South Side Sox: All Posts by Eric SimThe best in White Sox coverage since 2005!https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/35559/southsidesox-fave.jpg2019-04-15T07:05:00-05:00https://www.southsidesox.com/authors/eric-sim/rss2019-04-15T07:05:00-05:002019-04-15T07:05:00-05:00Why I wouldn’t play professional baseball again, even if I had the chance
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<figcaption><strong>Done deal: </strong>In 2011, when Sim hit .350 with six homers in rookie ball, he was paid $2,800.</figcaption>
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<p>(Hint: I don’t want to be broke)</p> <p id="znZbo4">It’s true. </p>
<p id="M0W8Ta">I wouldn’t play professional baseball again, even if I had the chance.</p>
<p id="OzUxZ4">It’s a simple sentence, but it’s real. While it is more relatable to the current/former minor league baseball players who have been through it, it’s just as important for any baseball fans or kids to know about some of what you go through as a professional baseball player.</p>
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<p id="yTYiRt">Now, if you ask most, if not all, of the kids who are playing baseball right now if they would like to be a professional baseball player one day, the answer is going to be a “Hell yes!” And that’s great because, well, the more the younger generations love and play the game, the better it is for the future of baseball. </p>
<p id="Gkr3RF">However: Do they know how the MLB draft works? Or what the pay is like in the minor leagues? Or what the daily routine is like for a minor leaguer in-season and offseason? Or what kind of financial problems minor leaguers face on a daily basis? Or what it’s like playing a 7 p.m. game that finishes at 10 p.m. to get you out of the stadium by 11 p.m. to start a shitty 12-hour bus ride with 30-plus people and check-in to the hotel for a few hours before getting back on the field by 4 p.m. for another day of baseball?</p>
<p id="mrFLG1">Of course not.</p>
<p id="kk7uPK">I could probably come up with at least 69 reasons on why I would not play professional baseball again, even if I was given a pro contract right in front of me, but for this article’s sake I’m going to keep it to just three.</p>
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<h4 id="7E9UB5">Salary</h4>
<p id="u8OaXG">The salary is terrible. The worst year of pay I’ve received was in 2011, which was actually my best year of playing, stat-wise (.350, with six bombs, in rookie ball). Here is a quick breakdown:</p>
<p id="3U5pqj"><strong>Spring Training</strong> (one month) = $0 salary<br><strong>Extended Camp</strong> (two-and-a-half months) = $0 salary<br><strong>Rookie Ball AZL</strong> (two-and-a-half months) = $1,100/month from middle of June until end of August, about $2,800 total.<br><strong>Instructional Camp</strong> (one month) = $0 salary</p>
<p id="cyMNXm">So while getting paid as a professional baseball player in 2011, I received about $2,800, That’s for the year, people. Now I haven’t included meal money, which we receive around $20 per day from the team during spring training, extended camp, only road games in-season, and instructional camp. What I also haven’t included was the fact that from the $1,100/month, after taxes, fees, clubhouse dues (money we pay for the clubbie to do our laundry and other stuff), I was bringing home about $800 a month.</p>
<p id="sJNMcf">You could get a job at McDonald’s as a 16-year-old high-school kid with no skills other than a little bit of will to make some money, and make $2,800 in less than two months.</p>
<p id="rwucor">(And my highest-salaried year as a professional wasn’t much better than this, by the way.)</p>
<h4 id="OVUTLI">Job Security</h4>
<p id="7VoQJg">Job security is close to nonexistent. There are many, many ways for you to lose your job as a professional baseball player, such as injuries, age (if you are 25 as a professional baseball player, you are considered old), available roster spots, competition within the organization, what kind of numbers you put up, potential level, and more. In contrast, the only way for you to keep your job is to dominate every single year and even in doing so, you may not move up. </p>
<p id="Nu1zKb">I’ve witnessed, with my own eyes, lower-round picks repeating a level that they dominated in just because of politics within the organization. Unless you are a first round pick, or at most a pick in the top five rounds, you need to put up some serious numbers within two or three years, or you might be the one getting released in the offseason or the following year.</p>
<p id="3uiV7i">Now, I get that this is the highest level of competition there is for baseball, and I welcome the fact that the competition level is so high. But once again, what I have a problem with is the fact that they have to go through all of this shit while getting paid well below minimum wage.</p>
<h4 id="mDo79W">Lifestyle</h4>
<p id="JC2SMh">The 12-hour bus rides, being away from home for six or seven months of the year, living suitcase-to-suitcase where in most cases minor leaguers don’t even unpack because they can get called up or down in a matter of seconds, constant checking the bank account to see if you have enough money to eat and drink for the week, trying not to kill yourself in Low-A in Kannapolis where a baseball team shouldn’t even exist at all are disincentives to playing the game professionally.</p>
<p id="zrUFsL">I’m 30 years old.</p>
<p id="X3Qh1p">Fuck that noise.</p>
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<p id="x3doKX">You may be thinking, <em>c’mon, Sim just said 25 is old for a minor leaguer. He’s 30? Of course he wouldn’t sign a contract — no one would ever offer one. Dude probably can’t even get up off the couch any longer.</em></p>
<p id="P25dRS">Well, that’s not exactly right. You know that baseball training I’ve started back up? As fat and out of shape I am currently in, I can still put on some serious numbers. This latest round of baseball training has been a blast, and I’ll tell you about it some time.</p>
<p id="GwMaLR">You may or may not have to wait another three months. Only time will tell.</p>
https://www.southsidesox.com/2019/4/15/18307400/eric-sim-why-i-wouldnt-play-professional-baseball-again-even-if-i-had-the-chanceEric Sim2019-01-20T08:24:00-06:002019-01-20T08:24:00-06:00So you think it’s easy being a (broke) minor league baseball player ...
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<figcaption><strong>Minimum rage: </strong>$450 per paycheck ... where do I sign up?</figcaption>
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<p>Sim’s back, and he’s gonna set you straight</p> <p id="R3CRGF">I’m back.</p>
<p id="75DqA0">My name is Eric Sim, a salty Korean-Canadian, washed up ex-minor leaguer for the San Francisco Giants, who spent most of his career in Single-A. If you are not familiar with who I am (most of you are not going to be), that’s completely normal, because I’m a “nobody” who just happened to spend six years in the minors without making it to the big leagues. In fact, I wasn’t close to making it to the big leagues at all. Anyway, I’m on Twitter a lot so if you would like to follow, troll or whatever else your heart desires, you can do so at @esim3400.</p>
<p id="q0hE7I">I haven’t written much as of late, because I got busy at work (I manage a small bar in a small town in Canada) but with the start of 2019, I’ll do my best to contribute to South Side Sox from time to time.</p>
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<p id="SaVvFz">So, you think it’s easy being a minor league baseball player?</p>
<p id="SyKPrE">First of all, let me tell you about the process of becoming one.</p>
<p id="cWVoZ0">It starts with dominating your high school competition. If you didn’t get drafted out of high school, you have to be recruited by college coaches. Then, dominate in whatever junior college (JUCO) or four-year school (NCAA, NAIA) you attend. OK, now, dominate summer leagues. Hope by this time you have turned some eyes around and are scouted by a MLB organization, now you need to be healthy enough to be draft eligible. Next, get drafted (keep in mind, some talented players still don’t get chosen, even in a 1,000-plus pick MLB draft). And still, you’re not done yet, because, finally, you need to pass all the physicals the organization provides before signing a contract.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Interesting fact I learned tonight:<br><br>Of roughly 455,000 high school baseball players, 5.6% go on to play at the NCAA level.<br><br>Of that group, 10.5% will get drafted from the NCAA to a professional club.<br><br>Those able to make the leap from high school to the professional level? 0.5%.</p>— Emily Waldon (@EmilyCWaldon) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmilyCWaldon/status/1084229292802879489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a>
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<p id="8qn7Z2">So, congratulations, you beat the odds. Before you go pop champagne bottles because you made the elite group of the chosen 0.5%, I’m going to shatter your dream of being rich and famous. </p>
<p id="bsont8">Put that champagne away, because you can’t afford it, meat. </p>
<p id="cwcSV3">For your first year, you will spend the season (middle of June to end of August) with about $450 after tax and clubbie dues per paycheck. You will earn five checks over two-and-a-half months, so that’s $2,250 for the remainder of the year. </p>
<p id="X3OhZ4">If your family isn’t very wealthy or haven’t signed a big signing bonus in which is in most cases, you’ll need to start an offseason job right after the season. Well, not if you get invited to Instructional camp (which lasts a month, starting in mid-September), and you won’t be paid during the entire month either. Shut up and take your $20 per day meal money, meat.</p>
<p id="osW5S3">Damn, that was a long half-year making just more than $2,000. The good news is now you have from November through end of February — four months — to get a job. Next time you go in for a job interview let me know how easy getting a job is when you are only going to be able to work for four months, at the most. Most likely, you won’t be able to find a decent-paying job, so you will have to stick with giving baseball lessons, or very simple (i.e., low-paying) jobs. </p>
<p id="2TkyP9">Now, while you do whatever it takes to save up a bit of money for the upcoming season, I still need you to work out two hours a day, train for baseball two to three hours a day (pitching or hitting), sleep eight to 10 hours a day for maximum recovery, eat five to six quality meals a day, and other fun activities such as position-based conditioning, meal prepping, and so on.</p>
<p id="Joj028">Still think it’s easy being a broke minor leaguer?</p>
<p id="4aWfYo">Think again.</p>
https://www.southsidesox.com/2019/1/20/18190300/eric-sim-so-you-think-its-easy-being-a-broke-minor-league-baseball-playerEric Sim2018-09-04T07:42:02-05:002018-09-04T07:42:02-05:00At the end of the season, the real work for minor leaguers begins
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<figcaption><strong>Brutal Artistry: </strong>Think a 9-to-5 is a drag? Try 16-hour days, six days a week — during your “vacation.”</figcaption>
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<p>Think it’s all sandy beaches and piña coladas for the pros? Not quite</p> <p id="wyHvRC">It’s the start of September, and that means the gruesomely long minor league regular season is coming to an end. It’s time for all of the minor leaguers take a vacation down to the Caribbean somewhere for five months, get ready for the season drinking piña coladas, eat whatever the hell they want to, and run on sandy beaches chasing down girls in bikinis to get in shape ...</p>
<p id="q9ETes">I really wish it was true, and I would make a damn comeback right now if it was, but unfortunately, that is not the case. In fact, far from it. Let me share how my offseasons went during my time as a starving minor leaguer.</p>
<p id="YyaKy4">I would usually get home for the offseason in early September, and continue to work out and practice for the upcoming instructional league (I have played in four instructional leagues, unfortunately), which starts in the middle of September and finishes in the middle of October. It’s an invitation-only camp, where you don’t get paid other than meal money, just like spring training, and grind it out for another month — just like spring training. Spending a month of your valuable offseason in the instructional league means less time spent seeing your family or friends, at the gym, or working offseason jobs.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="f3DYmr"><q>Someone once told me that playing in the instructional league makes some kind of impression on the front office and coaches about your future (aka, where you are starting next season), but let me tell you what the best impression you make to them is: Put up numbers. </q></aside></div>
<p id="AWxnOb">Someone once told me that playing in the instructional league makes some kind of impression on the front office and coaches about your future (aka, where you are starting next season), but let me tell you what the best impression you make to them is: Put up numbers.</p>
<p id="ETtmWt">Anyway, after a long, dreadful year of playing baseball while getting paid less than poverty wages, plus a <em>bonus </em>month of playing in the instructional league where the only money you see is $20 for meals, you’re finally home. </p>
<p id="cF7zQI">In mid-October, after the instructional league, I always took a few weeks completely off from baseball because it was the only two weeks I didn’t have to think about baseball and keep my sanity. Again, my love for the game of baseball is not as high as yours (and that would be an understatement), but living and breathing baseball for 52 weeks per year might make anybody crazy.</p>
<p id="ZICzks">Well, after a long and hungover break of 14 days or so, it is now November, and you need to start getting your shit together for next year. This was my daily and weekly schedule in the offseason:</p>
<ul>
<li id="EWwyYJ">Wake up at 6 a.m.</li>
<li id="ovgsor">Cook all of my meals</li>
<li id="ygcw89">Eat meal No. 1 (I didn’t eat breakfast lunch dinner, I ate meals number 1 through 6)</li>
<li id="QwQOyU">Hit the gym from 8-10 a.m.</li>
<li id="ukAsxm">Eat meal No. 2</li>
<li id="vJnM5s">Train at a local baseball facility in my hometown from 12-3 p.m. (not your normal 10 minutes of playing catch ... I had a personalized throwing program from the nerds at Driveline)</li>
<li id="Xn9PFg">During this time, meal Nos. 3 and 4 have been crushed</li>
<li id="MAWVmQ">Give baseball lessons at the facility from 4-7 p.m. while eating meal No. 5</li>
<li id="dLo3cH">Follow the conditioning program I created from watching YouTube videos from 7-8 p.m. </li>
<li id="xgRcxp">Go home and eat my last meal of the day</li>
<li id="5qH4Nj">Go to sleep by 10 p.m. so that I can get my eight hours of sleep</li>
</ul>
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<figcaption>Derek and Eric fuel up for a six-hour round trip ...</figcaption>
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<p id="exhTpc">Now, I would do that Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, me and one of my best pals, Derek Florko (Twitter @sabercoach), had a different routine: </p>
<ul>
<li id="kXc2O5">Pick up some Timbits from Tim Hortons (Canadian Starbucks)</li>
<li id="hx3LXQ">Start driving at 9 a.m. from home in Canada</li>
<li id="5Ktafq">Get to Kent, Wash. by noon (three-hour drive on average) to train at a facility called Driveline (I’ll do an article about them soon)</li>
<li id="BRjNBF">Go through my throwing protocol by 3 p.m., supervised by their trainers (I call them nerds)</li>
<li id="a1ZYfM">Video work for an hour or so with the trainers (again, nerds. They also have really expensive cameras that give you direct and in-depth feedback on every throw you make)</li>
<li id="WdAHfC">Get through a workout by 6 p.m.</li>
<li id="lZVim9">Hang out with the boys until around 7 p.m.</li>
<li id="NRi8OJ">Realize that we have to drive three hours to get back to Canada</li>
<li id="aRVk2H">Drive three hours to arrive home at around 10 p.m. or so</li>
</ul>
<p id="GOBZ8f">Thursday was pretty much the same as Monday and Tuesday, and then I took the weekend to rest ...</p>
<p id="43Qjy3">Just kidding.</p>
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<figcaption>Eat. Lift. Throw. Commute. Pour. Rinse. Repeat.</figcaption>
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<p id="zSJgBP">This was how my Friday went:</p>
<ul>
<li id="PHDGxt">Wake up at 5 a.m.</li>
<li id="5QlxWk">Cook all my meals and eat</li>
<li id="5ncNjK">Gym from 6-8 a.m.</li>
<li id="q0oc8x">Throwing protocol from 8-11 a.m.</li>
<li id="h6l0H7">Take the ferry from the mainland (Vancouver) to Vancouver Island at 12:45 p.m.</li>
<li id="iTHcrG">At 3:30 p.m. get to work (bartending at the family business, where I am managing currently after retiring from baseball)</li>
<li id="NUCxMY">Start my bar shift at 4 p.m.</li>
<li id="nLkc65">Finish my shift by midnight.</li>
</ul>
<p id="ZHAJL0">Saturday was my favorite day, because I could sleep in a bit, work out (yes, I had two gym memberships in two different cities) and train for baseball until around 3 p.m., start my bar shift at 4 p.m. and finish around midnight.</p>
<p id="8KGRbV">Sunday was my rest day, where I would work the day shift (10:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.), take the 5:45 p.m. ferry back home, be home by 8 p.m., and enjoy the rested but not-so-rested off-day.</p>
<p id="3dAGZf">Monday, start the whole routine all over again.</p>
<p id="belshg">I have numerous offseason stories, like when I missed my ferry like 69 times, showed up late for my shifts so I would just change into my work clothes in the car, or that time I couldn’t afford two gym memberships so I would wait until some random person from the gym showed up with the key then I would follow them in. But I would rather keep them to myself, at least for now.</p>
<p id="cwILon">No, you idiot, we do not live the dream.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="pxoJC3"><q>Being a professional baseball player is a combination of long hours spent at the gym, the field, and work to stay alive. But guess what, there are 160 others who are going to put in just as much work, dedication, and self-discipline in the offseason to take your job away in spring training.</q></aside></div>
<p id="8Kirsv">Being a professional baseball player is a combination of long hours spent at the gym, the field, and work to stay alive. But guess what, there are 160 others who are going to put in just as much work, dedication, and self-discipline in the offseason to take your job away in spring training. You just have to find a way to beat them, somehow, while trying not to be so broke that you can’t afford offseason supplements (oh, I forgot to tell you, I spent $300-plus per month on NSF certified supplements).</p>
<p id="QWpcEI">You ask why I have utmost respect for minor league baseball players, even if they don’t sniff any big-league time?</p>
<p id="I6GRV5">They go through all that shit like their lives depended on it, just for that very slim chance of making it to the big leagues one day, that’s why.</p>
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<p id="9tBcO8"><em>Eric Sim is a salty Korean-Canadian who played six seasons in the minors and touched Triple-A ball in 2012 (owns a career average of .500 ... 2-for-4). He’s the first Korean-Canadian ever drafted, and he doesn’t care if you’re not impressed by that, because he doesn’t really care about anything. He uses vulgar words a lot (on an hourly basis, really), so if you’re not OK with that, you can stop reading and go read some other shit written by some nobody like him. But you shouldn’t do that, because he has a shit-ton of stories and experiences from his 20-year, washed-up baseball career (started at age seven, hung up the cleats at age 27, should’ve hung them up at 23, though). He operates a hilarious and thought-provoking Twitter feed @ESim3400, so follow, if you want. When not dropping wisdom about his glorious days in the lowest of A’s, Sim currently manages a bar in small-town Canada, and makes a lot more money than he made playing baseball.</em></p>
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https://www.southsidesox.com/2018/9/4/17816380/at-the-end-of-the-season-the-real-work-for-minor-leaguers-begins-eric-simEric Sim2018-08-27T07:33:01-05:002018-08-27T07:33:01-05:00What happens when you retire from the minor leagues?
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<figcaption><strong>Yes, Virginia: </strong>There is life after baseball.</figcaption>
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<p>Like any career change, it can lead to unexpectedly great things</p> <p id="mJ5yOb">So, what happens when you retire from the minor leagues?</p>
<p id="JBfR2d">You become a loser at life ...</p>
<p id="8NRpeP">I’m just joking. In fact, you will probably be in much more stable condition than you were in as a minor league baseball player. Before we go any further, let me just tell you briefly about how today was for me to make sure that being a normal human being isn’t piece of cake either. As a retired minor league nobody turned bar manager, I woke up at 8 a.m., went to work (I run a hotel restaurant/bar in a small town on Vancouver Island, Canada), did a bunch of shit you probably don’t care about until around 2 p.m., came home, crushed McDonald’s, napped until 5 p.m., woke my fat ass up and helped dinner service until around 9 p.m., just got home (which right now is 9:15 p.m.), and am currently drinking an energy drink and typing this damn article because I have a deadline to meet for my editor Brett Ballantini (@SouthSideSox) which I’m already late for, as this will probably get published early tomorrow (sorry, Brett). So no you don’t just get to work minimal hours a day and live a fairy tail life.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="S0hV7N"><q>While I was playing baseball professionally (something tons of people dream of doing, which I don’t really understand), I was always jealous of my high school friends who had normal jobs, getting normal pay, and would go for a good drink after a long day of work.</q></aside></div>
<p id="et0x2c">Shit, I have a regular job now, living a somewhat normal life — and I have always dreamed of it. Real talk: While I was playing baseball professionally (something tons of people dream of doing, which I don’t really understand), I was always jealous of my high school friends who had normal jobs, getting normal pay, and would go for a good drink after a long day of work. Man, I was fucking jealous of that. Now I am living it and it is pretty damn cool. Let’s be real, I ain’t trying to be a millionaire here, I actually think if I became a millionaire I would probably do a whole lot of crazy stuff I probably cannot include in this article, and which could reduce my life expectancy by 30 years. I just need to make enough so that I don’t “suffer” and trust me I am doing much better now than when I played baseball.</p>
<p id="vDSGnv">Well, anyway, let me tell you what I went through after the “call.” I was released during the offseason via phone call (in November, which is actually ideal, if you’re gonna get released, because you can still train your ass off and have a chance to get picked up during the remainder of the offseason, whereas getting released after spring training leaves you no one to play for with the season starting in just weeks). I kept on training at Driveline, and got picked up by an Indy ball team. I played a few months of the season in Winnipeg, got released (understandably, because I walked every hitter I faced), played a few months of semi-pro league (got shelled, facing 18-year-olds), came home and hung up my cleats.</p>
<p id="QLpfJJ">I was 27 at the time, had no idea what I was going to do, and it was over, just like that. I really wanted to take some time off from everything ... but nope, I was broke and hopped on the bar shifts shortly after I got home.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="evPtk1"><q>I knew it was time to move on. I’m a realist. I was a 27-year-old right-handed reliever, throwing 93-95 mph with zero off-speed, and control issues. Could I have kept on training and tried to find a place to play somewhere? Probably. Did I want to? Hell, no.</q></aside></div>
<p id="CFEb88">When you decide to not play again, well, that is it, man. It’s time to close the yearbook. I have seen quite a few people hang up the cleats and try to play again later, but for me, I knew it was time to move on. I’m a realist. I was a 27-year-old right-handed reliever, throwing 93-95 mph with zero off-speed, and control issues. Could I have kept on training and tried to find a place to play somewhere? Probably. Did I want to? Hell, no.</p>
<p id="aB4ps1">[Just a heads-up here, if you haven’t read my previous articles, I am quite sour about everything. Not in a I-want-to-kill-myself-and-everyone-around-me kind of way, but more of a hey-guys-I-went-through-this-FML-haha kind of way. Don’t get confused here, though, I will cherish my minor league experiences forever, still love the boys — well, all of them except Ryan Honeycutt, who was in my draft class and was my roommate for like four years, I hate him — and will help me as I mature.]</p>
<p id="j6AR0V">When I retired, I could’ve jumped into coaching or something related to baseball, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to start fresh, doing something different, with new scenery. So far, managing a bar is something I thoroughly have enjoyed doing. I have already hired, fired, thrown events, handled functions, redone drink and food menus, scheduled, ordered liquor, set up banquets, catered, controlled the POS (point of sale) system, and more.</p>
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</figure>
<p id="oIlSU2">I also have made some goals to get better at this career, as I would like to work at a five-star restaurant as a sommelier one day. If you are not familiar with the term sommelier, it’s those assholes that wear a fancy suit and when you ask one question about what wine you would like to drink, they give you million stories you don’t care about them. I have been studying wine lately, and have received WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) wine Level 1 certification, and am currently studying for the Level 2 test this December. I also make some pretty cool cocktails on Instagram so you can see it for yourself @esim3400. Getting away from baseball was the best choice I have ever made, because I am truly excited for what is ahead of me instead of grasping onto a string of my career as a baseball player.</p>
<p id="2uWgl4">Everyone has their own paths, but don’t be scared to try other things, my minor league friends. Even if you fail, who gives a shit, it isn’t going to be much tougher than what you went through in the minor leagues, I assure you. You will actually be surprised to find out what you are capable of doing beyond just playing baseball.</p>
<p id="aKVeve">At the end of the day, baseball is just a game and no one will play forever. Enjoy the ride and always know that there is a lot more life after baseball.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="spL3Zo">
<p id="9tBcO8"><em>Eric Sim is a salty Korean-Canadian who played six seasons in the minors and touched Triple-A ball in 2012 (owns a career average of .500 ... 2-for-4). He’s the first Korean-Canadian ever drafted, and he doesn’t care if you’re not impressed by that, because he doesn’t really care about anything. He uses vulgar words a lot (on an hourly basis, really), so if you’re not OK with that, you can stop reading and go read some other shit written by some nobody like him. But you shouldn’t do that, because he has a shit-ton of stories and experiences from his 20-year, washed-up baseball career (started at age seven, hung up the cleats at age 27, should’ve hung them up at 23, though). He operates a hilarious and thought-provoking Twitter feed @ESim3400, so follow, if you want. When not dropping wisdom about his glorious days in the lowest of A’s, Sim currently manages a bar in small-town Canada, and makes a lot more money than he made playing baseball.</em></p>
<p id="9QKvHD"></p>
<p id="7cImFr"></p>
https://www.southsidesox.com/2018/8/27/17785458/what-happens-when-you-retire-from-the-minor-leagues-eric-simEric Sim2018-08-20T07:46:00-05:002018-08-20T07:46:00-05:00Why I was broke as a minor league baseball player
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<figcaption><strong>Final Countdown: </strong>Whether Sim’s career was ultimately a success or not, he can always say he was drafted just 827 players later than Bryce Harper.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Justifying below-poverty level salary for most, just because of the few who sign for the money people dream of, is wrong</p> <div id="NawSVN">
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kids: I wanna play professional baseball!<br><br>Me: ok how come?<br><br>Kids: I wanna make money!<br><br>Me: hold up u tryna make money?<br><br>Kids: Ya!<br><br>Me: r u a first round material? or at least top 10 rd?<br><br>Kids: probably not...<br><br>Me: Stfu n goto school u little bitch</p>— Eric Sim (@esim3400) <a href="https://twitter.com/esim3400/status/1031351805362335745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2018</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I just worked a 8hr bar shift, long day at the office, it got busy so it was a stressful environment, just got off work n too tired to do anything...<br><br>Is it worth it?<br><br>Fuck ya I made money!<br><br>Do u miss ball?<br><br>Fuck no I don’t miss being broke!</p>— Eric Sim (@esim3400) <a href="https://twitter.com/esim3400/status/1031069409773682688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2018</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I did all the kid camps n other shit in the minor leagues not because I genuinely wanted to but because I was broke n team was paying $20 to do them.<br><br>Don’t make us do it, make it for us to want to do it.<br><br>I have a heart too when I’m not broke AF.</p>— Eric Sim (@esim3400) <a href="https://twitter.com/esim3400/status/1030871221401833472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2018</a>
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<p id="pDSGqk">So I’ve been recently tweeting about how much we were getting paid in the minor leagues. Now a lot of people have their own ideas on how much we were being paid, or should get paid, then when I tell them exactly what we were getting paid, they all seemed very surprised. The craziest part is that for us, it’s the norm, so we just accepted reality and survived with what we had.</p>
<p id="4ilq4c">Along with the surprised reactions, the responses I usually got were either</p>
<ul>
<li id="tVXvSt">“You signed up for it, I would pay money to be in your position” or </li>
<li id="El6UcK">“Holy shit, that doesn’t seem fair at all”</li>
</ul>
<p id="i541vh">Well, the good thing about Twitter is that everybody voices their opinions with zero intention of trying to understand or hear each other. So fuck everyone, here is the truth and my opinion.</p>
<p id="LpbEWb">Let’s break it down.</p>
<p id="90rPQk">Real talk, I am a 27th round nobody, who signed for $15,000. If I was a first rounder who signed a $3.5 million contract, we probably won’t be having this talk right now. In fact, there is a very good chance that I would not be writing articles, period, and would be in the Caribbean somewhere drinking a Tiki cocktail at an all-inclusive resort.</p>
<p id="7L1117">Now, after taxes and all, I received a little more than $11,000. Is it better than nothing? Yes. Is it enough for a guy to survive six years in the minor leagues? No. I spent all of the signing bonus within three years of my minor league career.</p>
<p id="B6FgHq">Quick little story, when I got drafted, my locker mate was drafted a lot higher than me, I opened up my signing bonus check (the team splits the signing bonus in half — they give you the first half when you sign, other half next spring training), which was little over $5000, I was like, <em>damn that’s a lot of money</em>, then I looked at my buddy, and his was over $400,000, I quickly closed my check, began wondering about what went wrong.</p>
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<p id="UnRRik">This was the contract I signed in 2010. So from mid-June 2010 when I signed until the end of August, I got paid less than $3,000. I went home for a little bit until Instructional league started in early October, was there in camp until the end of October, of course without pay (other than meal money), was invited to November camp for 10 days also without pay, ran those damn stairs on second deck at AT&T Park (we counted over 4,000 of them), came home and started working right away giving baseball lessons at a local baseball facility because I had to.</p>
<p id="adxDEt">My first full season in 2011 wasn’t any better, either. I started the year without pay during spring training (month of March), got stuck in extended camp (guys who didn’t make full-season teams) from April until the June draft without pay, then again got paid less than $3,000 from June until the end of August, just like 2010. I did the whole Instructional League thing without pay again, came home for the offseason, and had to find a job right away — which again was giving baseball lessons.</p>
<p id="FxpVlG">If you say anything about how I missed counting all the glorious $20 meal money I received, I will find you on Twitter and troll the shit out of you.</p>
<p id="Lof4ys">In 2012, I finally got the hell out of extended and made the full season team in Low A in Augusta, Ga. I most definitely thought I would be saving a bit of money now, because I was getting paid ... not so fast.</p>
<p id="J2ppLU">My paycheck was around $460 after taxes and clubhouse dues, so do the math: $920 a month, minus rent at the apartment, where it was seven of us staying at a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment where we paid around $300 a month, plus utilities. Also, when you first get there you have to buy essentials to live such as a bed, bed sheets, pillow, pillow cases, bathroom stuff, shower curtains, etc. Let’s not forget groceries, roughly around $400 a month. It’s safe to say that I did not make <em>any</em> money during my time in Disgusta (that’s what we called Augusta because it was so miserable).</p>
<p id="VKJjYX">I really don’t even want to get into 2013-on, because all it’s going to do is make me sad and prove my point clear.</p>
<p id="O2B7XL">Yes, there are dudes that sign million-dollar contracts, but the majority of us don’t. Yes, there is a chance for you to make it to MLB and make really good money, but the majority of us don’t. To justify the below-poverty level salary for minor league players just because of the few who sign for the money people dream of, and the few that make it to the show and live the dream, I just don’t completely agree with. Money is being made from major league organizations and also from the farm teams (attendance, gear, etc...). They should make it better for the players so that playing professional baseball (even in the minor leagues) is a real career all kids strive for.</p>
<p id="6a6EFA">Do it for the kids, man.</p>
<p id="K1Xxlv">Pay minor leaguers more.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="Lamph3">
<p id="9tBcO8"><em>Eric Sim is a salty Korean-Canadian who played six seasons in the minors and touched Triple-A ball in 2012 (owns a career average of .500 ... 2-for-4). He’s the first Korean-Canadian ever drafted, and he doesn’t care if you’re not impressed by that, because he doesn’t really care about anything. He uses vulgar words a lot (on an hourly basis, really), so if you’re not OK with that, you can stop reading and go read some other shit written by some nobody like him. But you shouldn’t do that, because he has a shit-ton of stories and experiences from his 20-year, washed-up baseball career (started at age seven, hung up the cleats at age 27, should’ve hung them up at 23, though). He operates a hilarious and thought-provoking Twitter feed @ESim3400, so follow, if you want. When not dropping wisdom about his glorious days in the lowest of A’s, Sim currently manages a bar in small-town Canada, and makes a lot more money than he made playing baseball.</em></p>
<p id="nzuM3B"></p>
https://www.southsidesox.com/2018/8/20/17750266/why-i-was-broke-as-a-minor-league-baseball-player-eric-simEric Sim2018-08-13T08:00:01-05:002018-08-13T08:00:01-05:00Beware the ides of August
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<p>When the dog days strike the minor leagues, minor leaguers strike back</p> <p id="t88ZOg"><em>Hi again, my name is Eric Sim, a salty, Korean-Canadian, ex-minor leaguer, who spent most of his career in the lowest of A’s. If you are not familiar with who I am (most of you are not going to be), that’s completely normal because I am a so-called “nobody” who just happened to spend six years in the minor leagues without ever making it to the big leagues. In fact, I wasn’t even all that close to making it.</em></p>
<p id="P2ENYc"><em>The thing you should know about me though is that I use vulgar words a lot (on an hourly basis, really) and I fucking love it. But if you’re not OK with that, you’re probably not going to like my writing.</em></p>
<p id="Vc1L2Q"><em>Anyway, I am here to share some of the stories and experiences from my 20-year, washed-up baseball career (started at age seven, hung up the cleats at age 27, should’ve hung them up at age 23, though), and the only good thing about that is I have a shit-ton of stories and experiences to share with you.</em></p>
<p id="NHu8y6"><em>I also am quite active on Twitter, as I am retired from baseball now and have nothing better to do. If you would like to follow, troll, or whatever the fuck else your heart desires, you can do so at @esim3400.</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="LtgvEW">
<p id="mu1i3K">Anyways it’s August already, and I felt like writing about the “August-ass.”</p>
<p id="MKBSCV">The term August-ass defines the majority of (if not all) minor league baseball players, as they become super salty during the month of August. Whether it’s from being away from home too long; playing glorious minor league baseball 28-30 days a month since March; seeing shitty stats of yourself hitting .069 every day on the Jumbotron and realizing it’s getting close to the end of season so you are most likely going to have to wear it this year and prepare to possibly be released at the end of the season; facing little injuries, like sprained wrists, to bigger injuries, like every time you throw a baseball it feels like your UCL is about to rip into 420 pieces; taking 12-hour, overnight bus rides after a 7 p.m. game that lasted 3 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> hours with 25 other testosterone- and odor-filled men, then waking up after sleeping three hours from the not-so Super 8 Motel and playing the same day; trying to get on the same page with your coaches but they just tell you to work hard and it’ll be fine; having a stupid roommate wherever the team sends you, even though you are a grown-ass man at 25 years old; surviving daily with a healthy dose of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches; losing eight pounds of water from catching a game in Georgia heat, then getting muscle cramps walking up the stairs trying go to your apartment, only to find out your roommate didn’t do the dishes nor threw the trash out so you have to do it; or checking your bank account to see if somehow the team made a mistake and deposited an extra paycheck, but finding out they paid you the right amount and even withdrew the right amount of state taxes out from the three different states you played for this season.</p>
<p id="sFIIUH">No one really knows the exact reason for August-ass, and it’s practically incurable.</p>
<p id="fSxMak">Now, when you get the August-ass, you, sir, and the rest of your teammates, are totally fucked. You become so extremely sensitive about everything that even the smallest little things will make you go completely berserk, like that one time when my shitty roommate farted out of nowhere. I was totally chill until then, and when that fart broke loose the amount of anger that flowed through my body was incomprehensible. We actually got into an intense argument for hours about who farts more and whose stink more, and by the end of the argument we were already too in too deep attacking each other’s best kept secrets and family members for any kind of solution — so we just didn’t talk to each other for a month.</p>
<p id="6ySncm">Sometimes, in my experience, August-ass has a direct correlation to an actual ass, where farts occur.</p>
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<p id="vCv8zf">FYI, I like memes too.</p>
<p id="Fupb0e">As I mentioned above, there are a lot of ways you can get the August-ass. So the question is: What can you do to fix it?</p>
<p id="nV4zgo">The answer is: Pay all minor leaguers more.</p>
<p id="bXLktP">Problem solved.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="TCMO5P">
<p id="Lamph3"><em>Eric Sim played six seasons in the minors and touched Triple-A ball in 2012 (owns a career average of .500 ... 2-for-4, oops). He’s the first Korean-Canadian ever drafted, and he doesn’t care if you’re not impressed by that, because he doesn’t really care about anything. He operates a hilarious and thought-provoking Twitter feed @ESim3400, so follow, if you want. When not dropping wisdom about his glorious days in the minor leagues, Sim currently manages a bar in small-town Canada, and makes a lot more money than he made playing baseball.</em></p>
<p id="L3xGbj"></p>
https://www.southsidesox.com/2018/8/13/17664934/beware-the-ides-of-august-eric-sim-had-some-gasEric Sim2018-08-06T07:58:01-05:002018-08-06T07:58:01-05:00Growing up and learning to play in South Korea
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OeFN70njZET1y6jkrr4k0gLEb4o=/0x217:2668x1996/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60723591/IMG_5912.0.jpg" />
<figcaption><strong>Drilled: </strong>With all the practice Sim was put through in South Korea, it’s a wonder he had enough focus to hit at all.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Eric Sim, South Side Sox’s newest writer, gives his harrowing baseball origin story — with a wince and a smile</p> <p id="t88ZOg">Editor’s Note: <em>Early this season I started noticing tweets from a very insightful and funny Twitter feed, written up by an ex-pro named Eric Sim. I thought then that I’d love to see him stretch out and write longer than 280 characters. More recently, I thought, why shouldn’t that stretching out happen here on the pages of </em>South Side Sox?<em> </em></p>
<p id="VKqoBp"><em>So, guess what? I’ve promised everyone surprises along the way, and there will always be more to come. But I’m happy to announce that Sim will be contributing his special brand of essays to our pages on a monthly basis.</em></p>
<p id="rict3k"><em>Now, Sim has no connection to Chicago, but given that he not so long ago lived the same grinding lifestyle as so many of the </em><a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/"><em>White Sox</em></a><em> prospects we are tracking every day here, he’s here to provide some illumination on that life. And my guess is he’s going to make you laugh — and think a little, too.</em></p>
<p id="0yUsaz"><em>Just a heads-up, like the majority of professional athletes — even those with Bible verses on their Twitter bios — Sim is a bit salty. If colorful language offends your sensibilities, do yourself a favor and skip to our next article. </em></p>
<p id="ZiY56F"><em>But now, without further delay, please give a warm welcome to our newest writer, straight outta the Great White Pacific Northwest, former catcher-turned-pitcher, Eric Sim!</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="uSG8hd">
<p id="3mq0Bu">Hi, my name is Eric Sim, a washed-up minor leaguer nobody who spent the majority of my career in glorious Low-A ball.</p>
<p id="wcVulV">Here’s a little bit about me: </p>
<p id="ZasIAa">I was born in South Korea, played Little League baseball and some middle school baseball there, got beat up every single day by coaches because that’s just what they do down there, was over that shit so immigrated to Canada, and played high school ball in British Columbia.</p>
<p id="ZI04Vk">After that, I went to JUCO in bumfuck nowhere, Kansas, for two years, was recruited to play at the University of South Florida in Tampa for a year, got drafted as a junior, signed the minor league a.k.a. slave contract, played from June 2010 through September 2015 as both a catcher and pitcher, and got released in November 2015 via phone call. </p>
<p id="KAsZEx">I didn’t have a job until March 2016, when I signed an Indy ball contract based on a bullpen video I made while throwing at Driveline baseball ( punched 95 mph ), got released by the team in two months because I walked a shit ton of hitters, played in a semipro league in Seattle while training at Driveline, last hitter I ever faced was during the NB<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">C World Seri</a>es where we played against the Kansas Stars (made up of all former big leaguers) and pitched t<span>o Jason Marqu</span>is (former big league pitcher, who was hitting for fun), threw one fastball, gave up a single up the middle, got pulled, flew back home, and hung up my cleats.</p>
<p id="IIBR2b">Yes, I have been through a lot.</p>
<p id="d47VD4">Also, just a friendly reminder that English is my second language, my GPA is 2.5 on a good day, I took gerontology as a major at USF because I told my athletic advisor I hated school and just wanted to focus on baseball, so he picked gerontology out of the hat for me.</p>
<p id="6p8wqd">I have never written an article of any sort, so if you have a problem with that, just don’t @ me on Twitter (@esim3400 if you want to anyways).</p>
<p id="YprlEL">So, let’s begin where everything started.</p>
<p id="ReCpiP">I was born in Busan, South Korea, where I lived until I was 13 before immigrating to Canada. I started playing baseball in Korea because I was a fat kid and my parents wanted me to exercise to lose some damn weight; it wasn’t my choice.</p>
<p id="1wSFOD">I started playing in Little League and was pretty good, so I joined a team where I had to take a bus an hour and a half to the field, one way. Apparently they were the best team in the area, but who gives a shit because, well, it’s Little League.</p>
<p id="hT4G6S">Now, playing baseball in South Korea is something else ... none of you will understand.</p>
<p id="XUqxTE">This was our schedule — and mind you, I was nine years old:</p>
<ul>
<li id="TQef5H">Take the bus for an hour and a half after school, arrive by 4 p.m.</li>
<li id="pZi77m">Change and get ready for practice.</li>
<li id="eHTVKJ">Warm up 20 laps on the field (30-45 minutes of jogging at a pretty fast speed, I wouldn’t be able to do half of that today).</li>
<li id="kh927Q">Play catch.</li>
<li id="WkHobp">Catch pens (I was a catcher, because I was the fattest one).</li>
<li id="AjDrjN">Take infield and outfield for an hour. (I was 9 years old. It was ridiculous.)</li>
<li id="CejbFU">Batting practice.</li>
<li id="H0TVbs">Cool down (10 laps on the field).</li>
<li id="eIXzRb">Team meal (our parents all rotated on a daily basis to serve food for all the players — not volunteered, mandatory).</li>
<li id="97Ezb7">Go home (I lived the farthest away, so another hour and a half on the bus).</li>
<li id="QbSnyT">Get home by around 9 p.m. and cry, because I hated my life as a nine-year-old.</li>
<li id="gSfJWH">Sleep.</li>
<li id="K9xYSm">Wake up the next day, repeat.</li>
</ul>
<p id="JGAmMz">One thing that kept me going was thinking, “Well, it can’t get any worse than this.”</p>
<p id="drHLxS">Then middle school baseball happened.</p>
<p id="7tFevC">This is what I got to experience in one year of middle-school baseball, before fleeing the country to get the fuck out of that system. My schedule went like this, no lie:</p>
<ul>
<li id="RcpXZR">Show up to school at 7 a.m., in a baseball uniform.</li>
<li id="JA4qhg">Show up to class for attendance check, the only time we spend in the classroom (roughly 15 minutes).</li>
<li id="66l40L">Go to the locker room and eat as a team (again prepared by our parents — not volunteered, mandatory).</li>
<li id="bqKZ9L">Warm up (countless laps on the field, the amount depending on what kind of mood the coach was in).</li>
<li id="3zMLmw">Play catch for at least an hour, during which coach will be right there yelling at you. If you fuck up and miss your spots, he will beat you up with the fungo he always carries.</li>
<li id="Rx2wTP">Take infield and outfield for about an hour, and during that time, we got beat up the most. (What I mean by getting beat up: The coach calls you in, you run as hard as you can to him, get in the push-up position, he swings the fucking fungo and hits you on the hamstring area, you run back to your position.)</li>
<li id="6V6pOC">By then it’s noon, eat lunch.</li>
<li id="IcRlC3">Take a team nap for an hour in the locker room, where we kept blankets and stuff.</li>
<li id="7am65c">Back to the field from around 2-8 p.m., playing catch again, taking batting practice for hours and hours, doing team defense drills, and any extra work that coaches felt like, while also beating us up during all of it.</li>
<li id="fJEG7E">Eat dinner.</li>
<li id="ygUjfF">Go to a nearby sauna as a team, where all the fatties (including me, of course) had to get in the hottest tub (there are different tubs, at different temperatures) for 20 minutes to lose weight (I once passed out in the tub).</li>
<li id="xB8Fnl">Get in the hottest sauna for 20 minutes, also to lose weight.</li>
<li id="Q4xHHb">Go home ( I once again had to take a bus 45 minutes to get home by 10 p.m., and I used to get beat up so much that I couldn’t sit on the bus seat because it would hurt so bad, so I’d just stand the entire way home).</li>
<li id="c4QG7k">Get home and cry to my parents.</li>
<li id="V6XC3I">Sleep.</li>
<li id="MMR1sH">Get up at 6 a.m., repeat</li>
</ul>
<p id="sEAmU2">Then we moved to Canada. I’d go to school from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., practice from 5-7 p.m. with the nicest Canadians (who were always smiling and having fun) on a nice grass field (it was all dirt fields in Korea), and went home.</p>
<p id="0ZFrl9">Canada 1, South Korea 0.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="cT71VU">
<p id="Lamph3"><em>Eric Sim played six seasons in the minors and touched Triple-A ball in 2012 (owns a career average of .500, oops). He’s the first Korean-Canadian ever drafted, and he doesn’t care if you’re not impressed by that, because he doesn’t really care about anything. He operates a hilarious and thought-provoking Twitter feed @ESim3400, so follow, if you want. When not dropping wisdom about his glorious days in the minor leagues, Sim currently manages a bar in small-town Canada, and makes a lot more money than he made playing baseball.</em></p>
https://www.southsidesox.com/2018/8/6/17638016/sim-growing-up-and-learning-to-play-in-south-koreaEric Sim