“Sometimes when I get a hit and my brothers don’t do the heart, they’ll yell at me, ‘Why don’t you do it,’ and I’ll say, ‘Do the heart.'”
In the month of May, there was a lot of love in the Doosan Bears dugout. The team came together to hit 173 hits and 13 home runs, collectively performing 186 heart gestures. Fans in the stands joined in by tracing the players’ hearts and donating to the G Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that raises a total of $60.3 million. The donation will be used to support psychotherapy and cultural experiences for abused children.
The ‘Give Love’ campaign was inspired by infielder Yang Seok-hwan’s heart ceremony. After every hit or home run this year, Yang made a heart with his hands. At first, he sent the hearts to his family members who came to the stadium to watch the game, but as he played, he expanded the target to all fans in the stands.
Doosan joined hands with NAVER Happybean, a public service platform, to come up with a campaign to engage with fans during May’s Family Month. The team decided to offer fans 100,000 won for each hit and 1 million won for each home run if the players conveyed their feelings to the fans with a heart ceremony. The campaign manager reached out to the players through their captain, Heo Kyung-min, and they readily agreed to donate.
“The players all agreed that it was a good cause,” says Heo. I think they were trying to get more hits for the donation. There was also the idea that I should get the most hits because I suggested it to the players.”
Doosan players earned a total of 30.3 million won with 173 hits and 13 home runs. This exceeded the club’s initial goal of $20 million. Despite four rainouts in the month of May, the players managed to exceed their goal. The largest donation came on May 17 against the Kiwoom Heroes, when the team recorded 12 hits and two home runs, raising $3.2 million in a single day.
Foreign hitter Jose Rojas was the top donor with 10 hits and five home runs, raising $6 million. He may have had fewer hits, but each home run made a big difference.
“I was happy to hear that I was the top donor,” Rojas said. It was for a good cause, so I think it means a lot more. The heart ceremony was awkward at first, but I think it helped us work together as a team,” said Rojas. 스포츠토토
Second place went to Anbang Manim’s Yang Ji-ro, who collected 4.9 million won with 19 hits and three home runs. In third place were Heo Kyung-min (23 hits, 1 home run) and Park Kye-beom (13 hits, 2 home runs), who each donated $3.3 million. As expected, Heo led the team in hits in May. Idea contributor Yang Seok-hwan came in fifth with $2.9 million with 19 hits and one home run. Other contributors included Kim Jae-hwan (2.6 million won), Lee Yoo-chan (2.1 million won), Jeong Soo-bin (1.6 million won), and Yang Chan-yeol (1 million won).
Heo Kyung-min was also the senior who was scolded the most by his younger siblings during the DonateLup campaign. He kept forgetting to do the heart ceremony. It was a big deal because she was the team’s top hitter in May.
Park Kye-beom said, “Heo Kyung-min is always spending money on coffee (as a punishment for not doing the gesture),” while Yang Seok-hwan said, “When my brothers don’t do it, my younger brothers yell at me and say, ‘Why don’t you do it? They forget,” he said.