KOO HAD TO BE THERE
An oral history of the zaniest sequence in the history of the Subway Series
IN THE earliest days of the modern Subway Series, littleknown players Dave Mlicki and Matt Franco made names for themselves by excelling on Major League Baseball’s interleague, intracity stage. Then, in 2005, along came Mr. Koo. The Subway Series will launch its 22nd edition Friday night at Citi Field, and if huge names like Derek Jeter, Mike Piazza, Mark Teixeira and David Wright have set the gold standard for excellence, then credit Dae-Sung Koo with his own legendary niche in this rivalry. To use modern slang, call it the “Hold My Beer” title for utter Subway Series wackiness, thanks to one sequence of events at Shea Stadium on May 21 of Koo’s only North American season, which has ensured the lefty reliever’s Big Apple immortality: His brain-melting double off of Hall of Famer Randy Johnson and then his thrilling run home from second base on Jose Reyes’ bunt. Behold, in oral-history form, the recollections of Mr. Koo’s Wild Ride. On Jan. 8, 2005, the Mets announced that they had signed Koo, then 35 years old, to a one-year contract with a team option for 2006. A native of Daejeon, South Korea, Koo spent eight years playing professionally in Korean ball — he also pitched for the bronze-medal-winning Team South Korea in the 2000 Olympics — before joining the Orix Blue Wave of Japan’s Pacific League for four seasons. He started 18 games for the Blue Wave in 2004, going 6-10 with a 4.32 ERA. Jim Duquette, Mets senior vice president of baseball operations: The expectation was that he’d be a lefthanded relief guy, a specialty g u y. We
didn’t think it was going to be long-term because he had an issue there with the [left] elbow. I remember the doctors said they weren’t sure how long he would be able to pitch without having surgery. One of the doctors joked that the elbow might be held together with bubble gum. third David baseman: Wright, I Mets think about introducing his i him nterpreter as Mr. Koo. Jose Reyes, Mets shortstop: He spoke maybe two words of English.
The southpaw, who threw with an unorthodox, three-quarter delivery, provided stellar early value as the Mets tried to generate excitement under their new general manager Omar Minaya, new manager Willie Randolph and new freeagent signees Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez. Koo put up zeroes in 10 of his first 11 outings. He also stood out for some unconventional behavior. Rick Peterson, Mets pitching coach: Around early May, I saw Koo’s interpreter throwing batting practice to him in the (batting) cage at Shea. I yelled at the interpreter: “What the (bleep) are you doing?! Do you think this guy will ever help us win a game swinging a bat? If (the front office) finds out what happens, they’ll ship you back to Korea. That’s not the (bleeping) protocol!”
On May 16 at Shea, the Mets were leading the Reds, 9-2, when Koo relieved starter Kris Benson with two outs in the eighth inning. Koo struck out Felipe Lopez to complete the frame, and with lefty hitters Sean Casey, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn all due up for Cincinnati in the ninth inning, Randolph decided to keep Koo in the game and let him hit. With one out and no one on, Koo made his big-league hitting debut … and stood about as far away from home plate as one can legally do. Peterson: As I’m watching him getting his helmet and gloves on, it’s almost like his hands are shaking. I call his interpreter over and ask, “Has he ever had an atbat?” The interpreter says no. I said, “Tell him just to stand at the back of the batter’s box, towards the dugout, and don’t
swing.” Todd Coffey, Reds relief pitcher: I remember coming up there, I look at him, and I’m waiting for him to get in the box. The umpire (Phil Cuzzi) pointed at me and said, “Come on!” I didn’t know what to expect. Is he one of ththese guys who runs up to the plate and slaps at it? I wasted my first pitch down in the dirt, thinking, “Let’s see what he’s going to do.” He literally didn’t move. I thought, “All right. I’ve got to throw nice and easy strikes. I can’t walk this guy.” It’s slow-motion mechanics. I barely got the ball there. It was weird. With every one of the pitches, I’m mentally ready to go. Koo looked at three straight Coffey fastballs and returned to the dugout. Wright: He just gave up. Dae-Sung Koo, Mets pitcher (to reporters a few days later): (My teammates) gave me a lot of heat.
(Koo could not be reached for this story.) Peterson: Willie said to me, “Did you tell him not to swing?” I said, “He’s never had an at-bat before! You’re not counting on him getting a hit?”
Koo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the win. Five days later, the Mets, after dropping a 5-2 decision to Kevin Brown and the Yankees in the Subway Series opener, held a modest 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh
inning, with a runner on first and no outs, when Randolph turned to Koo. The move worked, as Koo kept the Yankees scoreless.
With the lefty-swinging Robinson Cano set to lead off the eighth for the Yankees, Randolph again decided to let Koo, whose spot came up first in the bottom of the seventh, hit for himself … against Yankees starting pitcher Randy Johnson. Willie Randolph, Mets manager: I just remember really crossing my fingers and being anxious about him being in the mix.
For his second career at-bat, Koo moved slightly closer to home plate. Nevertheless, he didn’t inspire much confidence. As the count went to 1-and-1, Hall of Fame broadcaster Tim McCarver, working the game nationally for FOX, said to his partner Joe Buck, “I’m just gonna go out on a limb and say that thus far, in this young season, this is the biggest give-up at-bat.”
Peterson: Mike Piazza said to David Wright, who was wired for FOX, “If he gets off a hit off Randy Johnson, I’ll donate a million dollars to your charity.”
Wright: I do remember something like that. I wouldn’t have recalled it on my own, but (Piazza) did say something like, if he makes contact, if he gets a hit or something, then I’ll donate a large sum of money.
Just as McCarver finished saying “giveup at-bat,” Johnson threw a belt-high fastball … that Koo smacked into the right-center-field gap, well over the head of Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams. Koo cruised into second base for an earth-shattering, jaw-dropping double. Shea rocked with crowd noise. Tim McCarver, Fox broadcaster: I was floored. (Buck and I) both were.
Reyes: Not too many players can stand in lefty-on-lefty against Randy Johnson. He was able to put a good swing on the ball. Wright: That bunch with me and Jose and (Doug) Mientkiewicz, all of the other excitable guys were going nuts in there. The atmosphere hyped it up even more in there because it was the Yankees. Doug Mientkiewicz, Mets f i rst
baseman: I can’t get a hit, and this guy gets one at-bat a year and gets a double off Randy Johnson.
Coffey: I remember being in the clubhouse (at Great American Ball Park). We have a night game, and we’re watching (Yankees-Mets) on TV. We’re sitting there, and (Koo) comes up to the plate. When he gets the double, a bunch of guys say, “Oh, look, Coffey! He’s scared of you, but not Randy!” They kind of ran with that for a good bit. … He just can’t hit right-handers. Duquette: Everyone thinks, when they’re a fan, you can hit a certain guy. “Give me 10 swings, I can make contact on that guy.” Because he got a hit against Randy Johnson, I was joking, “Now everybody thinks they can hit Randy Johnson.”
Koo, standing on second base, asked for his jacket. In the pocket of his jacket, he carried a weighted baseball for warm-up purposes — that he neglected to remove, making what transpired next all the more unlikely and humorous. Reyes, the Mets’ leadoff hitter, laid down a good bunt sufficiently in front of the plate, closer to first base, which Jorge Posada chased, grabbed and threw to Cano covering first. That opened up home plate, which meant that,
when Koo touched third base, he saw clear sailing the rest of the way. Koo: I thought I could make it. Wright: Somehow, it ended up as a mad dash for home.
Posada took the relay from Cano, hustled back toward the plate, stuck out his glove and tried to tag Koo, who attempted to tap the edge of the plate as he angled himself, headfirst, away from Posada. Home-plate umpire Chuck Meriwether ruled Koo safe. Was he? Almost certainly not. But this took place in the time before replay challenges. The Mets had a 3-0 lead. Koo: If the umpire says a man is safe, that means he is safe.
Joe Girardi, Yankees bench coach (after watching t he video as a refresher): Incredible, heads-up base running. Reyes: You see him running around (third) base, the other players went crazy. Not only those in the dugout, but the fans. They were in love with that. It was a very good moment. Funny, too.
Duquette: He clearly was just a fish out of water. You could tell by the slide.
Miguel Cairo followed with a solo homer for the Mets, who wound up winning, 7-1.
While various Mets folks recalled Koo hurting himself from the impact of the weighted ball on his body, the biggest consequence of his headfirst slide emerged a couple of weeks later. Following four shaky outings, he underwent an MRI that revealed a bruised rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He went on the disabled list June 2 and, from that juncture, he made 11 more appearances with the Mets and also drew a demotion to Triple-A Norfolk. He never got another MLB at-bat. Koo (upon going on the disabled list): I have no regrets about what I did that day. I was doing whatever I could that would help my team win and that’s the most important thing right now. I would do it again if I needed to. ... You can’t look ahead and say, “Man, I wish I had never done that.”
The Mets passed on Koo’s $2 million team option (he made $450,000 in 2005), re-signed him to a minor-league contract
for 2006 and then sold him to the Hanwha Eagles, his original Korean team in March. His Mets tour of duty was over. Duquette: Even if you felt the shoulder was going to be better, he had too many things going on.
Koo pitched five more years in Japan, then another four years of professional ball in Australia. As of 2016, he was still pitching at the amateur level in Australia, where he still lives.
In a 2016 email interview with a writer for the Society of American Baseball Research, Koo was asked what he remembered more, his “wild ride” (first dubbed that by Mark Herrmann of Newsday) or his 1999 Korean championship. He responded: “I have more memory of the Randy Johnson hit, and because of that, more people got to know better who I am.” Mientkiewicz: They say that the great thing about baseball is if you give it a couple of minutes, you’ll see something new. That’s the perfect example of that.
Wright: I’m laughing now, so I can’t imagine what I was doing when I was 22 years old. Pretty funny to think about it again. Now with the new gambling laws, I wonder what the odds were of him getting a hit off Randy Johnson in that situation? Pretty astronomical.