Father is Shim, son is Sim. What is the story?
Kevin Shim, the son of “Heraclass” Shim Jung-soo, will stand tall on the major league stage.
Kevin Shim is the second son of Shim Jeong-soo, one of the greatest gunners of all time in the KBO League. Kevin Shim was called by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 148th overall pick in the 5th round of the 2023 MLB Draft held on the 11th (Korean time). The 26th Korean player joined a major league club.
Shim Jeong-soo is a hard hitter who drew attention after joining the OB Bears in 1994. He hit 328 homers in 15 seasons with OB, Hyundai Unicorns and Samsung Lions. He was so strong that if he got hit with a straight hit, he would go over, and his nicknames were ‘Heraclass’ and ‘Boy Merchant’. He hit 31 home runs in 2007 and won the home run title, and in 2003 he also made a whopping 53 home run season. At the time, Lee Seung-yeop, Samsung’s ‘national hero’, hit 56 homers and gave up the home run king’s place, but the title competition between the two still remains the best scene in the KBO League.
After Shim Jeong-soo retired, he went straight to the United States without doing any leadership work. He introduced all three of his sons to the baseball world. His eldest brother, Jake Sim, tried out for the KBO League, but failed. However, his second son achieved a bigger dream.
There was a reason why Shim Jeong-soo chose to go to the United States and made his sons play baseball. To become a professional player, he wanted an American system where he could exercise while studying, rather than a Korean environment where he had to go ‘all-in’ only in baseball. Even though he went through the confirmation work on whether he could succeed in baseball, he thought that there should be an alternative in life when he failed in baseball.
Shim Jeong-soo said in an interview with ‘MLB.com’, “Kevin came to the United States and graduated from middle school and high school. His grades were good in college,” he said. “I liked this environment very much. I will learn something. It will help me a lot to grow as a baseball player.”
Life in the US has not been easy from the beginning. There were also happenings. Kevin Sim’s English last name is ‘SIM’. Shim Jung-soo uses ‘SHIM’. Usually Koreans use the latter. It is said that Shim Jeong-soo accidentally wrote down his sons’ last names as ‘SIM’ when filling out passport applications during the migration process. He belatedly realized his mistake, but it was difficult to change the name again. ‘Golf Empress’ Pak Se-ri had to use the name ‘PAK’ because her father misspelled ‘PARK’ as ‘PAK’ when she first went to the United States.안전놀이터추천
Shim Jeong-soo said, “When I first arrived in the United States, I was in a completely different situation from Korea. My family, especially the children, needed a process of getting used to the cultural differences. I did, but I am watching my son batting at Chase Field. .
Despite living in the US for a long time, Kevin Sim feels proud of being a Korean. He gave a thumbs up to Korean baseball in particular. And he said he wanted to inspire all Korean players who want to break the barriers in the major leagues. “Korean baseball is small but huge,” said Kevin Shim. “I get excited just to see the players playing in the KBO and competing against the best players in the world in the World Baseball Classic.”