Dong-ju Moon, the first Korean player to break 160km/h in the KBO league, made his first appearance in front of home fans.
The heat was beyond imagination.
This is Reporter Park Jae-woong.
◀ Report ▶
A long line formed at Daejeon Stadium two hours before the start of the game.
The line that led to the outside of the stadium had to be followed for a long time to see the end.
Fans flocked to see the 160km pitcher Moon Dong-ju’s first home game in person despite raindrops coming and going, and to receive Moon Dong-ju’s photo card.
“Let’s be together with Moon Dong-ju, Hanwha for the rest of our lives! Wow!”
The landscape of uniform stores has also changed.
There were overflowing fans who wanted to engrave the name of Moon Dong-ju.
[Park Seung-ho/Hanwha fan]
“I was expecting a lot from the first time I came in, so I thought I took it for granted (engraving my uniform number). This is my wife’s.”
Employee workload has also increased significantly. 안전놀이터
[Kim Won-jin/Hanwha store employee]
“(Opening match) Dong-ju Moon is really popular now, so I think it was Dong-ju Moon more than 100 times out of 200 (waiting numbers). The more popular we get, the harder it gets for us… Still, it’s good to be a good player.”
Outside the stadium, a sculpture was installed to commemorate Moon Dong-ju’s highest arrest record of 160.1.
Fans who have supported us since the foundation were literally thrilled.
[Yu Je-nam/Hanwha fan]
He is the pillar and hope of the Hanwha Eagles. The eternal hope and expectation of ‘Bosal fans’. It was so hard while waiting, and I had a lot of frustration, but this year seems to be a year that I look forward to more than other years.
Moon Dong-ju faced Doosan line-up with a powerful fastball even in cloudy weather.
Starting with a fast ball of 154km in the first inning, he gradually raised his speed by shooting 155km in the 3rd and 156km in the 4th.
In addition to the pace control, he recorded the most strikeouts and pitches this season, meeting the expectations of the fans.
This is Park Jae-woong from MBC News.