With the clock ticking down on his illustrious career spanning over two decades on two continents, Korean baseball star Choo Shin-soo said Saturday he wants to keep his focus on his club making a late postseason push, not on his impending retirement.

Choo, the 42-year-old outfielder and designated hitter for the SSG Landers, had announced in December last year that the 2024 Korea Baseball Organization season would be the final one of his professional career. Choo played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2005 to 2020, before signing with the Landers in 2021.

This hasn’t exactly been a storybook season for the veteran, who, prior to Saturday, had only appeared in 77 of the Landers’ 136 games this year due to injuries.

The Landers still sought to honor him with a retirement ceremony before their final home game in Incheon, just west of Seoul, next week. But on Friday, the Landers said Choo wanted his ceremony pushed to next year, because he didn’t want to be a distraction during the club’s playoff fight down the stretch.

The Landers entered Saturday’s game against the KT Wiz ranked in sixth place, 1.5 games behind the Wiz for the fifth and final postseason spot with eight games remaining.

In his media availability at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, south of the capital, Choo insisted that he didn’t want to make the final stretch of the season about him.

“This is the time of the season when we have to focus on the task at hand, and I didn’t want my personal matter to get in the way of that. It made me feel uncomfortable,” Choo said. “And I’ve only been here for four seasons and I didn’t think I deserved a retirement ceremony. The team said they still wanted to honor me, but I didn’t want to be a burden.”

Choo said he wanted the ceremony to be his opportunity to thank Landers fans for their support, not an occasion where he will be feted.

Choo, who hasn’t played since Sept. 10, has been dealing with shoulder problems all season. He admitted that surgery may be the best course of action at this point.

“It’s been really tough fighting the same injury all year,” Choo said. “I am supposed to be battling opposing pitchers but I’ve been fighting with myself instead. This may 스포츠 sound cruel but I feel like the season has played out this way to force me to fall out of love with baseball. Otherwise, I would’ve wanted to stick around a bit more.”

When asked if every remaining game on the schedule felt precious to him, Choo said, “Honestly, I’ve got nothing personal at stake right now.”

“It’s not that important for me to get into games late in the season just because I am retiring. I am not as sharp as I’d like to be, anyway,” Choo said. “My teammates are playing really well and I don’t want to force my way into the lineup for personal reasons. If I felt like I could help the team, I would play. But I don’t want to play for anything personal.”

Choo said he is leaving the Landers secure in the knowledge that the future is in good hands, thanks to young players who have taken a big step forward this year.

“Those guys remind me of my younger days. I keep telling them to do their best and enjoy playing while they are healthy,” Choo said. “They wouldn’t know it now, but once they get hurt, they would realize how great it is to be in uniform and be on the field without injuries.”