Stepping Up to the Plate: Players’ Association Honors Choi Dong-won’s Legacy with Support for Baseball’s Unsung Heroes
Korea Professional Baseball Players Association Commemorates Late Choi Dong-won with Support Project for Low-Income Players
The Korea Professional Baseball Players Association is launching a project to support low-income and low-salary players, commemorating the late Choi Dong-won and carrying on his spirit of helping junior players.
The association announced that it will begin providing regular support for low-income, low-year juniors who have been playing professional baseball for more than a season. This decision was made at the 2nd regular board meeting of the players’ association in June and was passed unanimously.
The association has been consistently supporting Futures League players by selecting three Futures (2nd team) League Players from each club at the ‘Real Glove Awards’ held every December 1st, and providing prize money and custom gloves. In addition, in 2021, they provided training supplies worth 500,000 won each to about 625 players with an annual salary of 50 million won or less, for a total of 300 million won.
The low-income player support project, which has been commercialized for the first time since the establishment of the Players’ Association in January 2000, supports all players who entered the previous year as a development player without a signing bonus and are maintaining their status (registered, development, military service, etc.) as of the final selection date (September 10th of each year).
In 2024, the first year of the support project, a total of 18 players who joined in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and meet the criteria (players who joined as developmental players without signing bonuses and who maintain their status until September 10, 2024) will be provided with support funds. The payments will be made on September 14 every year to commemorate the late senior Choi Dong-won and to remember his feelings for his juniors.
According to a survey conducted by the Players Association over the past three years (2021-2023), 25-30% of all rookies are recruited without signing bonuses each year, and 40% of them are still playing professional baseball after one year.
Kim Hyun-soo, the chairman of the Players’ Association, said, “Just because you turn pro doesn’t mean your financial situation suddenly improves. It’s not easy to continue a pro career with a minimum salary of 30 million won. It won’t be easy for low-income, low-year players who haven’t shown their skills yet to even buy a glove or a bat.”
