SportsFullCircle

Byung-Hyun Kim, a former Major League pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, and Colorado Rockies, has been dropped from South Korea’s roster for the World Baseball Classic after being unable to attend training in Hawaii since he lost his passport.

The 30 year old submarine pitcher who posted 87 saves in his nine year career was hoping to use this year’s World Baseball Classic as means to spark a return to professional baseball after being out for nearly a year according to the South Korean media.

As one of the first Korean players in the Major League, Kim’s experience would have been an asset to the South Korean team. Also, this greatly hampers his chance of a return to baseball as a good performance against talented international competition would have provided him with a great stage to be noticed on.

Known to many as the pitcher who gave up dramatic homeruns to Tino Martinez and Derek Jeter in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series and to Scott Brosius in Game 5, Kim can add the losing of his passport as to the list of events that have led to his downfall.