Cho Sung-min (; April 5, 1973 – January 6, 2013) was a South Korean professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player with the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and the

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon that competes in the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark. They have won the Korean Series once, in 1999, and the league penn ...

of the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

. He also received media attention for his much-publicized marriage and divorce from actress Choi Jin-sil.

Career

Cho Sung-min dominated the baseball amateur league in the 1990s, and with his attractive looks and top-class pitching skills, he had many female fans in Korea and Japan. He pitched for the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team (), also known as the Blue Wave (), is the national baseball team of South Korea. It has participated in every edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), reaching the finals in 2009, and won the WBSC Pre ...

in the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games (), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games () or simply Hiroshima 1994 (), were held from October 2 to 16, 1994, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first Asian Games in history to be hosted in a non-capital city. Th ...

, when South Korea finished with a silver medal. Cho joined Japan's

in 1996, and his best years as a pro-baseball player were 1997-1998 when he was named an All-Star

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

after racking up a record of seven wins, six losses and a 2.75

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

in the first half of the 1998 season. But after peaking his career soon went downhill, with a prolonged slump due to ankle and elbowKang Seung-woo
"Sun Setting on Baseballs Golden Generation,"
''The Korea Times'' (2007-08-30). injuries. He left the Yomiuri Giants in 2002. He returned to the Korean baseball league in 2005 to play for the

until October 2007, but instead of making an impressive comeback, he had to leave the team in 2007 with a disappointing performance. He briefly worked as a TV commentator, before joining the Doosan Bears in 2011 as a coach of one of their minor league teams. He refused to extend his contract with the club in November 2012 when his term ended. Cho also tried his hand at various businesses including an unsuccessful bakery chain, and invested heavily into a baseball management company he had set up in 2008.

Marriage and divorce

Cho's personal life was as turbulent as his career. He first met actress Choi Jin-sil on the set of a television show in 1998. At the time, Cho was a promising player and one of the league's all-star team members, while Choi had starred in dozens of films and television dramas in the 1980s and 90s and was dubbed the "nation's actress." Cho and Choi married in a lavish wedding ceremony in 2000. A few years later, however, the couple grabbed headlines in Korea when they accused each other of being "unfaithful" and they divorced in August 2004 after Cho was arrested for beating his wife. The ex-baseball star remarried in 2007 but was apparently separated since 2010. After Choi Jin-sil committed

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered to ...

in October 2008, Cho was embroiled in a dispute with her bereaved family as he sought custody of his son Hwan-hee and daughter Jun-hee. Choi Jin-sil's younger brother, the singer Choi Jin-young, deemed Cho's move as a step to take over his late wife's wealth that her children were to inherit. The case was settled as Cho gave up his rights over her property, and the children were left in the legal custody of their maternal grandmother. Choi's death resulted in a number of

copycat suicide A copycat suicide is defined as an emulation of another suicide that the person attempting suicide knows about either from local knowledge or due to accounts or depictions of the original suicide on television and in other media. The publicized ...

s among Koreans, including celebrities. A year and a half later, Choi Jin-young also killed himself in March 2010. In November 2012, Cho had a scuffle with strangers at a pub and underwent police questioning.

Death and impact

On January 6, 2013, Cho's body was discovered by his girlfriend, hanged in the bathroom of her apartment in Dogok-dong, southern

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, at around 5:26 a.m. According to investigators from the Suseo Police Station, on the night before his death, Cho drank three bottles of

soju Soju (English pronunciation: ; ) is a clear and colorless distilled alcoholic beverage from Korea, traditionally made from rice, but later from other grains and has a flavor similar to vodka. It is usually consumed neat. Its alcohol content ...

with his 40-year-old girlfriend, identified only by her surname Park, during which she told him she wanted to end their relationship. Park then left her house at around midnight to meet a friend, and returned at 3:40 a.m. only to find Cho hanging from the bathroom shower using his belt. Cho hinted at suicide in a text message he sent to his mother at around 12:11 a.m. and in the message he sent to his girlfriend five minutes later over the mobile messenger service

KakaoTalk KakaoTalk (), commonly referred to as KaTalk () in South Korea, is an instant messenger and online services platform operated by Kakao Corporation. It was launched in 2010 and the app is available on mobile and desktop platforms. KakaoTalk is ...

. In the message to his mother, he wrote, "It looks like there is no way for me to live in Korea anymore. I am very sorry, but please think that you never had a son." To Park, he left the words, "My heart breaks that we can't be together in the final moments of my life. Thank you for everything. Hang tough even after I am gone." No

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

was found at the scene. Sung-min's suicide would also be a

Copycat suicide A copycat suicide is defined as an emulation of another suicide that the person attempting suicide knows about either from local knowledge or due to accounts or depictions of the original suicide on television and in other media. The publicized ...

of Choi Jin-sil. For his funeral wake, Cho's family set up a memorial altar at

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a Private university, private research university in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1905 by Yi Yong-ik, Lee Yong-Ik, a prominent official of the Korean Empire, Korea University is among South Korea's oldest List of ...

Anam Hospital. His body was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

on January 8, 2013, and the remains were buried at the in

Bundang Bundang () is a planned community in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It was developed to encourage affordable housing and urban decentralization. The community has a sports complex, a park and a youth center. Origi ...

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous administrative divisions of South Korea, province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a list of provinc ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Sung-min 1973 births 2013 deaths Asian Games medalists in baseball Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Baseball players from Seoul Baseball players at the 1994 Asian Games Hanwha Eagles players Korea University alumni Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games South Korean expatriate baseball players in Japan 2013 suicides Suicides by hanging in South Korea Yomiuri Giants players 1994 Baseball World Cup players