual salary is 1.7 billion won (1.1 million U.S. dollars) this year. Choo joined the SSG in 2021 after completing his career in the Major League Baseball, and he also donated 1 billion won (2.7 million dollars) out of 2.7 billion won (2.7 million dollars) in annual salary.

"I agonized a lot with my family during the offseason. It is time for me to put an end to my years of playing baseball in the U.S. and Korea since 2001," Choo said through his club. "Performance is important next year, but I want to share my experiences and thoughts with my juniors at the Futures team (second division) depending on the team's situation."

Choo will also serve as the team captain for next season. "I proposed to become the team captain considering that he has abundant experience and leadership and is highly respected by the national team," said Lee Soo-yong, the new SSG coach. Han Yu-seom was the team captain this year, but Oh Tae-gon has been wearing the team captain's armband since August as he voluntarily returned the team's poor performance.

Choo chose to play in the U.S. soon after graduating from Busan High School, and started his career as a minor league player with the Seattle Mariners in 2001. After joining the MLB in 2005, he played for the Cleveland Indians, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Texas Rangers until the 2020 season. His overall record in the MLB was 0.275, with 1,671 hits, 218 homers, 782 RBIs and 157 steals in 1,652 games. He became the first Asian player to have 200 homers and 20 homers and 20 steals in a season, and became the first Korean fielder to be selected as an All-Star.

Choo Shin-soo, who made his late debut in the KBO League in 2021, took the first batter of SSG the following year and contributed to the unified victory of "Wire to Wire," which never missed the league's lead from the opening to the closing of the regular season.

It was the first milestone in the history of the Korean pro baseball and the first victory of Choo's professional career. Suffering from ankle injury and sluggishness, Choo had 97 hits in 112 games with 12 home runs and a batting average of 0.254, while SSG was eliminated from the semi-playoff.

Choo Shin-soo's retirement announcement will reduce the number of active players to two after the end of next year's season. Kim Kang-min moved his team from SSG to Hanwha Eagles through the second draft on April 22, and Oh Seung-hwan has earned a free agent status and is negotiating with his original team Samsung Lions. 먹튀검증