Have you ever waited 23 years for something?

8,085 days. That is how long it took from the day a 19-year-old kid first stepped onto a pro field to the night he finally slipped on a championship ring. On the night of November 8, at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, the final out was recorded and Kang Min-ho threw both arms into the air. Asked how that moment felt, he said this: “I don’t remember. I keep trying, but I can’t remember.”

The Final Out, Both Arms in the Air

In Game 5 of the Korean Series — the KBO’s championship series — Samsung routed KT 12-1. After dropping Game 1, they won four straight. Beating regular-season champion KT, Samsung claimed its ninth championship in franchise history — the first in 12 years, since 2014.

Top of the ninth, two outs, nobody on. KT’s Jang Seong-woo stood in. Closer Chris Fedde’s fifth pitch, a 154 km/h (96 mph) fastball, caught the low outside corner. Strike three. Kang threw both arms up and cheered as every player poured onto the field.

The game had been decided long before. Samsung scored eight runs in the bottom of the fifth alone. With one out and the bases loaded, Kang’s grounder turned into a defensive error that brought two runners home; then, with runners on first and third, Kim Ji-chan’s two-run triple brought Kang and captain Koo Ja-wook home together. Starter Won Tae-in went five innings and gave up one run, and Fedde followed with four scoreless innings. Kang, batting ninth and starting at catcher, caught every one of those pitches.

The Injury He Never Mentioned — a Cracked Rib, a Torn Side

Only after the championship was sealed did he tell the story. The injury came just before Game 3 of the playoffs. While taking batting practice, his side suddenly hurt. After Game 4, he went for tests. His rib was cracked, and the muscle in his side was torn, with blood pooling inside.

Still, Kang never took off the mask. He played in every game of the Korean Series. In Game 4, he was left out of the starting lineup, then came in as a substitute in the fifth inning of a tight spot and put the mask back on.

“My body hurt, but I could still throw the ball, so I decided to just do the best I could. It was worth enduring it.”

His desperation showed all over the field. When his junior Won Tae-in started to lose steam on the mound, Kang told him: “There’s nobody behind you. You’ve got to stop them yourself. Even if you get hit, don’t run away.” Won, who became the winning pitcher in Game 5, said, “Min-ho’s grit was the engine of our team this fall — it gave us our momentum.”

All through the postseason, Kang walked alone, looked up at the sky, and prayed often. “I hoped my prayers would reach the sky. I was desperate.”

23 Years Without a Title — “I Just Want to Get a Whiff of the Korean Series”

Kang made his pro debut on September 19, 2004, with the Lotte Giants. He became the starting catcher in his third season, in 2006, and in 2008 he became the national team catcher and won gold at the Beijing Olympics. He won seven Golden Gloves at catcher — the award given to the best player at each position — and set the KBO record for most games played. He signed four free-agent contracts worth 21.1 billion won in total. Asian Games gold, a Premier12 title, a WBC runner-up finish — as a player, he had achieved everything. The Premier12 is a 12-nation tournament; the WBC, the World Baseball Classic, is baseball’s World Cup.

Everything except one thing. A championship ring.

In 14 years with Lotte, he never even reached the Korean Series. It got to the point where he said, “I just want to get a whiff of the Korean Series.” After the 2017 season, he exercised his second free-agent right and moved to Samsung. At the time, Samsung was a team sliding into darkness, with no clear successor after Jin Kab-yong retired.

In 2024, in his 21st year since debuting, he reached the Korean Series for the first time. But KIA beat them 4-1, and they finished as runners-up. Last year, they didn’t even get past the playoff threshold. This year, the chance came again.

At 41, Kang was still Kang. In the 2026 season, he played 111 games and hit .267 with 13 home runs, 58 RBIs, and a .798 OPS — on-base plus slugging, a quick measure of a hitter’s total production. While Samsung finished second in the regular season and went straight to the playoffs, then beat KIA 3-2 in the playoffs, he guarded home plate.

The Long Post — “I Woke Up From the Dream, and Yet I Feel Like I’m Still Dreaming”

Two days after the championship, on November 10, Kang posted a long message on his social media. It came with photos of the joy on the field, of him praying in front of the trophy, and of the celebration with his family.

“I woke up from the dream, and yet I feel like I’m still dreaming. It took 23 long years for this moment to come.”

He looked back on those 23 years. There were days so happy his chest felt like it would burst, and days so painful they were hard to endure. He was teased for never winning, and he heard countless times that “a team with me on it can’t win a championship.” “Those words hurt, but that’s why I wanted it more.”

“With not much of my baseball life left, the one dream I wanted to fulfill as a player, to the very end, was to meet the moment of winning while wearing a Samsung Lions uniform — and it finally came true.”

He ended by bowing to the fans. “The greatest pride of my life as a Samsung Lions player. Thank you for waiting 23 long years and believing in me to the end.”

When the post went up, captain Koo Ja-wook, the Korean Series MVP, left a comment. “Haha, hyung — 23 years is a long time.” With a blue heart.

The Ring Goes to the One Who Waits

“Today makes me happier than the Beijing Olympic gold medal — it’s not even close.”

Right after the championship, Kang shouted toward the stands: “I finally did it!” At the ceremony, his teammates tossed him in the air. And then, in a loud voice, he added one more line: “We did it, whatever it took!”

Twenty-three years. For some, that is far too long. But Kang’s ring only goes to the person who endured those 23 years. With a cracked rib and a torn side, wearing the mask for one reason alone — because he could still catch the ball. “So a day like this can come in my life, too.”

And you — is there something you are still waiting for? If so, remember this night. Kang just showed us, with his own body, that a day like that comes to the one who waits.

Sources: Sports Seoul (Park Jin-eop), 2026-11-10 / Sports Seoul (Kim Dong-young), 2026-11-09 / Money Today, 2026-11-08 / Xports News (Kim Ji-soo), 2026-11-09/10 / Yonhap News, 2026-11-09 (South Korea)