The dark clouds that hit professional baseball in 2023 thickened again. This time, it is LG, the candidate for the championship. Outfielder Lee Chun-woong (34, LG, photo) was found guilty of illegal Internet gambling.
LG announced on the 14th, “Lee Cheon-woong admitted to the charges on the 12th,” and “Immediately notify the KBO Clean Baseball Center of the facts and will actively cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation and KBO’s follow-up measures.” It was only on the 5th that the manager
of the club, who believed only in the words of the player and let the game go, was officially reported on the 5th , and the entire league was ‘cold water’ with a complacent response. After being informed of the gambling facts, he conducted his own investigation. Afterwards, on the 5th, the prosecution requested an investigation and announced this fact on the 6th. At the time, the name of the player was not disclosed because it was not possible to confirm the truth of the report. It was before I informed the club I belonged to. However, rumors had already spread that the player in question was Lee Chun-woong of LG. The LG club also encountered this. Lee Chun-woong had only denied the club’s questioning, including meeting with LG general manager Cha Myung-seok four times, but after feeling the pressure, he admitted to the club on the 12th that he had gambled. On the 14th, Lee Chun-woong went to the police station on his own to be investigated. He confessed, and his charges were confirmed. However, as long as the investigation has already been requested, the KBO plans to decide on sanctions after the results of the investigation are released. The LG club is also in a position to decide the level of sanctions against the player after that. 토토사이트
LG was a regular club for ‘player accidents’ in the dark days when they couldn’t even watch fall baseball. It is a club that has experienced countless times what happens if you just trust the words of the player and skip it. Above all, at the beginning of the season, when the league atmosphere was disturbed by a series of unsavory incidents even before the opening, if it was a candidate for the championship, it should have been more thoroughly and neatly cracked down, but the LG club did not take any action that should have been taken earlier.
After the fact that there was a report on illegal gambling, the LG club openly included Lee Chun-woong in the opening roster even though they knew that the player in question was Lee Chun-woong. Lee Chun-woong continued to deny the allegations to the club and continued to play while deceiving his teammates, coaching staff, the club and the league. When the KBO announced that it had requested an investigation by the prosecution, it was excluded from the entry only in the afternoon of the same day. LG said, “We continued to investigate internally at the club. It wasn’t just that I believed the player saying he didn’t do it, but I couldn’t harm the player in an unconfirmed situation.”
The club’s job is to ‘run’ well so that the players can run the season smoothly and show their best performance. Apart from investigating the suspicion or innocence of a player, if there is a problem, it must be organized and managed so that the rest of the team can play without problems until it is clearly identified. If there is a player who has an ‘accident’ outside the game, the disposition is not left only on the field. LG only made an official report on Lee Chun-woong on the 5th to the commanding tower, which was supposed to appoint and manage the player, and then excluded it from the entry the next day.
On the 14th, LG even announced an apology in the name of CEO Kim In-seok. However, you cannot take responsibility for raising your anger with complacency.
The apology was made by the command tower. In a meeting with reporters ahead of the game against Doosan in Jamsil, LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “As a manager in charge of the players, I feel really sorry. He is really sorry to the fans as well for causing the unsavory thing. We will try our best to educate and prevent recurrence. Once again, I’m sorry,” he took off his hat and apologized.