However, he said, "It is not true that I tried to conceal or manipulate. I can tell you this with great confidence," adding, "I have lived as a baseball referee for 28 years, wary of the possibility that just one judgment on my ball could determine the life of a player.
Including that day, I have never lost the conviction that I should make honest and fair decisions."
KBO held a personnel committee meeting on the 19th and deliberated on disciplinary action against a referee who undermined league fairness through mistakes and inappropriate words and actions related to ABS (automatic pitching judgment system) decisions during a game against the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 14th, KBO said. "We will terminate the contract with Judge Lee Min-ho."
"The HR committee gave me time to explain," former referee Lee Min-ho said in a telephone interview with Yonhap News. "The reason for termination of the contract was not 'manipulation or cover-up' but 'damage of fairness'. Of course, the expression 'damage of fairness' also makes me miserable as I have lived as a judge for a long time. Still, I am satisfied with the HR committee's decision that it is not a suspicion of manipulation or cover-up. I am grateful for the explanation."
Former referee Lee Min-ho was the referee's chief referee in the Daegu game on the 14th.
Referee Moon Seung-hoon shouted "ball" at NC starter Lee Jae-hak's second fastball in the bottom of the third inning when NC was leading 1-0, with two outs and a runner on first base, and Samsung's Lee Jae-hyun's at-bat.
However, ABS determined the ball to be a 'strike'.
NC, which confirmed that Lee Jae-hak's second pitch passed through the strike zone through a dugout tablet PC that can confirm the ABS decision, protested to the judges.
It was already after Lee Jae-hak threw three more balls.
Four referees, including the referee and the referee, gathered to discuss whether to accept NC's protest, and referee Lee Min-ho took the microphone.
"The ball (Lee Jae-hak's second pitch) that Kim Ji-chan pitched when he stole was delivered as a 'ball' by voice to the referee," referee Lee Min-ho told fans. "However, after checking the ABS monitor, it was determined as a strike," adding, "NC appealed, but due to regulations, we have to protest before the next pitch starts. After the 'appeal prescription' has passed, we will proceed according to the original trial (ball)."
The conversation the referees had quietly before the referee director publicly explained the rules drew controversy.
During the four-trial agreement process, the referee told the referee, "Tell him the voice was clearly recognized as a ball. What we're going to get out of.... That's all I have to say," was caught on TV.
The KBO Human Resources Committee judged the remarks as "an act that undermined fairness."
Former referee Lee Min-ho said, "This is a remark that deserves misunderstanding. I apologize to the fans and officials repeatedly," before adding, "There is something I want to explain."
In a calm voice, he explained what happened for about eight minutes from NC's appeal to holding the microphone.
Former umpire Lee Min-ho said, "The main referee (referee Moon Seung-hoon) heard the ABS ruling as a ball." The third base umpire (referee Choo Pyeong-ho) who heard the ABS ruling through in-ear with the umpire said, "There was a supporting noise and I couldn't hear well." After NC appealed, I checked with the umpire twice. "At the time NC manager Kang In-kwon appealed, the next pitch was already in progress, so even if the ball was marked as a strike on the tablet belatedly, the ball had no choice but to remain in the original position as the statute of limitations expired. It was a game operation according to the manual."
He also explained the controversial remark, "Say you recognized it as a ball. If we don't want to break it," he said.
"If the referee's conversation had been heard from the beginning, the misunderstanding would have been reduced," he said. "Before our voices were heard in the broadcast, we confirmed to the referee and the third base judge several times, 'How did the ABS decision sound?' The scene where the referee's voice was heard in the broadcast to give the team members "the process of making this decision" before explaining to the fans about the appeal situation, etc., was the last scene to confirm that "the referee heard it with a ball," as the leader."
He explained that the expression "what we will get out of" is "a slang word for judgment."
Former referee Lee Min-ho said, "Referees use the slang to mean, 'Let's clear up the situation and continue the game according to the manual,'" adding, "Of course, people who are not familiar with the slang can misunderstand. I am sorry for causing such misunderstanding. However, I hope you know that it was not manipulation or cover-up."
"I didn't lie to the fans. If we were mistaken after hearing ABS sound, we took the microphone and said, "We mistakenly judged that the ball was a strike from ABS. However, after the expiration of the appeal period, the game has no choice but to maintain the original ruling. I am sorry," he said. "At that time, the stadium conveyed the situation as it was until then."
Former referee Lee Min-ho knows that such an explanation cannot reverse the decision to dismiss.
However, he said, "I really want to get rid of the misunderstanding that I was a judge who concealed my misjudgment. I have never forgotten my philosophy that 'all judgments should be made carefully and fairly, because my judgments can change someone's life,'" he said. "I am leaving like this, but I want you to know my true feelings. I don't want to be a father who is ashamed of my children. And I lived a life without being ashamed."
Even after the introduction of ABS, former referee Lee Min-ho said, "ABS can be a good system. If we improve the problems we felt in the field, it will definitely help develop Korean baseball."
Former referee Lee Min-ho, who was explaining calmly, also shook his voice when he left a message "What I want to say to my remaining referee colleagues in KBO."
"I am very sorry to our referees for leaving like this," he said. "Our referees stand on the ground to make fair decisions again today. Please continue to work hard to make fair decisions as you have done so far."
BY: 토토