LG’s ‘Rolex’ competition with Oh Ji-hwan and Park Dong-won ‘invested 18.9 billion,’ but they’re ignoring it
LG, KS 3-1, close to winning the title, Ji-hwan and Dong-won Park compete for MVPs
LG’s KS MVP is given a Rolex left by Chairman Koo Bon-moo
The time has finally come for the long-dormant “Rolex watch” to be revealed.
The LG Twins, who dominated the KBO in 1990 and 1994, had already prepared a gift for the player who led them to their third championship.
It’s a Rolex watch that the late former LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, who had a passion for baseball, reportedly paid $80 million for during a business trip overseas in 1997. The team decided to give it to the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Korean Series (KS-7) as a prize if they won the title once again.
LG’s journey to the top took longer than expected. Former chairman Koo passed away in 2018 without ever seeing the owner of his Rolex. So desperate were LG’s players to win the title that they performed a “watch ceremony” at the start of the 2021 season.
In the fall of 2023, the wait is coming to an end.
After finishing first in the regular season and going straight to the KS, LG is just one step away from its first overall title in 29 years, since 1994. LG dropped Game 1 of the KS to the KT Wiz, but then reeled off three straight wins. They need one more win to complete the four-game sweep and hoist the trophy.
As much as LG is interested in winning the title, so is the owner of the Rolex watch.
After four games, the closest players to MVP honors are captain Oh Ji-hwan and catcher Park Dong-won.
Oh is batting .400 (6-for-15) with three home runs and eight RBIs in the four games of the KS.
He made a costly error in the bottom of the fifth inning in Game 3 of the KS, but came back with a dramatic three-run blast in the bottom of the ninth inning with his team trailing 5-7.
From that point on, he hit a home run in every game until the fourth, becoming the first KS player to hit a home run in three consecutive games in a single season.
Park Dong-won’s performance against Oh Ji-hwan is no less impressive. After leading the home run race in the early part of the regular season to help LG jump to the top of the standings, Park has continued his hot bat this fall.
He batted .385 (5-for-13) with two home runs and four RBIs in four KS games, including a come-from-behind two-run shot in the eighth inning of a 3-4 loss in Game 2. As the starting catcher in every game, Park also works with the pitchers to keep KT batters in check.
The Rolex watch race is a pleasant one for LG, which invested heavily in both Oh and Park heading into the season.
LG signed Park to a four-year, $6.5 billion free agent contract last November. After Yoo Kang-nam (Lotte Giants), the team’s starting catcher until last season, left the team as a free agent, Park was brought in to bolster the outfield.
In January, the team signed Oh Ji-hwan to a six-year, multi-year non-free agent contract worth up to 12.4 billion won. It was the first time LG had ever signed a multi-year contract with a player who was not in free agency, so LG had a lot of confidence in him.
With the team’s quick response to the solid investment, the sealed Rolex watch was ready to be unveiled. 19가이드03
