Former Baseball Stars Park Yong-taek and Lee Dae-hyung Discuss 2026 WBC on YouTube

Former baseball players Park Yong-taek and Lee Dae-hyung recently shared their thoughts on the upcoming 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

On the latest episode of Sung Si-kyung's YouTube channel series 'Mannalten', which aired on the 3rd, Park Yong-taek and Lee Dae-hyung appeared as guests. The episode gained attention as Park and Sung are both alumni of Korea University and were born in April 1979. When it was revealed that Sung is just four days older, Park humorously pointed out, "But I'm the senior in terms of school year," drawing laughter. Lee added to the humor by confessing, "I've been calculating our age difference since yesterday, even down to the days."

Park Yong-taek expressed his delight in meeting Sung, noting, "I don't have many friends born in '79, but Kim Dong-wan was my high school classmate, and I'm close with Lee Ji-hoon." Sung responded warmly, "Athletes seem like celebrities, unlike singers or actors."

The conversation naturally shifted to the WBC, which is set to begin tomorrow. Park explained the tournament's rules, stating, "Players can represent the country of their parents' nationality or their own birth country." He added, "For example, Lee Jung-hoo was born in Nagoya, so he could technically play for Japan," which left Lee and Sung in disbelief.

The commentators also shared their philosophies on broadcasting. Park mentioned, "When broadcasting baseball on terrestrial TV, I explain it as if I'm taking a girlfriend to a game and explaining it in detail. For national team games, you have to add a sense of national pride." Lee admitted, "The best part about national team games is that you can be openly biased in your commentary."

Sung Si-kyung compared Park's candid speaking style to "the linguistic magician Ji Sang-ryeol," causing laughter. Park revealed, "I aim for that style. I haven't had a drink with Sang-ryeol yet, but we've had over ten drunken phone calls," showing his unique affection. Lee humorously concluded, "Once the cameras are off, it's going to be chaos," shaking his head with a smile.

Reporter: Kim Se-ah, TenAsia haesmik@tenasia.co.kr