For the Last Time: HP-Jeon (HP전), the stories of 2057 Quebec Series: Part 11-14
Part 1-6
Part 7-10
Primary reference material:Memoires d'Athletes - Do Or Die, the 2038 story of Quebecois HS Baseball's Greatest Match
Other reference materials: RPs from WBC 53 (Theo and Myeong-Shin's story with Haley's song, a Grim Reapers' anthem), TWGS Season Two 'Auld Lang Syne' (involves the story of the narrator)
A slow, dramatic title sequence shows up with a rhythm guitar playing from the background. Montages of various Quebecois domestic sports leagues laminate. It begins with footballers arguing and brawling in the middle of the Shingoryeoite Superclassic pitting the dark-blue jerseys of Montreal Koreana and CSKA Quebec, before proceeding to the courtside duel between legendary basketball rivals Riley Jeon-Keane on centre and Allison the point guard. We would then shift to the montage of the old, 1960s match between Calaniens de Songak and Kingston Knights in the grey.
Those historic images then shift into something more contemporary, with a two-dozen Grim Reapers rushing the field after the final out was recorded on Game 5 of the WBC 54 third-place series. The baseballers and the members of the coaching staff would blast champagne at each other, before lifting their manager, Choe Bong-Hak, up into the air, which is then followed by the images of memorable scenes between their two retired numbers, third-baseman Heo Myeong-Shin and outfielder Theo-Alexandre Pinson. Those images show their time in Cassadaigua, the QBO, and then high school where the duo had played as rivals and would come to walk off for one last time.
At last, the massive sign 'For the Last Time: HP-Jeon (HP전), the stories of 2057 Quebec Series' comes up, putting the documentary's one-minute intro to a close.
Narrator: The Autumn of 2057 is best remembered as the final of many chapters drawn by the HP Duo of Quebecois baseball, who are often considered to be the two greatest baseball players to have ever played with Quebec and Shingoryeo. Now we look into the memories and the stories of the 2057 Quebec Series, as the Kingston Tigers and the Montevicio Dodgers would face each other for the first time since 1988.
This documentary will provide the coverage of the days leading up to, during, and after the series that's considered to be one of the greatest Quebec Series ever played. We will see the past and the present interchange as the players and the coaches of the two historic franchises, who are stylistically contrasting to each other, and how it reflects into the very Quebec Series. By doing so, 'For the Last Time' hopes to deliver an engaging portrait of Quebecois baseball that is in its golden age.
Part 11 - Heo, and The Decision
Narrator: Every January you will see, almost around the clock, the collegiate commitments high school student-athletes made during the national signing day. It will bring a lot out of everybody, as they try to figure out what's the best destination possible for them.
There will be some who stay home, choosing to stay closer to their family and community, while others will be heading far and away in search of better opportunities. In the end what matters, however, is that there will always be lots of reasons and even more of unquantifiable emotion involved in it all, and that's what fascinates many, as coaches scout and fans speculate over the future of the student-athlete, who have a critical choice to be made.
Then there is also the question of allegiance, especially for those whose family and program carry certain connections to a college or two. Much of the time this is used as a good way to gauge their collegiate commitments, and we mostly understand that natural, fail-safe element. Every year we see those who do go the opposite way, however, and this kind of news, to no surprise, drives up the news circle, with much artificial controversy to be generated out of. This was very much the case for Heo Myeong-Shin, as the Erskine Collegiate senior would find himself in the centre of spotlight over the decision he had made then.
The camera moves forward to the start of year 2038, as the first fateful year for both Heo and Pinson starts with everybody returning to school, only for their back-to-school calendar to be interrupted by an important event. Held at a concrete gym with tall roof and red bleachers on three sides of the floor, you would normally not think of Riley Jeon-Keane Gymnasium as a conventional gym that numerous alumni of all-time legendries to have come out, but the multiple state and national banners in the sports teams have been strong at - baseball and football, women's basketball, men's volleyball, and fencing - would give a bit of peek.
'So, shall we keep this short and sweet?' A baritone voice says to the camera. 6'2 tall and standing at about 215 lbs, the brown-haired senior was wearing full suit and jacket with red Erskine ties usually used for musical ensembles to perform on concerts and engagements. He was looking back at his friends, his girlfriend Naomi who drove all the way from Cornwall in her Queen's College gear, and about twenty journalists, who were given media access for the ceremony. It was Myeong-Shin's idea to avoid having too much people in the crowd, an odd one considering his reputation and profile as high school prospect.
'Let them enjoy it, any of these options are great for you,' says his mum Maureen Turner, the barrister who also doubles as a choreographer at local dance academy. Her and her husband Dr. Heo Dong-Soo, by now University of Kingston professor, and Myeong-Yoon were also dressed in suit, almost adding to the level of seriousness involved in the news. They, of course, all knew where their son was going - a surprising decision they had come to accept the night before - and were ready.
There would be three hats - blue and white double-B for Universite St. Croix, the purple Q with purple background representing Queen's College at Cornwall, and the Indigo cap of Universite du Saguenay with SG golden lettermark. First two had familial ties, while the final one, while trailing behind the two, was recruiting hard under new head coach, Baek Sang-Joon. Where would he go?
'Ladies and gentlemen,' says Myeong-Shin, feeling a little bit of nerve in his voice. 'I'd like to thank everybody for making this opportunity possible. All three of the programs on this list are national contenders, who I believe could make true difference in not only my sports of baseball and football, but also academically, as I expect to major in history and comparative literature.' That's a hint, immediately eliminating his parents' alma mater that did not offer comparative literature. Of course, that still does not mean anything definitive yet for another second.
'In this fall, I'm going to be taking my talents to South Bend, where I will be joining the Fighting Irish,' says Myeong-Shin, much to the surprise of those in the stands, as he dons the Fighting Irish hat. The storm of photograph flashes would follow, with quite a few people on the stands looking surprised, which include his future wife, as almost everybody's predictions in Myeong-Shin, the top-ranked recruit in baseball and football, would eschew Queen's College, a school he had known to the very brick of the walls, for its out-of-state rival.
After quickly going over the surprised expressions of those in the stands, the camera would shift back to Heo and his family. His parents were smiling as they embraced, Myeong-Yoon looking a little bit bummed while wearing a Queen's College tuque, and both his coaches chuckling. Myeong-Shin, who seems happy enough with the decision made, continues to smile, and that's where the camera freezes at that moment as the interviews go on in the present time.
'God, they were cruel, cruel to Myeong-Shin and his family,' says Ian Lautner, the hall-of-fame-bound quarterback answering from Attawapiskat Broncos training facility. 'And I knew why he felt that way, especially since my dad was the Professor Heo's college friend - that's how they met in first place - and both my parents went there. Those people really loved the Gaels football, and really wanted him and I guess, myself, too, but it was just cruel to watch some of the things said then that only calmed down when his mum passed a month later.'
This part is true, but what did the parents think about it? The next scene moves to an old, 1800s cafe located in the heart of Joongyeong. 'Thank you, sir, for coming to the interview this afternoon,' asks the interviewer. Dr. Heo, who nowadays teaches history and comparative literature at St. Croix where he did his doctorate forty years ago, insisted the interview be held outside the campus or home. 'So we are going to ask you about what happened after that.'
'What happened after?' Dr. Heo, who is nearing baldness and looks aged at his mid-60s, answers rightaway. 'Well a lot of things were said online, and also offline, and those were a mix of nice things and...not so nice things. Those that would be natural if your prodigal son ends up going to your rival, the one you would face at same conference, and your rivalry is played every year at the Stade commonwealth.'
'Thank you, and my apologies, but how did you and the late Mrs. Turner feel when he told you earlier of your choice?' The interviewer asks.
Dr. Heo gives a light smirk, almost as if he's expected to be asked about it. 'It was easy. Queen's College wasn't my first-choice for fencing either,' he answers, a sore spot for former three-time national champion. 'As a sabreur, I wanted to go to Farrer, or St. Croix, or Mount Ester. My father went to St. Croix, and grandpa went to Navy, so there's a bit of that chip on my shoulder and the A.D. back then, Sir. Philippe Ahn, recruited me hard with coach Lundrigan. Yes, which is funny when you think about it because Sir. Philippe was a Redman too, a class of '74?, and with him and his successors Gustave Seo-Hovington and Victoria Han, we really had that powerful pipeline from Erskine to Queen's College.
As for Maureen, her parents were Kingston alumni in the eighties and the area she grew up in didn't really have people going to Queen's College. We loved our time there and that's where we met, but we were never hung up over that. So I knew why my son wanted to go to Saguenay to make his legacy.'
The camera then shifts to montage of various high school grounds with clips of Myeong-Shin, who would quickly find his ground as a running back and linebacker for gridiron, and shortstop and pitcher for baseball. It would alternate with a smaller timeline that would go back to 2034, and would be followed by various television and radio announcements covering the matches.
Narrator: Entering into his final year at Erskine Collegiate, Myeong-Shin had accomplished great success in baseball and football. Myeong-Shin had made his name known first in football, where he would put together 1,100 yard rushing season as halfback and 8 interceptions as a safety and linebacker, and lead what would be a largely undermanned Erskine Redmen squad consisting mostly of juniors and seniors, to a state title in twenty years. The Redmen would that two more times, with back-to-back OFSAA tri-nationals his junior and senior year.
'It's not a common feat to see someone that good, let alone a freshman doing stuff what he was doing it,' says Victor Chae, head coach of the Redmen football team and history teacher at the time. 'And we had some outstanding kids on that senior class, and those who would come after they had come too. Not the most talented but really, really dedicated kids with whom we have not won three tri-states! Those days that we are not going to see again. Very fortunate to have been around as the coach and the teacher to those kids really.'
It is in baseball, however, where Myeong-Shin had drawn national sensation as a submarine pitcher capable of throwing 95-mile submarine pitcher. Erskine, while not always the first name to be recognised among public schools in the city for football, was a national powerhouse in baseball. With the QBO draft divided into two stages, with the first stage allowing each team to select the region's finest player first, both the Jays and the Tigers have had plenty of players there.
'Between baseball and football? He was certainly a better prospect in former, though I think at that point he liked playing football more,' says Jean-Guy Lapointe, the reporter for The Mathletes website. As he resumes to the next part, another montage of Heo pitching in the same motion, cut into a line of five different pitches for five championship finals he would close out in four years there. 'You don't get a shortstop prospect who, at the time, was pitching 95-mile fourseam, or those monstrous sinkers or sliders, like he did. We have seen maybe two, three before that, and none since, just a rare breed of submarines.'
This is something that writer Asher Lundrigan, who was his catcher from the sophomore year onwards, agrees, as he gives his comments over the phone call instead of having the production staff coming directly to his home in rural Acadie. 'I have caught his pitches many times, as early as when we were kids vacationing on the cottage home county of upper Baker Park, and still think that his talent, as a baseball player, may have been at his best then,' Lundrigan says. This would be followed with colourful pictures of Erskine and a dozen high school programs, including Pinson's Sangwon and quite a few other prominent names, posing after winning one of the five titles during that mid-late 2030s.
'But you have to remember why we remember that era, why we remember this celebration, that home run, and every one of those strikeouts and stolen bases,' Lundrigan continues, with the photos slowly subsided by the photos of Heo at school and with his friends. In a few photos younger versions of Lundrigan, Pinson, Lautner and a few other known names would be seen, mostly laughing and having a blast on holidays and tournaments. 'This was the last of golden ages for Quebecois high school baseball, the times when you knew who those kids were not just because of their talent, but because of the passion.'
Heo knew he wanted to play both baseball and football into college, and possibly into the pros, before having to eventually make a decision. It wasn't going to be either or, and there had to be good balance in decisions being made. This, turns out, would be the difference-maker for Heo, as he would later admit in the future years.
'The whole process, for me and my family, had taken a whole year, as early as winter semester of my junior year, so by the National Signing Day we had a clear idea on what we wanted and who we wanted to go with,' says Myeong-Shin, as he visits the old Erskine campus. Most of the new-ish building of the campus were still the same, though he would notice there has to be a bit more cleaning to be done. 'Much of the recruiting would come down to how I could balance both sports, what positions I could possibly play, and eventually where I wanted to be. All my choices came down to that and no more - and any of those three would have made a fine choice.
'St. Croix was an option because I could live with my grandparents, who were old and I wanted to spend more time with. Queen's College would have been a natural pick. I lived for first twelve years of my life there, my parents went and taught there, Naomi my now-wife was playing volleyball there, and my sister already made up her mind on going. But Saguenay had the best promise and I had developed the best relationships there in the year leading up to it.'
Narrator: Every January you will see, almost around the clock, the collegiate commitments high school student-athletes made during the national signing day. It will bring a lot out of everybody, as they try to figure out what's the best destination possible for them.
There will be some who stay home, choosing to stay closer to their family and community, while others will be heading far and away in search of better opportunities. In the end what matters, however, is that there will always be lots of reasons and even more of unquantifiable emotion involved in it all, and that's what fascinates many, as coaches scout and fans speculate over the future of the student-athlete, who have a critical choice to be made.
Then there is also the question of allegiance, especially for those whose family and program carry certain connections to a college or two. Much of the time this is used as a good way to gauge their collegiate commitments, and we mostly understand that natural, fail-safe element. Every year we see those who do go the opposite way, however, and this kind of news, to no surprise, drives up the news circle, with much artificial controversy to be generated out of. This was very much the case for Heo Myeong-Shin, as the Erskine Collegiate senior would find himself in the centre of spotlight over the decision he had made then.
The camera moves forward to the start of year 2038, as the first fateful year for both Heo and Pinson starts with everybody returning to school, only for their back-to-school calendar to be interrupted by an important event. Held at a concrete gym with tall roof and red bleachers on three sides of the floor, you would normally not think of Riley Jeon-Keane Gymnasium as a conventional gym that numerous alumni of all-time legendries to have come out, but the multiple state and national banners in the sports teams have been strong at - baseball and football, women's basketball, men's volleyball, and fencing - would give a bit of peek.
'So, shall we keep this short and sweet?' A baritone voice says to the camera. 6'2 tall and standing at about 215 lbs, the brown-haired senior was wearing full suit and jacket with red Erskine ties usually used for musical ensembles to perform on concerts and engagements. He was looking back at his friends, his girlfriend Naomi who drove all the way from Cornwall in her Queen's College gear, and about twenty journalists, who were given media access for the ceremony. It was Myeong-Shin's idea to avoid having too much people in the crowd, an odd one considering his reputation and profile as high school prospect.
'Let them enjoy it, any of these options are great for you,' says his mum Maureen Turner, the barrister who also doubles as a choreographer at local dance academy. Her and her husband Dr. Heo Dong-Soo, by now University of Kingston professor, and Myeong-Yoon were also dressed in suit, almost adding to the level of seriousness involved in the news. They, of course, all knew where their son was going - a surprising decision they had come to accept the night before - and were ready.
There would be three hats - blue and white double-B for Universite St. Croix, the purple Q with purple background representing Queen's College at Cornwall, and the Indigo cap of Universite du Saguenay with SG golden lettermark. First two had familial ties, while the final one, while trailing behind the two, was recruiting hard under new head coach, Baek Sang-Joon. Where would he go?
'Ladies and gentlemen,' says Myeong-Shin, feeling a little bit of nerve in his voice. 'I'd like to thank everybody for making this opportunity possible. All three of the programs on this list are national contenders, who I believe could make true difference in not only my sports of baseball and football, but also academically, as I expect to major in history and comparative literature.' That's a hint, immediately eliminating his parents' alma mater that did not offer comparative literature. Of course, that still does not mean anything definitive yet for another second.
'In this fall, I'm going to be taking my talents to South Bend, where I will be joining the Fighting Irish,' says Myeong-Shin, much to the surprise of those in the stands, as he dons the Fighting Irish hat. The storm of photograph flashes would follow, with quite a few people on the stands looking surprised, which include his future wife, as almost everybody's predictions in Myeong-Shin, the top-ranked recruit in baseball and football, would eschew Queen's College, a school he had known to the very brick of the walls, for its out-of-state rival.
After quickly going over the surprised expressions of those in the stands, the camera would shift back to Heo and his family. His parents were smiling as they embraced, Myeong-Yoon looking a little bit bummed while wearing a Queen's College tuque, and both his coaches chuckling. Myeong-Shin, who seems happy enough with the decision made, continues to smile, and that's where the camera freezes at that moment as the interviews go on in the present time.
'God, they were cruel, cruel to Myeong-Shin and his family,' says Ian Lautner, the hall-of-fame-bound quarterback answering from Attawapiskat Broncos training facility. 'And I knew why he felt that way, especially since my dad was the Professor Heo's college friend - that's how they met in first place - and both my parents went there. Those people really loved the Gaels football, and really wanted him and I guess, myself, too, but it was just cruel to watch some of the things said then that only calmed down when his mum passed a month later.'
This part is true, but what did the parents think about it? The next scene moves to an old, 1800s cafe located in the heart of Joongyeong. 'Thank you, sir, for coming to the interview this afternoon,' asks the interviewer. Dr. Heo, who nowadays teaches history and comparative literature at St. Croix where he did his doctorate forty years ago, insisted the interview be held outside the campus or home. 'So we are going to ask you about what happened after that.'
'What happened after?' Dr. Heo, who is nearing baldness and looks aged at his mid-60s, answers rightaway. 'Well a lot of things were said online, and also offline, and those were a mix of nice things and...not so nice things. Those that would be natural if your prodigal son ends up going to your rival, the one you would face at same conference, and your rivalry is played every year at the Stade commonwealth.'
'Thank you, and my apologies, but how did you and the late Mrs. Turner feel when he told you earlier of your choice?' The interviewer asks.
Dr. Heo gives a light smirk, almost as if he's expected to be asked about it. 'It was easy. Queen's College wasn't my first-choice for fencing either,' he answers, a sore spot for former three-time national champion. 'As a sabreur, I wanted to go to Farrer, or St. Croix, or Mount Ester. My father went to St. Croix, and grandpa went to Navy, so there's a bit of that chip on my shoulder and the A.D. back then, Sir. Philippe Ahn, recruited me hard with coach Lundrigan. Yes, which is funny when you think about it because Sir. Philippe was a Redman too, a class of '74?, and with him and his successors Gustave Seo-Hovington and Victoria Han, we really had that powerful pipeline from Erskine to Queen's College.
As for Maureen, her parents were Kingston alumni in the eighties and the area she grew up in didn't really have people going to Queen's College. We loved our time there and that's where we met, but we were never hung up over that. So I knew why my son wanted to go to Saguenay to make his legacy.'
The camera then shifts to montage of various high school grounds with clips of Myeong-Shin, who would quickly find his ground as a running back and linebacker for gridiron, and shortstop and pitcher for baseball. It would alternate with a smaller timeline that would go back to 2034, and would be followed by various television and radio announcements covering the matches.
Narrator: Entering into his final year at Erskine Collegiate, Myeong-Shin had accomplished great success in baseball and football. Myeong-Shin had made his name known first in football, where he would put together 1,100 yard rushing season as halfback and 8 interceptions as a safety and linebacker, and lead what would be a largely undermanned Erskine Redmen squad consisting mostly of juniors and seniors, to a state title in twenty years. The Redmen would that two more times, with back-to-back OFSAA tri-nationals his junior and senior year.
'It's not a common feat to see someone that good, let alone a freshman doing stuff what he was doing it,' says Victor Chae, head coach of the Redmen football team and history teacher at the time. 'And we had some outstanding kids on that senior class, and those who would come after they had come too. Not the most talented but really, really dedicated kids with whom we have not won three tri-states! Those days that we are not going to see again. Very fortunate to have been around as the coach and the teacher to those kids really.'
It is in baseball, however, where Myeong-Shin had drawn national sensation as a submarine pitcher capable of throwing 95-mile submarine pitcher. Erskine, while not always the first name to be recognised among public schools in the city for football, was a national powerhouse in baseball. With the QBO draft divided into two stages, with the first stage allowing each team to select the region's finest player first, both the Jays and the Tigers have had plenty of players there.
'Between baseball and football? He was certainly a better prospect in former, though I think at that point he liked playing football more,' says Jean-Guy Lapointe, the reporter for The Mathletes website. As he resumes to the next part, another montage of Heo pitching in the same motion, cut into a line of five different pitches for five championship finals he would close out in four years there. 'You don't get a shortstop prospect who, at the time, was pitching 95-mile fourseam, or those monstrous sinkers or sliders, like he did. We have seen maybe two, three before that, and none since, just a rare breed of submarines.'
This is something that writer Asher Lundrigan, who was his catcher from the sophomore year onwards, agrees, as he gives his comments over the phone call instead of having the production staff coming directly to his home in rural Acadie. 'I have caught his pitches many times, as early as when we were kids vacationing on the cottage home county of upper Baker Park, and still think that his talent, as a baseball player, may have been at his best then,' Lundrigan says. This would be followed with colourful pictures of Erskine and a dozen high school programs, including Pinson's Sangwon and quite a few other prominent names, posing after winning one of the five titles during that mid-late 2030s.
'But you have to remember why we remember that era, why we remember this celebration, that home run, and every one of those strikeouts and stolen bases,' Lundrigan continues, with the photos slowly subsided by the photos of Heo at school and with his friends. In a few photos younger versions of Lundrigan, Pinson, Lautner and a few other known names would be seen, mostly laughing and having a blast on holidays and tournaments. 'This was the last of golden ages for Quebecois high school baseball, the times when you knew who those kids were not just because of their talent, but because of the passion.'
Heo knew he wanted to play both baseball and football into college, and possibly into the pros, before having to eventually make a decision. It wasn't going to be either or, and there had to be good balance in decisions being made. This, turns out, would be the difference-maker for Heo, as he would later admit in the future years.
'The whole process, for me and my family, had taken a whole year, as early as winter semester of my junior year, so by the National Signing Day we had a clear idea on what we wanted and who we wanted to go with,' says Myeong-Shin, as he visits the old Erskine campus. Most of the new-ish building of the campus were still the same, though he would notice there has to be a bit more cleaning to be done. 'Much of the recruiting would come down to how I could balance both sports, what positions I could possibly play, and eventually where I wanted to be. All my choices came down to that and no more - and any of those three would have made a fine choice.
'St. Croix was an option because I could live with my grandparents, who were old and I wanted to spend more time with. Queen's College would have been a natural pick. I lived for first twelve years of my life there, my parents went and taught there, Naomi my now-wife was playing volleyball there, and my sister already made up her mind on going. But Saguenay had the best promise and I had developed the best relationships there in the year leading up to it.'
Part 12 - Tigers: The Hec of Defence, and Baseball
Narrator: By early July, the Kingston Tigers are comfortably atop the QBO season with a 60-24 record, one that would see them go on a 18-3 run entering into the all-star break. The Tigers, who are led by Baek Nam-Soo's 12 wins and 118 strikeouts, while Benedict Calles III goes on a 15-game hitting streak of own, are on a roll, and are seven games ahead of their hated rivals, Saguenay Lions.
The team, who are just short of the 1977 Saguenay Lions' .734% winning percentage, continues to receive great attention as they would be swarmed by media and public, both at home and away. While most of it is over the success of the squad that simply has not found a way to lose once the weather got hot, but also over the continuing questions to their team captain after the 2057 season:
The camera heads sometime into the 70th-game mark, where the rookie batsman, Kieran Horsham, a silent treatment in the match against Songak Expos. The bald first-baseman, who is at 23 much better defensively and by contact than his power, has a lucky one that goes over the right fence into the water. He enters the dugout and double-taps the first three he sees back there. He gets nothing, but then would be met by starters Kim Gi-Joong and Devon Ackie from behind as they blast the coke bottle on his face. His teammates would join into the celebration as they tap him on shoulder and head.
The next scene sees pitcher Baek Nam-Soo, third baseman Kamila Estrada and batting coach Noel Gustavsson smoking a cigarette back in the old locker room of Mudeung Field, right as Heo joins in. This section of the locker room is little bit thick on air with smoke fume when Heo enters. He gives all five a tug and embrace, though does not join the smoking - he was never really a smoker. 'Ain't nobody here talkin' about whether Heo Myeong-Shin's gonna retire, or coming back next here,' Myeong-Shin gives a light smile, having changed from his jersey into a black, three-piece suit. 'Let's win and think about it.'
---
The camera now shifts into the aerial shot of the Universite du Saguenay campus. It is, for most part, a mix of architectural styles with the traditional-styled pillars carved into stone-clad, mostly gothic buildings, and the campus that has carefully-placed lawns. The camera quickly goes around the Pierre J. Belmondo Field, named after a famous alumnus who had made his name known in the semi-professional days of 1940s and 1950s, before going straight into the Stade Schwartz.
Then-head coach of the Fighting Irish football team, Baek Sang-Joon, walks out of the tunnel after tapping the famous 'Play Like A Champion' sign. He, who would go onto coach the Fighting Irish for just over fifteen years, has fond memories of Myeong-Shin and Broncos' quarterback, Ian Lautner.
'Saguenay football program's profile as a national program is a renowned one, one that is built upon early success, but one that would be backed up by innovation and being ahead of the curve,' answers Baek, as historic clips of the 1930s-1950s and 1970s-1980s championship-winning squads. 'It was one that would come in waves, yes, and it's not always been successful like last twenty-thirty years. But even in the struggling years, the program's allure as a nationwide program, that meaning its independent status (note that its affiliation with the B1G conference, mostly of Anglophone schools in the middle-half of the region, is a semi-binding one requiring six games a year, not eight or nine), playing far and in all corners of the country, and its breakthrough status in Songgyeong or Joongyeong, was never in doubt.'
It would be slowly followed by the era of resurgence in the 2010s and the 2020s, before closing with the montage of Sir. Dexter Ahn, three-time Hector Kweon winner who would throw a 27-yard overtime winner in the Tiger Bowl final at his junior year. 'But there was a bit of that question over the program's identity, the character issues we held for one another and whatnot, that was being put into question by the 2030s.' He would add, before the scene where he is appointed Head Coach. 'It was a great program, the students would do well in classes, but yes, there were some issues I clearly remember then.' It would be followed by a series of charges that would occur periodically for the program, most notably with three multi-game suspensions by edge rusher Vontaze Ahn, and a half-season suspension for Simon Gacek for what people outside would know to be drug abuse issues.
'We will start the program from clean slate, we will compete clean, and we will win it clean. And I am ready for the Irish nation, and the Northeast, to join with me,' says Baek at the start of press conference, as he shakes hands with then-athletic director Sir. Robert Ahern Pelaez.
'Myeong-Shin was the best prospect in the country for 2038 class, who wanted to play both baseball and football, and we all knew how close he was with Ian (Lautner), who was the best prospect for the one after,' he says. 'But there were some doubts as to whether we could net either, because the Erskine pipeline to Queen's College on one hand, and the Pater-Dei pipeline to USM.'
The camera would then shift to Myeong-Shin, who is now sitting at the Stade Commonwealth. Annually Saguenay plays the Golden Bell Showdown with Queen's College in Songak, where the crowds usually split even - Queen's College is only an hour away by drive, but traditionally Saguenay has had strong representation, both athletically and in fanbase here. 'Did I watch the Golden Bell every year? Absolutely, me and my family all donned the tricolour, sung the chants and all that,' Myeong-Shin answers, before lifting a picture of the family of four standing in front of the stands when him and Myeong-Yoon were 12 and 10. 'And yes, at one point it did seem like all three of Theo, Ian and I were gonna be there.'
The interviewer asks Myeong-Shin what made Myeong-Shin and Ian ultimately change their mind, to which he takes a moment to think. 'Let's just say that being the only Myeong-Shin, at a school that wanted to usher in a new era, was a great promise, and the team had a clear vision,' he answers. 'And it also involved the two ends to face off, not as friends laughing on the court, but actually squaring off against one another. I am not a Christian myself, don't get me wrong, but if there's really a god's plan, it would have been for me to go to Saguenay.'
Narrator: In what would be the greatest recruiting scoop of the century, Myeong-Shin would come to Saguenay campus on the summer semester of 2038, where he would find himself entering a huge culture shock away from warmer flatlands of Mahan.
Myeong-Shin recalls the first months of the school without the fairytale-like notion. 'Oh it was bad. It's northeastern cold, it's hilly at around 1000m high, and you knew there were a lot of rules and codes to follow,' says he, now joined by his wife Naomi, in Kingston. 'Coming from a traditional, Buddhist family with my dad and grandma devout practitioners, I was in some ways used to this...atmosphere, but this peculiar environment felt differently than at home.'
'It was a difficult moment for him,' nods Naomi, a straw-haired volleyball coach one year older wearing the RQVF tracksuit. 'I remember being on the phone with him every day, that was his freshman year, and having to talk through things out with him. Everybody knew about those early struggles - there were lots going on for him, after losing Maureen earlier in the year and having to handle what's really the weight of the world. One year he was the submarine sensation, the next he is that, top safety-turned linebacker prospect, vying to play against the USMs, the St-GRs, the Queen's's.'
The very next scene would go into the alternating highlights of Myeong-Shin's tenure as the Fighting Irish, mostly in the manners similar to the relatively short, one-minute-esque montages of his time with high school baseball earlier. Multiple sacks and interceptions would be followed, with the sound of Here Comes the Irish (anthem) played alongside the commentators talking about his versatility as a hybrid linebacker, intelligence reading the plays and the passion that would alternate with celebrations.
Narrator: In four seasons with the Fighting Irish, Heo Myeong-Shin would be remembered as one of the best players in the QIS football history, recording 40 sacks and 28 interceptions in his four years with the Fighting Irish. A three-time all-Quebecois, his crowning achievement would be on his junior season when Myeong-Shin, off a 12-sack, 10-interception season as inside linebacker, would win the first Hector Kweon trophy in 32 years as a defensive player.
The camera would go back to the footage of 2041 Hector Kweon trophy ceremony, also happens to be situated at the Adelphi Hotel in Songak. The ceremony itself is straightforward with Heo, who is wearing the similarly-styled three-piece suit with a green and gold tie, shakes the hands of that year's presenter, none other than Dexter Ahn himself. They whisper few words while on handshake, before he goes to the podium.
While the camera looks at others, including his family and friends, and then the coaching staff, quick narration continues on the background. This happens to be from Melanie Gissing, the local reporter who had covered Irish football for years. 'There aren't that many achievements greater than winning a Hec as a defensive player, on the same year you win a Tiger Bowl with your best friend. As a junior, you would think of heading into the QFL, the earlier the better. So when things didn't go that way, then what is next?'
Now we head back into the end of the speech, where he is set to announce that he's going to return for his senior season. 'I am proud to announce that I will be returning to South Bend for my senior season in football and baseball,' he says, with the round of applause to follow.
Narrator: By early July, the Kingston Tigers are comfortably atop the QBO season with a 60-24 record, one that would see them go on a 18-3 run entering into the all-star break. The Tigers, who are led by Baek Nam-Soo's 12 wins and 118 strikeouts, while Benedict Calles III goes on a 15-game hitting streak of own, are on a roll, and are seven games ahead of their hated rivals, Saguenay Lions.
The team, who are just short of the 1977 Saguenay Lions' .734% winning percentage, continues to receive great attention as they would be swarmed by media and public, both at home and away. While most of it is over the success of the squad that simply has not found a way to lose once the weather got hot, but also over the continuing questions to their team captain after the 2057 season:
# Imperial League Pld W L RF RA RD Win %
1 Hanbat Eagles 84 50 34 442 349 +93 0.595
2 Montreal Twins 84 50 34 399 364 +35 0.595
3 Montevicio Dodgers 84 48 36 459 360 +99 0.571
4 Saint John Green Sox 84 43 41 387 401 −14 0.512
5 Levis Wyverns 84 43 41 397 354 +43 0.512
6 Kingston Blue Jays 84 41 43 353 412 −59 0.488
7 Attawapiskat Wiz 84 32 52 327 393 −66 0.381
8 Anju Avros 84 29 55 329 460 −131 0.345
# Royal League Pld W L RF RA RD Win %
1 Kingston Tigers 84 60 24 459 328 +131 0.714
2 Saguenay Lions 84 53 31 389 335 +54 0.631
3 Joongyeong Bears 84 46 38 407 378 +29 0.548
4 Prince Eric Athletics 84 43 41 388 376 +12 0.512
5 Dongnae Giants 84 41 43 408 375 +33 0.488
6 Oakwood Dinos 84 40 44 384 396 −12 0.476
7 Songak Expos 84 32 52 350 422 −72 0.381
8 Jolbonopolis Rangers 84 21 63 268 443 −175 0.250
The camera heads sometime into the 70th-game mark, where the rookie batsman, Kieran Horsham, a silent treatment in the match against Songak Expos. The bald first-baseman, who is at 23 much better defensively and by contact than his power, has a lucky one that goes over the right fence into the water. He enters the dugout and double-taps the first three he sees back there. He gets nothing, but then would be met by starters Kim Gi-Joong and Devon Ackie from behind as they blast the coke bottle on his face. His teammates would join into the celebration as they tap him on shoulder and head.
The next scene sees pitcher Baek Nam-Soo, third baseman Kamila Estrada and batting coach Noel Gustavsson smoking a cigarette back in the old locker room of Mudeung Field, right as Heo joins in. This section of the locker room is little bit thick on air with smoke fume when Heo enters. He gives all five a tug and embrace, though does not join the smoking - he was never really a smoker. 'Ain't nobody here talkin' about whether Heo Myeong-Shin's gonna retire, or coming back next here,' Myeong-Shin gives a light smile, having changed from his jersey into a black, three-piece suit. 'Let's win and think about it.'
---
The camera now shifts into the aerial shot of the Universite du Saguenay campus. It is, for most part, a mix of architectural styles with the traditional-styled pillars carved into stone-clad, mostly gothic buildings, and the campus that has carefully-placed lawns. The camera quickly goes around the Pierre J. Belmondo Field, named after a famous alumnus who had made his name known in the semi-professional days of 1940s and 1950s, before going straight into the Stade Schwartz.
Then-head coach of the Fighting Irish football team, Baek Sang-Joon, walks out of the tunnel after tapping the famous 'Play Like A Champion' sign. He, who would go onto coach the Fighting Irish for just over fifteen years, has fond memories of Myeong-Shin and Broncos' quarterback, Ian Lautner.
'Saguenay football program's profile as a national program is a renowned one, one that is built upon early success, but one that would be backed up by innovation and being ahead of the curve,' answers Baek, as historic clips of the 1930s-1950s and 1970s-1980s championship-winning squads. 'It was one that would come in waves, yes, and it's not always been successful like last twenty-thirty years. But even in the struggling years, the program's allure as a nationwide program, that meaning its independent status (note that its affiliation with the B1G conference, mostly of Anglophone schools in the middle-half of the region, is a semi-binding one requiring six games a year, not eight or nine), playing far and in all corners of the country, and its breakthrough status in Songgyeong or Joongyeong, was never in doubt.'
It would be slowly followed by the era of resurgence in the 2010s and the 2020s, before closing with the montage of Sir. Dexter Ahn, three-time Hector Kweon winner who would throw a 27-yard overtime winner in the Tiger Bowl final at his junior year. 'But there was a bit of that question over the program's identity, the character issues we held for one another and whatnot, that was being put into question by the 2030s.' He would add, before the scene where he is appointed Head Coach. 'It was a great program, the students would do well in classes, but yes, there were some issues I clearly remember then.' It would be followed by a series of charges that would occur periodically for the program, most notably with three multi-game suspensions by edge rusher Vontaze Ahn, and a half-season suspension for Simon Gacek for what people outside would know to be drug abuse issues.
'We will start the program from clean slate, we will compete clean, and we will win it clean. And I am ready for the Irish nation, and the Northeast, to join with me,' says Baek at the start of press conference, as he shakes hands with then-athletic director Sir. Robert Ahern Pelaez.
'Myeong-Shin was the best prospect in the country for 2038 class, who wanted to play both baseball and football, and we all knew how close he was with Ian (Lautner), who was the best prospect for the one after,' he says. 'But there were some doubts as to whether we could net either, because the Erskine pipeline to Queen's College on one hand, and the Pater-Dei pipeline to USM.'
The camera would then shift to Myeong-Shin, who is now sitting at the Stade Commonwealth. Annually Saguenay plays the Golden Bell Showdown with Queen's College in Songak, where the crowds usually split even - Queen's College is only an hour away by drive, but traditionally Saguenay has had strong representation, both athletically and in fanbase here. 'Did I watch the Golden Bell every year? Absolutely, me and my family all donned the tricolour, sung the chants and all that,' Myeong-Shin answers, before lifting a picture of the family of four standing in front of the stands when him and Myeong-Yoon were 12 and 10. 'And yes, at one point it did seem like all three of Theo, Ian and I were gonna be there.'
The interviewer asks Myeong-Shin what made Myeong-Shin and Ian ultimately change their mind, to which he takes a moment to think. 'Let's just say that being the only Myeong-Shin, at a school that wanted to usher in a new era, was a great promise, and the team had a clear vision,' he answers. 'And it also involved the two ends to face off, not as friends laughing on the court, but actually squaring off against one another. I am not a Christian myself, don't get me wrong, but if there's really a god's plan, it would have been for me to go to Saguenay.'
Narrator: In what would be the greatest recruiting scoop of the century, Myeong-Shin would come to Saguenay campus on the summer semester of 2038, where he would find himself entering a huge culture shock away from warmer flatlands of Mahan.
Myeong-Shin recalls the first months of the school without the fairytale-like notion. 'Oh it was bad. It's northeastern cold, it's hilly at around 1000m high, and you knew there were a lot of rules and codes to follow,' says he, now joined by his wife Naomi, in Kingston. 'Coming from a traditional, Buddhist family with my dad and grandma devout practitioners, I was in some ways used to this...atmosphere, but this peculiar environment felt differently than at home.'
'It was a difficult moment for him,' nods Naomi, a straw-haired volleyball coach one year older wearing the RQVF tracksuit. 'I remember being on the phone with him every day, that was his freshman year, and having to talk through things out with him. Everybody knew about those early struggles - there were lots going on for him, after losing Maureen earlier in the year and having to handle what's really the weight of the world. One year he was the submarine sensation, the next he is that, top safety-turned linebacker prospect, vying to play against the USMs, the St-GRs, the Queen's's.'
The very next scene would go into the alternating highlights of Myeong-Shin's tenure as the Fighting Irish, mostly in the manners similar to the relatively short, one-minute-esque montages of his time with high school baseball earlier. Multiple sacks and interceptions would be followed, with the sound of Here Comes the Irish (anthem) played alongside the commentators talking about his versatility as a hybrid linebacker, intelligence reading the plays and the passion that would alternate with celebrations.
Narrator: In four seasons with the Fighting Irish, Heo Myeong-Shin would be remembered as one of the best players in the QIS football history, recording 40 sacks and 28 interceptions in his four years with the Fighting Irish. A three-time all-Quebecois, his crowning achievement would be on his junior season when Myeong-Shin, off a 12-sack, 10-interception season as inside linebacker, would win the first Hector Kweon trophy in 32 years as a defensive player.
The camera would go back to the footage of 2041 Hector Kweon trophy ceremony, also happens to be situated at the Adelphi Hotel in Songak. The ceremony itself is straightforward with Heo, who is wearing the similarly-styled three-piece suit with a green and gold tie, shakes the hands of that year's presenter, none other than Dexter Ahn himself. They whisper few words while on handshake, before he goes to the podium.
While the camera looks at others, including his family and friends, and then the coaching staff, quick narration continues on the background. This happens to be from Melanie Gissing, the local reporter who had covered Irish football for years. 'There aren't that many achievements greater than winning a Hec as a defensive player, on the same year you win a Tiger Bowl with your best friend. As a junior, you would think of heading into the QFL, the earlier the better. So when things didn't go that way, then what is next?'
Now we head back into the end of the speech, where he is set to announce that he's going to return for his senior season. 'I am proud to announce that I will be returning to South Bend for my senior season in football and baseball,' he says, with the round of applause to follow.
Part 13 - Dodgers: All-Star Weekend and Gaels' Days
Narrator: In the meanwhile, Montevicio Dodgers were still in middle of the playoff chase. They have had a slightly more difficult stretch heading into the all-star break, with multiple winning streaks alternated by back-breaking losses in a row. They now trail against Hanbat Eagles and Montreal Twins, and the mid-season surge by the Eagles, who themselves are led by the Maybin siblings on the cleanup, appears to have changed the narrative for the pennant race.
'Two games behind, that means pretty much nothing this early into the season,' confides Choe Bong-Hak. The veteran manager remains confident, having survived a mid-tournament crisis in the WBC 53 that would lead into one of the more dramatic turnarounds in national history, as well as three game five victories in the tournament after. 'The bats are slightly lacking, yes, and we should try to string together a couple of wins here and there, but else why worry?'
Choe's mid-season optimism is agreed upon by a relatively younger Dodgers' squad, who seem to be as motivated as they could be. The results have not exactly been following over the past month or so, as seen by a couple of clips of missed hits and home runs, but the motivation is still there.
'I mean, why wouldn't there be?' answers Eric Neeson-Gallagher, the veteran pitcher now at age thirty-two, as they head into the all-star break with 9-2 away win over Attawapiskat Wiz. Standing at 6'2 and his long arms contrasted with relatively light fame, Eric's had a solid career with the Dodgers, where he has recorded 108 wins at this point, and the national team as their mid-rotation starter. 'We were only two games behind, individually the right things were being done, and I think that we stood a very good chance against them.'
Then the camera moves into the Parc de Joongyeong, where there's first an aerial shot of the ancient ballpark in the night-time. Then this is followed by the scenes of Heo and Nam-Soo, and then Pinson entering the ballpark from separate team entrances (Royal League at home, Imperial League away).:
Right after that we would see the entrance of Maybin siblings, Kingston Blue Jays' closer Benoit Everson and Joongyeong Bears' third baseman Noel Jackson enter:
This would be followed by montages of home run derby where Cecily Maybin, Samuel's younger, more powerful hitter, wins 32-28 over Yoandry Cespedes, the Jolbonopolis Rangers's first-baseman from Nueva Orinoquia, prevails, as well as scenes of players largely socialising with each other. It is a friendly environment, with the RL and IL guys hanging about, though there is that sense of rivalry that does exist - even more so in recent years with the duo off to separate leagues after both had plied their trade at the Royal League before their CBL-stint.
Among them, the cameras take a particular look at Noel Jackson. The Joongyeong Bears' third baseman, a tall, Afro-Quebecois with 6'2, 198 lb frame, is touted by many as the future legend in making, is an all-arounded third baseman considered to possess the home runs of Pinson, and fielding techniques of Heo, a suitable successor to both. He, who is seen earlier in the all-star week on nightclub trips, as well as dates with multiple A-listers, does carry a bit of smoke around him, but remains unfazed when asked about the comparisons:
'Growing up in Joongyeong, where I would watch the Her Majesty's Classic and the Golden Lion Invitational on the stands, T-A and Myeong-Shin were those who had really lived up to. Maybe not right away My family were from the northeast and we cheered for the Fighting Irish and also the Lions, so to hear such comparisons is an honour,' smiles Jackson, who enters the interview wearing a clean, tailored black suit without a tie.
'When I first came to the league, I had a lot of struggles adjusting to the league. The challenge was to adopt to the breaking balls because the level in which the pros master is at another level, so I would swing a lot. And I also had a lot of issues with footwork relative to my range, which caused issues early on.' he continues, 'I would ask both of them numerous times on how to adjust to the pitch and what to do with the Parc's infield, which as you guys know runs on a very specific mix of black soil and sand. Both times I have received strong advice on how to deal with it, and they said call whenever.'
The camera then quickly moves into another interview with Pinson, who is seen watching this specific interview at his Montevicio home sometime after the season. 'He said that?' asks Theo, who seems more delighted than not. 'He does have a bit of that edge in him, which I have always considered it a positive attribute. But you gotta remember to be careful - you would always want to think about who you are, not who you want to be, because else that's how you become a shell of somebody else.'
The timeline then shifts back, as Theo-Alexandre Pinson recollects his collegiate days for this episode. Unlike the previous episode the campus does not feature more than a snapshot or two, mostly replaced by the scene where he, with a couple of friends all wearing letterman jackets and their company (one had a partner, Pinson and the other ones did not) got out of two SUVs and enters on the ticket holder's line to the Borders' nightclub on campus district. Once inside, they find themselves heading into a packed Friday night out with the background music playing out loud.
'College? It was fun, let me tell you that,' answers Pinson, as he recollects his Queen's College days. 'For me I think I knew from very early on that I was gonna be a Golden Gael, mostly because I was...engrained into it. It's a small town school with history, one where my mum went. At one point it did seem like Myeong-Shin and I were gonna go there together, with our respective territories carved - he would be that Hector Kweon winner on one side, me the other winning Ralph Bendale - and Ian joined into that too.'
The interviewer makes sure to ask the question that has been asked many times since their high school days. 'Obviously Mr. Heo made a separate decision to go, one that you have said it did leave some impact for everybody, but especially you. How did you feel about it when he committed to l'Universite du Saguenay?'
Pinson takes a little bit of time to think, with some emotions remaining from his face, before answering. 'I won't deny that it hurt for a day or two,' he says, remembering. 'It did feel a bit strong on me at the time because both of us had wanted to play on the same program for years, and for him to play for the hated Fighting Irish, the team that we rooted against every year whenever those guys would play for the Golden Bell in Songak....It took a while for me to recover, because I didn't expect it at all. I mean I did understand why he made that decision, but it's something that did fuel our rivalry.'
It would be followed by the freshman year pictures for Pinson and his friends, many of whom would be on the baseball team or another athletics program. 'At Queen's College we played under late Isidore Hart. He, who was near the end of his 40-year tenure there as the coach, was an old-school coach who emphasised values and character, not only as athletes but also as students and human beings,' recalls Marjorie Joh, Pinson's teammate and housemate for two of the years. She is present on the earlier nightclub clip. 'He played baseball at Navy before a short career as officer, and he wanted his guys to be on alert, even when off to doing other things.'
Matilda, his mother, agrees with said assessment. 'I don't remember a lot of things about late coach Hart when I was in school those days, but the baseball team's had its share of good years, in part to some known names who would come to play professionally and also do well outside of it,' she says. 'Of course Theo had wanted to go to Queen's College all this time, but it wasn't going to happen with a good manager, and we were lucky that coach Hart was intending to stick around, as long as Theo and Myeong-Shin going to come.
'Only one did, but he decided to stay five more years anyway.'
Practice scenes follow on the open field on a sunny morning, with Hart looking at his players while walking with a long, instructional stick. He is mostly nodding on, while looking at the players, who consist largely of upperclassmen and some freshmen, Pinson being the latter. 'Theo was a good outfielder, slightly slow on feet, but had strong arm and had the ability to guess and pull the swings at right time,' Hart says on a voiceover sometime before his passing in 2055.
'The biggest challenge we had at the time were working on the consistency which, if you are a college student-athlete, you may have a hard time. Some days you could go for three home runs on a 1pm match after a severe hangover, but other times the residual effect just doesn't go away and then what? You may as well be a walking fan swinging wildly at a clear slider.'
Narrator: For Theo-Alexandre Pinson, the new environment at his dream school was what he exactly needed. Entering into an established program both in Mahan and nationally, Pinson saw great opportunities and never took it back.
'It was interesting to see how he would develop over time,' his teammate two years senior, a six-year QBO veteran Dave Ando, recalls. 'I remember being on the practice field morning after the usual Friday night's out at the Logement 21 on Downtown, around six in the morning. I came back the night before at two, but couldn't sleep more than three hours, so decided to go early for a batting practice,' he says.
'The rookie was already there swinging, saying that he couldn't go to sleep at all, so he just went to his res to shower, play Throwback Bowl College for an hour, and then came here at four-thirty!' He lifts his voice up. 'Who the hell does that? In the end I was better than him for two weeks.'
By the time Pinson reached at his sophomore year at Queen's College, he was one of the best players on the QIS baseball. And sooner than later, his opportunity would show up as the top-ranked Queen's College enters the field for the QIS College Series against Yoseo-Montevicio.
'I remember this being the first baseball game I remember to some degree,' says Jackson, now also wearing Joongyeong Bears' cap. 'It was a very hot, April afternoon that hit 35 or something like that, a rarity in Joongyeong of all cities, and everybody were feeling exhausted.
'There were a lot of pitching substitutions that day because both lineups got heated right into the first inning - I think two teams combined to hit for 12 runs? - and combined with how rigorous the postseason can get sometimes, it was a firewagon of the College Series final that nobody expected at the Parc of all places. And yet, somehow Pinson's three home runs were the only ones to really go over the wall, and man, how can you forget about that? Who hits six hits, three of them being home runs, and two that would travel outside the park?'
The episode closes with the Queen's College, after a quick groundout where the second baseman safely one-bounds the ball, before sends it to the first for a comfortable groundout. The whole team comes out to celebrate, Pinson being one of three rushing out from the outfield. He, to no surprise, is named the College Series MVP, right as the same commentator finishes:
[quote]
Narrator: In the meanwhile, Montevicio Dodgers were still in middle of the playoff chase. They have had a slightly more difficult stretch heading into the all-star break, with multiple winning streaks alternated by back-breaking losses in a row. They now trail against Hanbat Eagles and Montreal Twins, and the mid-season surge by the Eagles, who themselves are led by the Maybin siblings on the cleanup, appears to have changed the narrative for the pennant race.
'Two games behind, that means pretty much nothing this early into the season,' confides Choe Bong-Hak. The veteran manager remains confident, having survived a mid-tournament crisis in the WBC 53 that would lead into one of the more dramatic turnarounds in national history, as well as three game five victories in the tournament after. 'The bats are slightly lacking, yes, and we should try to string together a couple of wins here and there, but else why worry?'
Choe's mid-season optimism is agreed upon by a relatively younger Dodgers' squad, who seem to be as motivated as they could be. The results have not exactly been following over the past month or so, as seen by a couple of clips of missed hits and home runs, but the motivation is still there.
'I mean, why wouldn't there be?' answers Eric Neeson-Gallagher, the veteran pitcher now at age thirty-two, as they head into the all-star break with 9-2 away win over Attawapiskat Wiz. Standing at 6'2 and his long arms contrasted with relatively light fame, Eric's had a solid career with the Dodgers, where he has recorded 108 wins at this point, and the national team as their mid-rotation starter. 'We were only two games behind, individually the right things were being done, and I think that we stood a very good chance against them.'
Then the camera moves into the Parc de Joongyeong, where there's first an aerial shot of the ancient ballpark in the night-time. Then this is followed by the scenes of Heo and Nam-Soo, and then Pinson entering the ballpark from separate team entrances (Royal League at home, Imperial League away).:
'If either, or both, of the famous Heo-Pinson duo makes their final all-star game, there is no place better than the Parc, the true home of baseball in Quebec and Shingoryeo as we speak. Neither Heo nor Pinson have made their thoughts clear about their professional future, Pinson even more so considering that his three-year contract with the Montevicio Dodgers will be expiring at the end of the 2057 season....'
Right after that we would see the entrance of Maybin siblings, Kingston Blue Jays' closer Benoit Everson and Joongyeong Bears' third baseman Noel Jackson enter:
'If true, this would be the fitting moment for the baton switch, with many of the league's young stars, who have watched many of those legends growing up, take the field. Among them, the leading examples are the Dodgers' Nahuel Fornacieri, Blue Jays' Benoit Everson and the Bears' Glenn Jackson. Jackson, in particular, is considered to be the Grim Reapers' cleanup hitter for the future, the tpe fitting to succeed the number-ten high on the rafters.'
This would be followed by montages of home run derby where Cecily Maybin, Samuel's younger, more powerful hitter, wins 32-28 over Yoandry Cespedes, the Jolbonopolis Rangers's first-baseman from Nueva Orinoquia, prevails, as well as scenes of players largely socialising with each other. It is a friendly environment, with the RL and IL guys hanging about, though there is that sense of rivalry that does exist - even more so in recent years with the duo off to separate leagues after both had plied their trade at the Royal League before their CBL-stint.
Among them, the cameras take a particular look at Noel Jackson. The Joongyeong Bears' third baseman, a tall, Afro-Quebecois with 6'2, 198 lb frame, is touted by many as the future legend in making, is an all-arounded third baseman considered to possess the home runs of Pinson, and fielding techniques of Heo, a suitable successor to both. He, who is seen earlier in the all-star week on nightclub trips, as well as dates with multiple A-listers, does carry a bit of smoke around him, but remains unfazed when asked about the comparisons:
'Growing up in Joongyeong, where I would watch the Her Majesty's Classic and the Golden Lion Invitational on the stands, T-A and Myeong-Shin were those who had really lived up to. Maybe not right away My family were from the northeast and we cheered for the Fighting Irish and also the Lions, so to hear such comparisons is an honour,' smiles Jackson, who enters the interview wearing a clean, tailored black suit without a tie.
'When I first came to the league, I had a lot of struggles adjusting to the league. The challenge was to adopt to the breaking balls because the level in which the pros master is at another level, so I would swing a lot. And I also had a lot of issues with footwork relative to my range, which caused issues early on.' he continues, 'I would ask both of them numerous times on how to adjust to the pitch and what to do with the Parc's infield, which as you guys know runs on a very specific mix of black soil and sand. Both times I have received strong advice on how to deal with it, and they said call whenever.'
The camera then quickly moves into another interview with Pinson, who is seen watching this specific interview at his Montevicio home sometime after the season. 'He said that?' asks Theo, who seems more delighted than not. 'He does have a bit of that edge in him, which I have always considered it a positive attribute. But you gotta remember to be careful - you would always want to think about who you are, not who you want to be, because else that's how you become a shell of somebody else.'
The timeline then shifts back, as Theo-Alexandre Pinson recollects his collegiate days for this episode. Unlike the previous episode the campus does not feature more than a snapshot or two, mostly replaced by the scene where he, with a couple of friends all wearing letterman jackets and their company (one had a partner, Pinson and the other ones did not) got out of two SUVs and enters on the ticket holder's line to the Borders' nightclub on campus district. Once inside, they find themselves heading into a packed Friday night out with the background music playing out loud.
'College? It was fun, let me tell you that,' answers Pinson, as he recollects his Queen's College days. 'For me I think I knew from very early on that I was gonna be a Golden Gael, mostly because I was...engrained into it. It's a small town school with history, one where my mum went. At one point it did seem like Myeong-Shin and I were gonna go there together, with our respective territories carved - he would be that Hector Kweon winner on one side, me the other winning Ralph Bendale - and Ian joined into that too.'
The interviewer makes sure to ask the question that has been asked many times since their high school days. 'Obviously Mr. Heo made a separate decision to go, one that you have said it did leave some impact for everybody, but especially you. How did you feel about it when he committed to l'Universite du Saguenay?'
Pinson takes a little bit of time to think, with some emotions remaining from his face, before answering. 'I won't deny that it hurt for a day or two,' he says, remembering. 'It did feel a bit strong on me at the time because both of us had wanted to play on the same program for years, and for him to play for the hated Fighting Irish, the team that we rooted against every year whenever those guys would play for the Golden Bell in Songak....It took a while for me to recover, because I didn't expect it at all. I mean I did understand why he made that decision, but it's something that did fuel our rivalry.'
It would be followed by the freshman year pictures for Pinson and his friends, many of whom would be on the baseball team or another athletics program. 'At Queen's College we played under late Isidore Hart. He, who was near the end of his 40-year tenure there as the coach, was an old-school coach who emphasised values and character, not only as athletes but also as students and human beings,' recalls Marjorie Joh, Pinson's teammate and housemate for two of the years. She is present on the earlier nightclub clip. 'He played baseball at Navy before a short career as officer, and he wanted his guys to be on alert, even when off to doing other things.'
Matilda, his mother, agrees with said assessment. 'I don't remember a lot of things about late coach Hart when I was in school those days, but the baseball team's had its share of good years, in part to some known names who would come to play professionally and also do well outside of it,' she says. 'Of course Theo had wanted to go to Queen's College all this time, but it wasn't going to happen with a good manager, and we were lucky that coach Hart was intending to stick around, as long as Theo and Myeong-Shin going to come.
'Only one did, but he decided to stay five more years anyway.'
Practice scenes follow on the open field on a sunny morning, with Hart looking at his players while walking with a long, instructional stick. He is mostly nodding on, while looking at the players, who consist largely of upperclassmen and some freshmen, Pinson being the latter. 'Theo was a good outfielder, slightly slow on feet, but had strong arm and had the ability to guess and pull the swings at right time,' Hart says on a voiceover sometime before his passing in 2055.
'The biggest challenge we had at the time were working on the consistency which, if you are a college student-athlete, you may have a hard time. Some days you could go for three home runs on a 1pm match after a severe hangover, but other times the residual effect just doesn't go away and then what? You may as well be a walking fan swinging wildly at a clear slider.'
Narrator: For Theo-Alexandre Pinson, the new environment at his dream school was what he exactly needed. Entering into an established program both in Mahan and nationally, Pinson saw great opportunities and never took it back.
'It was interesting to see how he would develop over time,' his teammate two years senior, a six-year QBO veteran Dave Ando, recalls. 'I remember being on the practice field morning after the usual Friday night's out at the Logement 21 on Downtown, around six in the morning. I came back the night before at two, but couldn't sleep more than three hours, so decided to go early for a batting practice,' he says.
'The rookie was already there swinging, saying that he couldn't go to sleep at all, so he just went to his res to shower, play Throwback Bowl College for an hour, and then came here at four-thirty!' He lifts his voice up. 'Who the hell does that? In the end I was better than him for two weeks.'
By the time Pinson reached at his sophomore year at Queen's College, he was one of the best players on the QIS baseball. And sooner than later, his opportunity would show up as the top-ranked Queen's College enters the field for the QIS College Series against Yoseo-Montevicio.
'I remember this being the first baseball game I remember to some degree,' says Jackson, now also wearing Joongyeong Bears' cap. 'It was a very hot, April afternoon that hit 35 or something like that, a rarity in Joongyeong of all cities, and everybody were feeling exhausted.
'There were a lot of pitching substitutions that day because both lineups got heated right into the first inning - I think two teams combined to hit for 12 runs? - and combined with how rigorous the postseason can get sometimes, it was a firewagon of the College Series final that nobody expected at the Parc of all places. And yet, somehow Pinson's three home runs were the only ones to really go over the wall, and man, how can you forget about that? Who hits six hits, three of them being home runs, and two that would travel outside the park?'
The episode closes with the Queen's College, after a quick groundout where the second baseman safely one-bounds the ball, before sends it to the first for a comfortable groundout. The whole team comes out to celebrate, Pinson being one of three rushing out from the outfield. He, to no surprise, is named the College Series MVP, right as the same commentator finishes:
[quote]
'Ball rolls to Haskins, who then passes it to Ando! Done! Ladies and gentlemen, 52 year wait is over as Queen's College is crowned the 2040 QIS College Series champion! Fourteen-twelve is the score.
Now, what a day for Isidore Hart, who has waited for this day to come, and when the Hall of Fame comes calling, we will be remembering him for not only is longevity, but with this title run as his crowning achievement. As for our MVP, ladies and gentlemen, the future is now for Theo-Alexandre Pinson, as the outfielder homers thrice, twice past the park, on what's truly a historic moment.
Now, what a day for Isidore Hart, who has waited for this day to come, and when the Hall of Fame comes calling, we will be remembering him for not only is longevity, but with this title run as his crowning achievement. As for our MVP, ladies and gentlemen, the future is now for Theo-Alexandre Pinson, as the outfielder homers thrice, twice past the park, on what's truly a historic moment.
Part 14 - All-Star, and the Draft
Narrator: The All-Star game is a rare achievement, a special honour, for those playing baseball in Quebec and Shingoryeo. There are many other honours as great as this, such as winning the Quebec Series, but to be recognised in front of the fans for a weeklong festival, in itself a celebration of baseball, is a special feeling for the players themselves.
Camera takes an aerial view of the Parc, before heading to the dugout level where today's starting lineup, which features Heo and Pinson as respective Royal League and Imperial League captains, are standing while Alison Swann, the popular music icon of this early Taewha era, sings the national anthem. The players, majority of them having participated as member of Team Quebec on international tournaments, are familiar for many.
They are then followed by Keith Bankosky, the only Quebecois pitcher to have pitched for over 400 wins in this century at 401, who comes for the ceremonial pitch. 6'6 Bankosky, who starred with Montevicio Dodgers and South Tier Seagulls of Newmanistan, is a 6'6" tall pitcher whose blonde hair has mostly greyed out and trimmed. At age 48 and only just 5 years removed from his retirement, Bankosky still manages to pitch his trademark slider into Joh Hyeon-Myeong's mitts, with Kelsey Altherr swinging wildly at the pitch in an almost-comical manner.
Then the players would head into the pitch, where nine innings would be played out. The Tigers' Baek Nam-Soo and Nathan Francis, the emerging right-handed pitcher with a 7-3 record and 2.18 ERA for Saint John Blue Sox, are the starters for their respective all-star teams. For most part it is a back-and-forth affair, with plenty of actions to be exchanged, but the one people would really remember is three straight home runs hit by Cecily Maybin, Jesse Griffith, and Yves-Francois Agunbiade on the bottom of 6th to sell it all and all:
Then the camera shifts to the footages of the 2042 QBO Draft. In what is considered to be one of the most, if not the most highly-anticipated QBO draft, we see approximately fifty players and their families in the banquet floor of the famous Plaza Pomene Hotel in Joongyeong, approximately two kilometres away from the Parc itself.
'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The QBC Sport welcomes you to the 2042 QBO Entry Draft here at the Plaza Pomene in Joongyeong! We are ready to go, with the first stage of the draft ready to take place,' says the commentator on the background. The camera then takes a look at Theo, Myeong-Shin, Leslie McAllister and Kelsey Altherr, as the four players, who were well on the top of the invitation list for the first night of the QBO Entry Draft, are seated on their table with their families.
'To understand the nature of the QBO Entry Level draft, you have to think about the roots of Quebecois baseball,' says Joel Chifley, the chief baseball correspondent at Le Mazepa. 'For very long time, the country's baseball pyramid was one with missing steps between the ladders. High school and college baseball have always been wildly popular, and between those levels there was connectivity, but the semi-professional leagues did not always have that level of transition.'
The clips of the 1970s and 1980s QBO matches, including those of the famed 1979 Quebec Series, are shown in the background. 'So when the QBO was founded in the 1967, one of the earliest decisions made in the process was to have a first, territorial stage of the draft where the players from local region would be selected first by their teams. So the Mahan guys would stay southwest, Acadians out east, and whatnot. Many sports had similar rules to that in those days, dating back to times when the sports broadcasting and merchandising weren't nationwide in nature, and while most have done away with it since, baseball and volleyball continue to retain it as a part of their identity, so to put forth.'
Narrator: The 2042 QBO draft, consisting of Heo, Pinson, McAllister and Altherr, would feature the Fantastic Four of the class, who would then become a major part of the national team in the coming years. Of course, for all four to make it to the stage, great effort to be taken.
'The question everybody's had at that point was - what league is Heo going to next? Keep in mind, it's not the team but the league - we all knew that Myeong-Shin was a guaranteed first overall pick at that year's QFL draft, but the Tigers had made it clear that they had watched him since he was a middle-schooler.'
There were a lot of questions surrounding the eventual pathway for Myeong-Shin, who seemed to be quite undecided even after the end of his senior year, when Saguenay had once again walked off the Tiger Bowl champions. This time the Hector Kweon goes to Ian Lautner, whose first of back-to-back honours would match that of Sir. Dexter Ahn just fifteen years back. Pinson, who himself also had an outstanding baseball season with Queen's College, seems unfazed about it all when recalling back in time.
'I think I knew that when Myeong-Shin announced his return to Saguenay for his senior year, his mind had started to shift a bit further from football to baseball,' says Pinson, as him and Myeong-Shin are at the same room. It is a nice cafe, somewhere in Joongyeong after the season ended. 'I remember that the draft his junior year, the first overall pick were with the Saguenay Saints, and they needed a linebacker. Considering the location, it made sense for him to just buy a house in the Bend and wait for the announcement and whatnot. So for him to come back for his senior year, when you have reached the peak with a defensive Hec? I think that said enough about his love for the Tigers.'
Myeong-Shin agrees, though he tries to keep the discussion balanced and moderated whatnot. 'I graduated in three years, but did want to come back for my senior year especially since the school did grow on me,' says Myeong-Shin. 'It's never on the Saints themselves, because I did love the idea of playing at the Apple Bowl, eight home games a year, but I still wanted to leave a full legacy with lots of guys on line, and I never regretted that decision.
Narrator: At the end of his senior year, the biggest question continued to swirl around the two, especially as Myeong-Shin continued to stay away from declaring for the QFL Draft after the Tiger Bowl. Sooner than later, January would turn into February, and then March, and eventually came the deadline for the sides to make a decision.
'It came down to Oakwood (Siberias) and Jolbonopolis (Rangers), who had the top two picks that year,' Myeong-Shin recalls. 'It wasn't the matter of money or the opportunity to be the first overall pick in the league for me. Sure, you could say that I wanted to go to Argos (Kingston Argonauts) or Saints (Saguenay), but that mattered less than you would think because I wanted to see a blueprint!
'Neither of them had a particularly...stable organisation, with questionable practices and coaches who weren't the most receptive towards the players' needs and wants. This didn't mean that I was not going to do what it takes to get ready for the QFL - I ran all the drills at in-house combine fine in The Bend - but I wanted more of an assurance, something that no team was ready to give to a rookie, no matter how much I had achieved then. Four-time all-Quebecois selection, Hector Kweon trophy, three Tiger Bowls. Anything else they had wanted me to prove out on the field seemed to have meant nothing.'
Myeong-Shin then continues, 'And then on the other side, there were the Kingston Tigers, the hometown team that I had rooted for all this time. They didn't have the money or the promises of the QFL, sure, but there was the allure of going home, be with my fiancee, and play at the famed walls of Mudeung Field,' he says. 'So it did take me until the week of the deadline to put your name in and whatnot, but in the end I decided to say fuck it, I'm going home.'
'But you need to tell them about the penthouse you bought from the NIL bonus after your junior year man,' Pinson winks. 'What happened to it? The four-bedroom one you were originally gonna move into had you gone to the Saints the year before.'
'You lived a good half-dozen years there, that's right?' Myeong-Shin smiles back. 'So with that penthouse, I knew I was gonna go home and live with Naomi in downtown so somebody had to take care of it. So I called all the lads up - Ian didn't want to move out of his, Asher was still a St. Croix junior then and didn't want to go up north, he never liked that, and then-'
'I knew I had to find a place,' says Pinson, as two of them gives a high-five. 'Yeah, I lived there and a couple of hotels in Chicoutimi until the Brats came calling. I didn't want to live with my parents after I graduated, and when I came back they had retired and back to the southwest, so I still had to find a place.'
He continues. 'The new year's lease began in April, and I was just that sure about becoming a Saguenay Lion at that point. The Gee-em called me sometime after the college season ended, saying commiserations for going out in the semis, and told me to get ready. That's all that I needed to go home, because it was the best news I could have gotten really.'
First on the podium was Choe Bong-Hak, who was present back then as just-retired Saguenay Lions legend, having yet to start his managerial career. He enters the podium with not much derivative from usual, before making the announcement. 'Saguenay Lions select with their first stage pick, from Queen's College and Sangwon CVI, Theo-Alexandre Pinson, outfielder,' says Choe. Pinson enters the stage with a black, two-piece suit and a blue tie, almost as if he expects it, and shakes Choe's hands graciously.
'It is indeed ironic that fate would bring TA and I together over and over again, and in Dodgers of all place,' nods Choe, who brings his three championship rings as a Saguenay Lion. 'But yes, everyone knew the Lions were going to select him as a first-stager. The Lions have always had a reputation as a team with generational hitter or more, so picking him wasn't the question. It was just a matter of time - High school, college freshman, any of the years eligible we-I meant the Lions, were going to select him.'
Narrator: If Pinson were to open the first stage of the draft with a predictable bang, Heo's selection by the Kingston Tigers would come to mark the boom, as the Tigers' general manager, Rene A. Loznitsa, would come to the podium.
'It was a long wait, that's for sure,' Loznitsa comments on the press box of the Mudeung Field. The interior, for most part, is old - as is anything in this place that breathes history and in some sense, antiquity. 'We have watched Myeong-Shin since he was in grade 8 at the Songjeong Middle School. I remember going to his game and telling the gee-ehm, the late Chase Emmers, saying: this is our future shortstop, and have maintained a close look for eight years.'
'We knew he was a Tigers' fan all his life, and his father didn't send him far away for prep or anything since everybody knew the Erskine Collegiate brand. The winningest school in Quebecois ball with over thirty national titles, so kinda hard to beat. So I knew we stood great chance and waited,' he recalls, holding multiple pictures of Heo making appearances at the Tigers home games as ceremonial pitcher and later, ball boy, both under the Kingston Tigers Foundation. 'That level of faith we had in mind, even as he was having wonderful days at Saguenay, helped us with one of the greatest picks of all time.'
It would then be followed by Heo shaking hands with Loznitsa, after which Heo dons the Tigers uniform, marked number ten on his back with his name on Hangeul.
Narrator: The All-Star game is a rare achievement, a special honour, for those playing baseball in Quebec and Shingoryeo. There are many other honours as great as this, such as winning the Quebec Series, but to be recognised in front of the fans for a weeklong festival, in itself a celebration of baseball, is a special feeling for the players themselves.
Camera takes an aerial view of the Parc, before heading to the dugout level where today's starting lineup, which features Heo and Pinson as respective Royal League and Imperial League captains, are standing while Alison Swann, the popular music icon of this early Taewha era, sings the national anthem. The players, majority of them having participated as member of Team Quebec on international tournaments, are familiar for many.
They are then followed by Keith Bankosky, the only Quebecois pitcher to have pitched for over 400 wins in this century at 401, who comes for the ceremonial pitch. 6'6 Bankosky, who starred with Montevicio Dodgers and South Tier Seagulls of Newmanistan, is a 6'6" tall pitcher whose blonde hair has mostly greyed out and trimmed. At age 48 and only just 5 years removed from his retirement, Bankosky still manages to pitch his trademark slider into Joh Hyeon-Myeong's mitts, with Kelsey Altherr swinging wildly at the pitch in an almost-comical manner.
Then the players would head into the pitch, where nine innings would be played out. The Tigers' Baek Nam-Soo and Nathan Francis, the emerging right-handed pitcher with a 7-3 record and 2.18 ERA for Saint John Blue Sox, are the starters for their respective all-star teams. For most part it is a back-and-forth affair, with plenty of actions to be exchanged, but the one people would really remember is three straight home runs hit by Cecily Maybin, Jesse Griffith, and Yves-Francois Agunbiade on the bottom of 6th to sell it all and all:
Royal League All-Stars 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
Imperial League All-Stars 0 0 2 0 1 4 0 0 X 7
Then the camera shifts to the footages of the 2042 QBO Draft. In what is considered to be one of the most, if not the most highly-anticipated QBO draft, we see approximately fifty players and their families in the banquet floor of the famous Plaza Pomene Hotel in Joongyeong, approximately two kilometres away from the Parc itself.
'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The QBC Sport welcomes you to the 2042 QBO Entry Draft here at the Plaza Pomene in Joongyeong! We are ready to go, with the first stage of the draft ready to take place,' says the commentator on the background. The camera then takes a look at Theo, Myeong-Shin, Leslie McAllister and Kelsey Altherr, as the four players, who were well on the top of the invitation list for the first night of the QBO Entry Draft, are seated on their table with their families.
'To understand the nature of the QBO Entry Level draft, you have to think about the roots of Quebecois baseball,' says Joel Chifley, the chief baseball correspondent at Le Mazepa. 'For very long time, the country's baseball pyramid was one with missing steps between the ladders. High school and college baseball have always been wildly popular, and between those levels there was connectivity, but the semi-professional leagues did not always have that level of transition.'
The clips of the 1970s and 1980s QBO matches, including those of the famed 1979 Quebec Series, are shown in the background. 'So when the QBO was founded in the 1967, one of the earliest decisions made in the process was to have a first, territorial stage of the draft where the players from local region would be selected first by their teams. So the Mahan guys would stay southwest, Acadians out east, and whatnot. Many sports had similar rules to that in those days, dating back to times when the sports broadcasting and merchandising weren't nationwide in nature, and while most have done away with it since, baseball and volleyball continue to retain it as a part of their identity, so to put forth.'
Narrator: The 2042 QBO draft, consisting of Heo, Pinson, McAllister and Altherr, would feature the Fantastic Four of the class, who would then become a major part of the national team in the coming years. Of course, for all four to make it to the stage, great effort to be taken.
'The question everybody's had at that point was - what league is Heo going to next? Keep in mind, it's not the team but the league - we all knew that Myeong-Shin was a guaranteed first overall pick at that year's QFL draft, but the Tigers had made it clear that they had watched him since he was a middle-schooler.'
There were a lot of questions surrounding the eventual pathway for Myeong-Shin, who seemed to be quite undecided even after the end of his senior year, when Saguenay had once again walked off the Tiger Bowl champions. This time the Hector Kweon goes to Ian Lautner, whose first of back-to-back honours would match that of Sir. Dexter Ahn just fifteen years back. Pinson, who himself also had an outstanding baseball season with Queen's College, seems unfazed about it all when recalling back in time.
'I think I knew that when Myeong-Shin announced his return to Saguenay for his senior year, his mind had started to shift a bit further from football to baseball,' says Pinson, as him and Myeong-Shin are at the same room. It is a nice cafe, somewhere in Joongyeong after the season ended. 'I remember that the draft his junior year, the first overall pick were with the Saguenay Saints, and they needed a linebacker. Considering the location, it made sense for him to just buy a house in the Bend and wait for the announcement and whatnot. So for him to come back for his senior year, when you have reached the peak with a defensive Hec? I think that said enough about his love for the Tigers.'
Myeong-Shin agrees, though he tries to keep the discussion balanced and moderated whatnot. 'I graduated in three years, but did want to come back for my senior year especially since the school did grow on me,' says Myeong-Shin. 'It's never on the Saints themselves, because I did love the idea of playing at the Apple Bowl, eight home games a year, but I still wanted to leave a full legacy with lots of guys on line, and I never regretted that decision.
Narrator: At the end of his senior year, the biggest question continued to swirl around the two, especially as Myeong-Shin continued to stay away from declaring for the QFL Draft after the Tiger Bowl. Sooner than later, January would turn into February, and then March, and eventually came the deadline for the sides to make a decision.
'It came down to Oakwood (Siberias) and Jolbonopolis (Rangers), who had the top two picks that year,' Myeong-Shin recalls. 'It wasn't the matter of money or the opportunity to be the first overall pick in the league for me. Sure, you could say that I wanted to go to Argos (Kingston Argonauts) or Saints (Saguenay), but that mattered less than you would think because I wanted to see a blueprint!
'Neither of them had a particularly...stable organisation, with questionable practices and coaches who weren't the most receptive towards the players' needs and wants. This didn't mean that I was not going to do what it takes to get ready for the QFL - I ran all the drills at in-house combine fine in The Bend - but I wanted more of an assurance, something that no team was ready to give to a rookie, no matter how much I had achieved then. Four-time all-Quebecois selection, Hector Kweon trophy, three Tiger Bowls. Anything else they had wanted me to prove out on the field seemed to have meant nothing.'
Myeong-Shin then continues, 'And then on the other side, there were the Kingston Tigers, the hometown team that I had rooted for all this time. They didn't have the money or the promises of the QFL, sure, but there was the allure of going home, be with my fiancee, and play at the famed walls of Mudeung Field,' he says. 'So it did take me until the week of the deadline to put your name in and whatnot, but in the end I decided to say fuck it, I'm going home.'
'But you need to tell them about the penthouse you bought from the NIL bonus after your junior year man,' Pinson winks. 'What happened to it? The four-bedroom one you were originally gonna move into had you gone to the Saints the year before.'
'You lived a good half-dozen years there, that's right?' Myeong-Shin smiles back. 'So with that penthouse, I knew I was gonna go home and live with Naomi in downtown so somebody had to take care of it. So I called all the lads up - Ian didn't want to move out of his, Asher was still a St. Croix junior then and didn't want to go up north, he never liked that, and then-'
'I knew I had to find a place,' says Pinson, as two of them gives a high-five. 'Yeah, I lived there and a couple of hotels in Chicoutimi until the Brats came calling. I didn't want to live with my parents after I graduated, and when I came back they had retired and back to the southwest, so I still had to find a place.'
He continues. 'The new year's lease began in April, and I was just that sure about becoming a Saguenay Lion at that point. The Gee-em called me sometime after the college season ended, saying commiserations for going out in the semis, and told me to get ready. That's all that I needed to go home, because it was the best news I could have gotten really.'
First on the podium was Choe Bong-Hak, who was present back then as just-retired Saguenay Lions legend, having yet to start his managerial career. He enters the podium with not much derivative from usual, before making the announcement. 'Saguenay Lions select with their first stage pick, from Queen's College and Sangwon CVI, Theo-Alexandre Pinson, outfielder,' says Choe. Pinson enters the stage with a black, two-piece suit and a blue tie, almost as if he expects it, and shakes Choe's hands graciously.
'It is indeed ironic that fate would bring TA and I together over and over again, and in Dodgers of all place,' nods Choe, who brings his three championship rings as a Saguenay Lion. 'But yes, everyone knew the Lions were going to select him as a first-stager. The Lions have always had a reputation as a team with generational hitter or more, so picking him wasn't the question. It was just a matter of time - High school, college freshman, any of the years eligible we-I meant the Lions, were going to select him.'
Narrator: If Pinson were to open the first stage of the draft with a predictable bang, Heo's selection by the Kingston Tigers would come to mark the boom, as the Tigers' general manager, Rene A. Loznitsa, would come to the podium.
'It was a long wait, that's for sure,' Loznitsa comments on the press box of the Mudeung Field. The interior, for most part, is old - as is anything in this place that breathes history and in some sense, antiquity. 'We have watched Myeong-Shin since he was in grade 8 at the Songjeong Middle School. I remember going to his game and telling the gee-ehm, the late Chase Emmers, saying: this is our future shortstop, and have maintained a close look for eight years.'
'We knew he was a Tigers' fan all his life, and his father didn't send him far away for prep or anything since everybody knew the Erskine Collegiate brand. The winningest school in Quebecois ball with over thirty national titles, so kinda hard to beat. So I knew we stood great chance and waited,' he recalls, holding multiple pictures of Heo making appearances at the Tigers home games as ceremonial pitcher and later, ball boy, both under the Kingston Tigers Foundation. 'That level of faith we had in mind, even as he was having wonderful days at Saguenay, helped us with one of the greatest picks of all time.'
It would then be followed by Heo shaking hands with Loznitsa, after which Heo dons the Tigers uniform, marked number ten on his back with his name on Hangeul.
