Unremarkable Superstar has his day
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Korea once had a legendary baseball team.
In 1982, Korea's professional baseball league was founded at the behest of President Chun Doo-hwan who wanted to divert the public's attention away from politics.
Most of the teams had several superstars. But one team, the "Sammi Superstars", was misnamed, for it didn't have a single one - not even a mid-level star.
The team did its best, but was destined to struggle. In the '82 season it won 15 games and lost 65, monopolizing the bottom spot in the rankings. It garnered three much-despised titles: lowest total score, fewest home runs, and fewest stolen bases. It established a milestone with a 16-game losing streak.
"Mr. Gam's Victory", opening this Friday, is based on the true story of Gam Sa-yong, who retired in 1987 after serving as a relief pitcher for the Superstars and is now working as a manager at a retail outlet.
"Mr. Gam's Victory"
His chief mission was to wrap up games when there was no chance for a win or upset, helping other "important" pitchers rest up for the next game. The result: the statistics for Gam's entire pro baseball career include just one win and 15 losses.
So, is the film is about the loser of all losers? Not exactly. Although director Kim Jong-hyun focuses on the superstar-less Superstars and the team's obscure quasi-relief pitcher, the story never turns to pathetic whining and hopelessness.
Instead, the movie portrays the extraordinary efforts of an ordinary man on the tough battleground of pro baseball players. The assumption is that the public is drawn to the shining achievements of heroes, while disregarding those who are sidelined or achieve less impressive records.
When we first meet Gam (Lee Beom-soo) he is a hard-working employee at a steelmaker. It's the early '80s; his mother sells dried fish in the market and his older brother is a troublemaker. Gam's penchant for baseball as an amateur player pays off when he tries out for a position with the Superstars as Korean teams prepare for their first pro season.
It doesn't take long for Gam to discover why he has been recruited. He rarely gets an opportunity to throw a ball from the pitcher's mound, even though he religiously hones his skills during practice.
He gets a chance to pitch only when the team has no hope whatsoever of turning a loss into a win. Disheartened, he confronts the manager and asks him why he has to do the dirty work. "In fact, I didn't recruit you because we needed another starter", the manager says.
Interestingly, Gam does not lose his temper at this saddening moment. He just turns and disappears into the dim hallway. It might be more realistic if he screamed and yelled or cursed about his sorry state. But Gam does not reveal his innermost feelings.
When he tells his mother about his first pitching stint, he again suppresses his emotions. He tells her how great the game was and exaggerates his bravery as a relief pitcher, trying hard to hide his shameful role and crushed self-respect. His mother continues to tend the dried fish store, not saying a word, and the scene conveys a sense of sadness.
Without doubt, it is sad to be a loser. Low self-esteem doesn't make things better. But like a plague, a searing sense of inferiority and defeatism never recedes when you are sitting ugly at the low end of performance scale.
After all, society - and history - are only likely to remember victors, or what could be called "first-class" heroes. Nobody cares about the second-class or third-rate actors after a drama is over.
With a few moments of melodrama here and there, the movie charges ahead toward the highlight: a game which truly tests Gam's potential. It's a contest against the OB Bears, the then invincible No. 1 team led by truly legendary pitcher Park Chul-soon.
Park is poised to set a record of 20 straight wins if he chalks up the easy victory against the Superstars, and none of the Superstars' starters want to take the mound against Park for what appears to be a sure loss. Gam gets the job.
The director devotes a big chunk of the film to describing this most important game from Gam's perspective. And something incredible happens: batters for the Bears, who are accustomed to fastballs, fail to hit Gam's slower pitches.
Initially, the fans root for the OB Bears, expecting to see Park set a record. But when the perpetual losers manage to score the first run, the mood changes in the stands as well as in the theater, where movie-goers are transformed to Superstars fans for the suspenseful and exciting remainder of the movie.
Are the computer graphics a bit crude? Is the movie too melodramatic?
In fact, there is no time to think about cinematic artistry because the game itself is so interesting, bringing back all the memories associated with the country's first professional sports. That's especially true for audience members in their 30s and 40s who avidly watched the 1982 season and admired its heroes in their childhood and youth.
The overall quality of the movie is far from perfect if an artistic yardstick is strictly applied. But the story shows its virtue by shunning a typical tear-jerking happy ending or Rocky-type heroism. Instead, it demonstrates how hard it is for a pitcher to win a single game. It portrays Gam as someone who does all he can to achieve his dream in an honest and humane way.
Over the past two decades, 758 pro baseball pitchers have spent their prime years on the mounds in Korea and retired. Out of that group, the number of pitchers with more than 10 wins is just 126. Those with at least one victorybut total 431. That means the remaining 327 pitchers never won a single game during their whole pro baseball career.
People tend to take victory for granted. But Gam and numerous other Korean pro pitchers know how difficult and how meaningful it is to achieve that first win. They may be classified as second or third-rate pitchers, and may be unrecognized by the public, but this well-made B-rated movie vividly demonstrates that they, too, create legends of their own.
By Yang Sung-jin
In 1982, Korea's professional baseball league was founded at the behest of President Chun Doo-hwan who wanted to divert the public's attention away from politics.
Most of the teams had several superstars. But one team, the "Sammi Superstars", was misnamed, for it didn't have a single one - not even a mid-level star.
The team did its best, but was destined to struggle. In the '82 season it won 15 games and lost 65, monopolizing the bottom spot in the rankings. It garnered three much-despised titles: lowest total score, fewest home runs, and fewest stolen bases. It established a milestone with a 16-game losing streak.
"Mr. Gam's Victory", opening this Friday, is based on the true story of Gam Sa-yong, who retired in 1987 after serving as a relief pitcher for the Superstars and is now working as a manager at a retail outlet.
"Mr. Gam's Victory"
His chief mission was to wrap up games when there was no chance for a win or upset, helping other "important" pitchers rest up for the next game. The result: the statistics for Gam's entire pro baseball career include just one win and 15 losses.
So, is the film is about the loser of all losers? Not exactly. Although director Kim Jong-hyun focuses on the superstar-less Superstars and the team's obscure quasi-relief pitcher, the story never turns to pathetic whining and hopelessness.
Instead, the movie portrays the extraordinary efforts of an ordinary man on the tough battleground of pro baseball players. The assumption is that the public is drawn to the shining achievements of heroes, while disregarding those who are sidelined or achieve less impressive records.
When we first meet Gam (Lee Beom-soo) he is a hard-working employee at a steelmaker. It's the early '80s; his mother sells dried fish in the market and his older brother is a troublemaker. Gam's penchant for baseball as an amateur player pays off when he tries out for a position with the Superstars as Korean teams prepare for their first pro season.
It doesn't take long for Gam to discover why he has been recruited. He rarely gets an opportunity to throw a ball from the pitcher's mound, even though he religiously hones his skills during practice.
He gets a chance to pitch only when the team has no hope whatsoever of turning a loss into a win. Disheartened, he confronts the manager and asks him why he has to do the dirty work. "In fact, I didn't recruit you because we needed another starter", the manager says.
Interestingly, Gam does not lose his temper at this saddening moment. He just turns and disappears into the dim hallway. It might be more realistic if he screamed and yelled or cursed about his sorry state. But Gam does not reveal his innermost feelings.
When he tells his mother about his first pitching stint, he again suppresses his emotions. He tells her how great the game was and exaggerates his bravery as a relief pitcher, trying hard to hide his shameful role and crushed self-respect. His mother continues to tend the dried fish store, not saying a word, and the scene conveys a sense of sadness.
Without doubt, it is sad to be a loser. Low self-esteem doesn't make things better. But like a plague, a searing sense of inferiority and defeatism never recedes when you are sitting ugly at the low end of performance scale.
After all, society - and history - are only likely to remember victors, or what could be called "first-class" heroes. Nobody cares about the second-class or third-rate actors after a drama is over.
With a few moments of melodrama here and there, the movie charges ahead toward the highlight: a game which truly tests Gam's potential. It's a contest against the OB Bears, the then invincible No. 1 team led by truly legendary pitcher Park Chul-soon.
Park is poised to set a record of 20 straight wins if he chalks up the easy victory against the Superstars, and none of the Superstars' starters want to take the mound against Park for what appears to be a sure loss. Gam gets the job.
The director devotes a big chunk of the film to describing this most important game from Gam's perspective. And something incredible happens: batters for the Bears, who are accustomed to fastballs, fail to hit Gam's slower pitches.
Initially, the fans root for the OB Bears, expecting to see Park set a record. But when the perpetual losers manage to score the first run, the mood changes in the stands as well as in the theater, where movie-goers are transformed to Superstars fans for the suspenseful and exciting remainder of the movie.
Are the computer graphics a bit crude? Is the movie too melodramatic?
In fact, there is no time to think about cinematic artistry because the game itself is so interesting, bringing back all the memories associated with the country's first professional sports. That's especially true for audience members in their 30s and 40s who avidly watched the 1982 season and admired its heroes in their childhood and youth.
The overall quality of the movie is far from perfect if an artistic yardstick is strictly applied. But the story shows its virtue by shunning a typical tear-jerking happy ending or Rocky-type heroism. Instead, it demonstrates how hard it is for a pitcher to win a single game. It portrays Gam as someone who does all he can to achieve his dream in an honest and humane way.
Over the past two decades, 758 pro baseball pitchers have spent their prime years on the mounds in Korea and retired. Out of that group, the number of pitchers with more than 10 wins is just 126. Those with at least one victorybut total 431. That means the remaining 327 pitchers never won a single game during their whole pro baseball career.
People tend to take victory for granted. But Gam and numerous other Korean pro pitchers know how difficult and how meaningful it is to achieve that first win. They may be classified as second or third-rate pitchers, and may be unrecognized by the public, but this well-made B-rated movie vividly demonstrates that they, too, create legends of their own.
By Yang Sung-jin
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