"Is Grandpa good at baseball?"
“A little…. Hot chocolate when the cold wind blows…”
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In the winter of 2011, former director Kim Seong-geun (currently an advisor to SoftBank Japan), who was living as a 'savage' at the time, made a surprise appearance in a hot chocolate advertisement for a food company.
At this time, there was a 7-year-old boy next to coach Kim who said, 'I want to play baseball' despite the cold winter, and 11 years later, he became a real baseball player and became a hot topic.
In the 2023 KBO Rookie Draft held yesterday (15th),
Shinil High School pitcher Mok Ji-hoon was selected in the 4th round by the NC Dinos
.
Mok Ji-hoon started playing baseball as a hobby at Little Baseball Team in Jungnang-gu when he was in the first year of elementary school.
Mok Ji-hoon, who was exposed to baseball while playing catch with his father during his childhood, fell in love with baseball and told his mother that he wanted to become a 'regular player'.
However, her mother, Choi Sun-hee, was against her son's choice.
Choi said, "When my father told me to exercise, I thought I was learning Taekwondo, but when I entered Little Baseball, I stayed there all day. I thought I needed a lot of time to be with my child, but I was against it because I went to play baseball and didn't come home."
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A life-changing turning point comes when a tense battle unfolds in the composition of 'Mok Ji-hoon and Dad' vs 'Mom'.
An advertising agency was looking for a first-year elementary school player to take a picture with director Kim Seong-geun, and Mok Ji-hoon, who met the perfect conditions, auditioned and received a notice of acceptance.
And the commercial shooting started, and Mok Ji-hoon confessed that he did not know who Kim Seong-geun was.
"Actually, I didn't know what kind of person he was at first. I told my parents, 'I think I'll be able to do an advertisement with director Kim Seong-geun,' and they said 'awesome'. I thought of him like a grandfather who played baseball. It took about a week from audition to rehearsal. We were filming, and the more we worked together, the more I thought, 'I'm working with a really great person.'"
By the time filming was over, a word from director Kim Seong-geun changed Mok Ji-hoon's life.
There was a scene in which Jihoon Mok swings himself and runs to first base in the filming continuity, and coach Kim, who saw this, recommended baseball.
Mother Choi said, "As filming was ending, the director pointed to Ji-hoon and said,
'This kid can play baseball. He has perfect running form'.
You were talking like this.
Until then, I had fights and conflicts with the father of the child every day, and argued with the child, 'If you do not solve the problem book, you cannot go to the gym.'
But when he heard the coach's words, he asked around, and the answer came back, 'If the coach said that, shouldn't you really exercise?'
People around me talked like that, so I just put it down.
I changed my mind that I had to exercise.”
Mok Ji-hoon, who started to become a 'regular player', transferred to Hyoje Elementary School, then went to Cheongnyangni Middle School and then to Shinil High School, a prestigious baseball school. Since then, he has focused on pitching and took on the role of the team's ace. His top speed is 149 km/h, showing off his good talent. And yesterday, in the rookie draft, he was selected by the NC team and finally fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional player. A baseball player's dream that came true with this, Jihoon Mok says he still can't believe it.
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"The advertisement continued to become a hot topic until middle school. I was a little embarrassed when I was young, but now that I think about it, I think I had a very valuable experience. I wanted to meet the coach, but I wasn't sure that I would become a professional player. I think I played baseball more desperately because I didn't have a chance to see him again.
Manager Kim Seong-geun, who served as a manager's advisor at SoftBank in Japan, could not hide his surprise at the news of Mok Ji-hoon's professional move.
In a phone call with SBS, Director Kim recalled, "I saw it while filming the commercial and didn't see it after that." He said, "It's amazing.
He continued, "It's really amazing that saying a word to a young child has such an impact... It's really amazing and I miss you so much. hoped for
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