From the Hot Stove…
Now, I’m not 100% sure but it seems I promised that I wouldn’t post anything more about baseball until the new season. However, that was before I discovered the Korean comics of Choi Hoon. From what little I can gather, Mr. Hoon has been creating baseball comics that satirizes the teams and players of the MLB since 2004. And since they’re all in Korean, I think I can safely assume they weren’t attended for an American audience. Even so, there must have been a big enough buzz about the strip to warrant a translation of several of the strips in the The New York Times in 2005.
I’ve discussed baseball comics on the blog before. My favorite, the White Sox cartoon An Illustrated History of the Sagacious, chronicled (quite wittingly, I might add) the entire 2008 season. Stylistic, Sagacious is black and white with illustrations that resemble political cartoons. Hoon’s strip is in vibrant color and feels like it belongs on the Sunday funnies. Still, since the entire strip is in Korean, it leaves a lot to the imagination. However, I find them a treat to the eye.
Through the past years, Hoon has taken on the White Sox on more than on occasion. Here is one from 2005 that seems to depict Ozzie Guillen going through the bullpen (check out #45 Big Bobby Jenks) to strike out a batter. The last frame shows the rest of the Sox pitchers frustrated and quarreling. Of course, 2005 was the year the Sox won the World Series, and the start of the silly phrase “Grinder Ball” (For official Grinder Ball rules, click here). So, instead of fighting, I suppose they could just be grinding it out. Either way, enjoy:
BTW, the title of this post references the term Hot Stove League, which itself refers to the baseball off-season.