Chapter 820 – Episode 807. Achieving a New Record. (3)

‘Tsk, I thought I would lose today because it’s Rodon, but I won. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have held the bat too short yesterday.’

The aftereffects of holding the bat briefly to aim for a new scoring record were immediately apparent in the next game. It feels like the timing is oddly off. He managed to score 200 points with one walk, but he wasn’t that good, going 0-for-4, 1 walk, and 1 run scored.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to hit a home run, but forcing myself to change my form was a difficult task, no matter how hard I was. Well, it wouldn’t have mattered if I kept holding the bat short and hitting, but I couldn’t do that because what I was aiming for was the home run record, not the on-base percentage record.

‘Sweet, I’ll have to swing as carefully as possible until I regain my sense of hitting.’

The final game of the series against the Cardinals went into the game with the decision to approach the plate as cautiously as possible.

In my first at-bat, the opposing shortstop made an error, probably because he was aware of my quick feet, and I immediately ran to third base and added two stolen bases.

And in his second at-bat, he walked and recorded two stolen bases, recording his 90th stolen base of the season. After that, he started to want to set a new record for stolen bases.

‘What was the record for the most stolen bases? I think there were one hundred and thirty…’

I have to steal about 50 bases to set a new stolen base record. The weather was getting a little cooler now, and since we had played 128 games, I felt like we could set a new record for stolen bases by just 1.5 per game. All you had to do was get on base with a walk and no outs once per game, then run to third base.

And when I met a catcher with a weak arm like the Cardinals’ catcher, I was able to make about 4 catches a day, so it really felt like there wasn’t much left.

‘Then, should you really try about 7 or 8 things today? Among major league catchers, it’s not easy to see guys who are this naive… First, I need to wash my stats today.’

This was my third at bat with the intention of building up some stats.

“… Stop.”

“Huh?”

“Can you please stop running now?”

Suddenly the catcher started pleading with me. In the major leagues, not only were there not many catchers who would talk to him, but even if they did, most of them were trash talking, so this reaction was quite refreshing. In addition, he hit one home run during the series and had good batting performance, so he was even more refreshing.

Like, did you steal 20 bases for me in the Korean Series? Is this a plea that reminds me of Gyeongho, the senior who developed it by giving it to me?

‘So, I guess you’re doing well on AT? The last time I saw you, you were in 3rd place.’

While I was thinking about my former team after a long time, I heard a voice that broke my thoughts.

“I gave you 9 this series alone. “It’s time to stop now.”

Why is this kid so mentally weak as a big leaguer? If it had been my team, we would have helped him come to his senses through education, but it was such a shame.

“Why me?”

But a bad thing is a bad thing, I just do my job. No, it was more fun because it was my hobby to break the catchers’ mentality.

‘It’s been a while since I had fun. You are good I’ll catch yips.’

Never swinging the bat, he decides to pick the ball and waits for the pitcher’s pitch. And when it became two strikes and two balls,

‘It’s a curve. ‘Body side.’

‘Okay, … ‘Huh?’

The curveball slipped out of the pitcher’s hand and flew towards me. I thought about dodging for a moment, but it was a slow curve anyway, so I just waited for the ball. And the guy’s ball hits my thigh.

“Ugh.”

“Oh, Lord…”

No matter how curved it was, it was still painful, but rather than being annoyed by the pain, it was fun to see the catcher’s expression as if he was in despair for sending me to first base.

“Oh my, I wasn’t going to hit a home run this time, but there’s nothing I can do about it. “Try to block it once.”

“Oh, please…” .”

I grin once at the guy who keeps repeating “Please” And then walk to first base.

‘Then, Mr. Rossby, let’s go.’

If your opponent shows signs of weakness, it’s professional courtesy to attack them!

I measured the timing to keep the courtesy,

“Safe!”

“Safe!”

It was too easy to steal to third base against Alvarez.

“Base on balls!”

And after making two pitch outs to catch me, Judge gets on base with a walk. The next batter is Verdugo, who played right field instead of Soto today.

Perfect!

But unfortunately, Verdugo’s batted ball was caught by the pitcher, and I had no choice but to return to third base with the pitcher’s gaze. Fortunately, I caught the pitcher’s attention, so there was no double play and the situation was 1 out, 1st and 3rd base.

And,

Ta – Aak!

Stanton’s batted ball flew over the right wall, bringing the score to 5:0.

This may also be thanks to me completely shaking the opponent’s battery.

“As expected, it’s easier to have Ji around.”

Stanton must have realized my gratitude, as he gave me a high five while waiting at home and expressed his gratitude.

‘Ha, really shake up the battery mentality and prevent double plays. Is it okay to be this good at baseball?’

‘… Damn it.’

‘Hehe, Mr. Rossby, I have told you repeatedly that jealousy in men is ugly. Well, how would Mr. Rossby, who has stolen less than 200 bases in his career, know how this feels?’

‘Tsk, I’m a batter like you who doesn’t need to steal bases, so I didn’t do it.’

‘For something like that, there were quite a lot of base-stealing failures… ‘Can I go home and check?’

‘… Shut up.’

Since I was good at baseball, it was quite thrilling to easily win the argument with Mr. Rossby.

And what’s even more exciting than that,

“Why, why… Why… To me? .”

It was a sight to see the catcher muttering as if he had lost his mentality.

‘Wow, I want to see him get on base just one more time and get completely caught. I think it would be really thrilling if they got caught because of me.’

And that opportunity came about in an unexpected way.

Perfect!

‘Oh, shit!’

The fourth at-bat with one out and one on first base. I ended up missing the bat on a bullpen pitcher’s ball that fell lower than expected, and if there had been no runner on first base, I would never have sprinted, but I ran as fast as I could to first base, thinking that a double play was not an option.

“Out!”

“Safe!”

And the result is safe.

‘After… Fuck, I almost got fucked. Alvarez, I’m sorry. I think I need to run and relieve this anger.’

The situation was 2 outs and 1 base. To be honest, I could have hit home with a decent number of hits just by getting to 2nd base, but I wanted to see the catcher get caught by the yips, so I gave the judge a sign to wait and ran all the way to 3rd base.

“Safe!”

And in the end, Alvarez was shaking without even being able to throw the ball to third base.

‘Wow, did I steal 8 bases today? I think this is my first time.’

To be honest, I could steal bases at any time, but stealing 8 bases in one game was quite difficult.

First, in order to steal a base, you had to step on first base in a situation where there was no runner in front of you, but when I hit a hit, the proportion of extra-base hits was high and there were many cases where there were runners in front of me.

And as if reflecting my surprise, the text I saw in the first game of the series began to appear on the electronic display board.

Congratulations!

New Single-Game Stolen Base Record!

NO. 74. Maeng-Ho, Ji!

8 Stolen bases in a Single Game!

It was a new record for stolen bases in a game. When I looked up the major league records, there were many inhumane records. Is this humane?

‘Well, it’s amazing that even though I stole bases, I got 8, but it would be even more amazing if this wasn’t a new record.’

And this steal was quite meaningful. If there was a director who wanted to filter me out like Moon Ki-taek, it was clear that he would give up that idea after seeing this record.

Since my condition has been bad since the start of the second half of the season, I haven’t been in the mood to blatantly skip it like at the end of the first half, but even if my condition improves, thanks to today’s record, I felt like I could avoid such an annoying situation.

‘If you ignore this record without fail, you are an idiot.’

And unfortunately, Alvarez returns to the dugout. Even if it were me, I thought they would replace the catcher who allowed 8 stolen bases to one batter in one game, but it was a little disappointing that they couldn’t confirm whether he was really infected with the yips or not.

Perfect!

In addition, it was a little disappointing that Judge was not able to call me home, perhaps because the catcher, who had been shaking, had changed.

But regardless of my disappointment, the game went smoothly.

“Strike! Out!”

Miller, the closer, took the mound and blocked the Cardinals’ attack, and the score was 7:4 when the game ended. And, as I set a new record for the most stolen bases in a single game, I naturally became the subject of the Distinguished Player interview.

“Hello! Ji! We set two new records in three days in this series, right? The most points scored in a season, 198, by Billy Hamilton in 1894, and the most stolen bases in a game, 7, by George Gore in 1881 and Billy Hamilton in 1894. How do you feel?”

“Wow, the stolen base record was set 100 years ago?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?”

“No batsman cares about that. But it feels good.”

“Okay. Then next question…”

“It feels perfect to have achieved the record of people from 100 years ago, right? But at the same time, I’m curious. “What have other hitters done so far that someone from 100 years ago is still listed there?”

“Yes?”

“But don’t worry now. I will update all those old records. The record for most stolen bases was set 100 years ago, right? Is that also Hamilton? “That guy was amazing.”

“Ah… Uh, yeah, yeah. It is true that it was 100 years ago, but it is said that it was 138 set by Hugh Nichol in 1887, not Hamilton.”

“I have 94 as of today, so there isn’t much left. And this is a good thing.”

“… “What am I glad about?”

“People have the right to be forgotten, right? They, too, can now rest in peace. How annoying it must have been to be summoned for 100 years every time I talked about records. Now rest in peace in your grave.”

“…”

Are you thinking of making other ghosts become Buddha besides Mr. Rossby? After all, I’m so nice. I was definitely worthy of becoming one of the top five saints in the world.

… But unfortunately, that evening, I had no choice but to postpone my decision to set a new stolen base record.

“Meng Hao, did you have a hard time today?”

“Huh? No, why?”

“No, do you want to do something a little softer today?”

“… Me?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s a little different from usual?”

After running like crazy, stealing 13 bases in 3 days and 8 bases today, I was told that I had become weak to Soyoung, the official bad girl among my family.

“Well, it’s my mood.”

“Hmm… Is that so?”

‘Fuck, I guess I’ll just run moderately from now on. Sorry, Mr. Recall. Is this a recall? Anyway, I think it will take a little longer to get a good rest.’