Shin-Soo Choo "I Didn't Even Know There Were 49 Women's Baseball Teams in Korea"... Channel A 'Queen of Baseball' Production Presentation

Former Major League player Shin-Soo Choo appeared as the director of Channel A's entertainment program 〈Queen of Baseball〉 which premiered on the 25th. At the production presentation, he candidly acknowledged the indifference towards women's baseball in Korea and urged for new interest.

Shin-Soo Choo stated at the 〈Queen of Baseball〉 production presentation held on the 25th at The Saint in Guro-gu, Seoul, "I didn't even know that there were 49 women's baseball teams in Korea. I felt very sorry about that," and added, "I hope this program will activate women's baseball and increase public interest."

〈Queen of Baseball〉 is a sports entertainment show where top female athletes from 14 different sports form a baseball team called 'Black Queens' to take on challenges. Athletes from athletics, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, judo, swimming, speed skating, softball, boxing, shooting, rowing, soccer, ice hockey, badminton, and tennis participate.

The program gained attention with LPGA legend Park Se-ri as the team leader and Shin-Soo Choo, who played in Major League Baseball, as the director.

Park Se-ri explained her participation by saying, "I am familiar with golf, but baseball is unfamiliar, so I felt a lot of pressure," but added, "I felt positive energy from seeing top athletes from each field challenge themselves in a new area."

The participating athletes shared the difficulties of adapting to an unfamiliar sport. Kim On-ah, a former handball player, confessed, "I felt empty after retirement, but I got the chance to play with the athletes again," and said, "I was used to indoor sports, so the outdoor environment was tough for me."

Judo athlete Kim Sung-yeon mentioned, "As an individual sport athlete, team sports were unfamiliar to me," and added, "The hardest part was that mistakes affected the entire team, but I gradually learned teamwork and felt rewarded."

Shin-Soo Choo also stated, "It wasn't easy to adjust the mindset differences between individual and team sport athletes," and mentioned that the help from coaches Yoo Seok-min and Lee Dae-hyung was significant.

The 'Black Queens' are set to compete in actual tournaments after undergoing intense training. Regarding their ultimate goal, Park Se-ri expressed, "Winning the national tournament," while Shin-Soo Choo stated, "Producing at least one female baseball national representative."

Shin-Soo Choo also emphasized, "The key to attracting 10 million annual spectators to professional baseball is women aged 20 to 30," and said, "I want to see more of them wearing uniforms and playing on the field rather than just in the stands."

The program is directed by PD Shin Jae-ho of 〈Steel Troops W〉, with writer Kang Suk-kyung, who participated in 〈Physical: 100〉 seasons 1 and 2 and 〈Steel Troops W〉. It premiered on the 25th at 10 PM.