Korea's pro baseball team to train in NMI
The Samsung Lions Professional Baseball team will be training on Saipan from Dec. 1 through Dec. 19, 1999 at the Francisco Palacios Ballfield in preparation for the next baseball season in South Korea, according to the Lions operations manager Jay Kim.
This will be the first visit by a Korean professional team in Saipan, which is already home to the Kintetsu Buffaloes yearly training. Few individual athletes hold their spring training on the island.
In the past years, Saipan had been used as training site for several Korean and Japanese high school and college teams. Also next month, Taesei High School of Japan will be on Saipan for a three-day training.
The Samsung Lions plan to bring about 30 players to this training camp, which will be conducted four days on and one day off throughout. Their training schedule will be from 8:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. and will not interfere with the evening schedules of the local baseball teams. The Korean pro teams are each allowed two foreign players on their roster.
The Samsung Lions have been at or near the top all but three years of their 17 years of existence, having only three losing seasons –– 1989, 1994 and 1996. The team won three out of seven Korean Series Championships.
In 1986 Samsung completed an exclusive training facility for its team, and in 1996 completed its indoor training facility. In March of 1990, the Samsung Lions Ballpark, Asia’s largest baseball complex was opened, and annually they sponsor a baseball tournament for primary, middle and high school students. Their own stadium seats 13,000 people, and the field dimensions are 95 meters for left and right fields and 117 meters for centerfield.
Last year the players conducted a winter training camp in Brisbane, Australia, and thanks to the Kintetsu Buffaloes, they were convinced to try Saipan for their winter camp. Their spring camp will be held in Arizona, the same time the Buffaloes are on Saipan.
If all goes well, the CNMI hopes to see more of the Samsung Lions. This interest could be increased with the addition of more baseball facilities in the islands, such as the Koblerville complex and use of the Tinian Baseball Field.
