SEOUL -- Fernando Tatís Jr.’s eyes went wide as he walked up to his locker and he let out a soft, “Ooh.”
Jurickson Profar paused, turned to Ha-Seong Kim at the locker next to him, and asked, “From you?”
Having just gotten to the Gocheok SkyDome’s third-base clubhouse ahead of their 5-2 Opening Day loss to the Dodgers on Wednesday, several Padres stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw the golden traditional Korean garments known as “hanbok” hung up on their lockers, each with a neat, handwritten card addressed to them.
It’s been a whirlwind of a homecoming trip for Kim, but he’d still found the time to arrange this gift of customized, personalized hanbok for all of his teammates, plus manager Mike Shildt, as a token by which to remember this trip to South Korea.
“I thought that I had to prepare gifts for my teammates who came all the way to my home country of South Korea,” Kim said through interpreter David Lee. “I feel like that was a given. I wanted to give them memories that they'll remember for a long time, so I figured that these gifts would make a big impact during this Seoul Series trip.”
The history of hanbok in Korea dates back hundreds of years, and modern Koreans wear the traditional clothing to mark special occasions in their lives, like a wedding or a child’s first birthday. Kim got his teammates a long robe in Padres gold, adorned with a traditional gold-flake dragon print running down the front seam.
The “SD” logo of the Padres is present inside the collar, and each player’s hanbok was customized with his jersey number on the front. Tatís had seen people wearing hanbok at the temples he’d visited earlier in the week and had remarked to his mother that he’d need to acquire one for himself -- and it turns out Kim was already thinking ahead.
“That was amazing,” Tatís said. “He's taking his time to do stuff like that, and it just means how much he cares for his teammates. That's what he's all about.”
“I'd say it's pretty cool, to walk in on your first Major League game day and to see something cool like that,” rookie Graham Pauley said. “I'll definitely be wearing it around. I was thankful and told Kimmy thank you. It's been really fun being over in Korea.”
Each player also found two soccer jerseys sitting on his chair, one from Tottenham Hotspur star Heung-Min Son and another from Bayern Munich star Min-Jae Kim, the country’s two highest-profile soccer stars. The pair of footballers had arranged for the gift as a good luck gesture for the series and a show of support for Ha-Seong Kim.
After seeing the array of gifts, Tatís, Profar and Manny Machado turned to Kim and started shouting “Hwai-ting! Hwai-ting!” over and over at their teammate, a traditional Korean cheer used for encouragement.
Clearly, the gesture was very much appreciated.
“I know he's very excited to be home, and it's probably been a lot for him to come back and take on that role, going through what he's going through the last week, playing in his hometown,” Joe Musgrove said. “We're very grateful. We love to have him. He's really loved here, very similar to how he is in San Diego.”