Park Se-ri and Choo Shin-soo, who serve as general manager and director of baseball team Black Queens in Channel A's new baseball variety show 'Yagu Yeowang' [Channel A]
Park Se-ri and Choo Shin-soo, who serve as general manager and director of baseball team Black Queens in Channel A's new baseball variety show 'Yagu Yeowang' [Channel A]

A story about golf legend Park Se-ri picking up the dinner tab for former Major League Baseball star Choo Shin-soo — only to watch him leave in a chauffeured Maybach while she hailed a taxi — has been drawing attention online.

Choo appeared Monday on "Nam-gyeoseo Mwohage," a tvN STORY variety show hosted by Park and comedian Lee Young-ja, where he spoke about his struggles in the minor leagues, his family, his home and his life in the majors.

Park opened the conversation by describing Choo as "the richest younger sibling I've ever treated to a meal."

She recalled that Choo had suggested they eat together and that she paid the bill. "Afterward, I called a taxi — and Choo got into a Maybach with a driver waiting for him," she said.

"I couldn't help thinking, 'Is it really OK for me to be leaving like this?'" she added.

In response, Choo said, "Let's have a meal together next time."

The episode also offered a look inside Choo's home in Texas. Built on 18,150 square meters of land and constructed to his own specifications, the mansion features seven bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, along with a movie theater, a mini bar, a PC bang, a sports complex, a wine cellar and a Lego room. Outside, the property includes a swimming pool, a backyard jogging track accessible by golf cart and a pond stocked for fishing.

"I built a house where my family can live for the rest of our lives," Choo said, adding that monthly maintenance costs alone run about 10 million won ($7,000).

Choo said he signed a seven-year contract with the Texas Rangers worth $130 million, equivalent to about 140 billion won at the exchange rate at the time.

Behind the success lay years of hardship. Recalling his minor league days, Choo said he was paid $700 every two weeks and that rent was so expensive during his newlywed years that he shared a place with three other foreign players. "When we went on road trips, I got $20 a day," he said. "I'd order one pizza and eat two slices a day for four days, then save the rest to buy toys and diapers for my child."

"The seven years in the minor leagues were the hardest of my life," he added. "Even if someone guaranteed me another 16 years in the majors, I would never want to go through that again."


jshan@heraldcorp.com