BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: The Korea Herald: Pitchers implicated in match fixing released by team

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

The Korea Herald: Pitchers implicated in match fixing released by team

The LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Tuesday released their two pitchers facing match-fixing allegations and asked the league to hand out lifetime bans if the players are criminally punished.

The Seoul-based Twins announced that pitchers Kim Seong-hyun and Park Hyun-jun are no longer on the team. They are being investigated for allegedly taking kickbacks from a gambling broker last season to issue first-inning walks on purpose.

Kim was recently taken into custody, while Park has been questioned by prosecutors in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, without physical detention.

The Twins’ decision comes one day after the KBO suspended the two players indefinitely. The club also said it will ask the league to ban Kim and Park for life if they receive criminal penalties.

“We offer our sincere apologies to our fans for causing such major disappointment and trouble,” the Twins said in a statement.

“We have made this decision before any judicial decision, but we believe players who’ve betrayed fans’ trust should no longer take the ground.”

Thanks to Butch.

Repoz Posted: March 06, 2012 at 07:34 AM | 9 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: international

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. Neutral Milk Dotel (Dan Lee) Posted: March 06, 2012 at 07:43 AM (#4074817)

"If convicted, Kim and Park face the prospect of being flung across the DMZ with a trebuchet."

2. Neutral Milk Dotel (Dan Lee) Posted: March 06, 2012 at 07:46 AM (#4074818)

According to Park's wikipedia page, he once threw a no-hitter against Wonkwang University.

My inner Beavis is currently in the midst of a laughing fit.

3. Blastin Posted: March 06, 2012 at 09:28 AM (#4074842)

They caught him in Daegu, eh? I lived there for two years.

There is nothing to do there but drink and hike the same mountain over and over so I can see why you might resort to doing something real stupid if your job wasn't in session.

4. tfbg9 Posted: March 06, 2012 at 09:44 AM (#4074843)

The new "ME"...ex-KBO game-throwers?

5. Cris E Posted: March 06, 2012 at 11:01 AM (#4074875)

Haven't they heard? This year the Twins are running Camp Zero Tolerance!

6. gef the talking mongoose Posted: March 06, 2012 at 11:30 AM (#4074895)

Wrong thread! The horror!

7. Cris E Posted: March 06, 2012 at 12:01 PM (#4074911)

Right thread, bad joke: both teams are the Twins, and the one in Asia has taken to the MLB theme (Zero Tolerance!) just as the one in MN should have been issuing statements like this:

“We offer our sincere apologies to our fans for causing such major disappointment and trouble,” the Twins said in a statement.

“We have made this decision before any judicial decision, but we believe players who’ve betrayed fans’ trust should no longer take the ground.”

8. ursus arctos Posted: March 06, 2012 at 12:16 PM (#4074924)

The alleged offense reminds me of the "spot fixing" cases that are currently plaguing cricket.

Issuing a first inning walk is the kind of thing that a crooked bookie could sell to a player as being highly unlikely to have any impact on the result, and therefore qualifying as "not really throwing a game" (the cricket cases have focused on the rough equivalent of wild pitches with no men on base).

If you can find enough people who are stupid enough to bet on such a thing (and they are reportedly legion in Asia), it's a genuinely difficult problem to address.

9. RJames Posted: March 06, 2012 at 12:38 PM (#4074938)

This is worse than the Japanese sumo scandal.

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

The Korea Herald: Pitchers implicated in match fixing released by team

Reader Comments and Retorts

BBTF Sponsor

Support BBTF

Bookmarks

Hot Topics