INCHEON-- Jamie Romak spent the final five years of his baseball career in South Korea, thousands of kilometers away from his home in Canada.
And as he wraps up his time with the SSG Landers in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and walks into retirement at age 36, Romak said Wednesday he wouldn't have had it any other way.
"The best five years of my baseball career, for sure," Romak told reporters in his final press conference at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul. He announced his retirement last Sunday, following the end of the Landers' season.
"From the standpoint of baseball and from the standpoint of personal life, being part of the community in Incheon, developing long lasting friendships, all the fun memories that will last a lifetime. And mostly, just gratitude," he said. "It's the word I keep coming back to. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had here. Truly life changing.
A fourth-round draft pick by the Atlanta Braves in 2003, Romak joined the KBO club when it was still called the SK Wyverns in the middle of 2017. He made an immediate impact with 31 home runs in only 102 games.
He exploded for 43 home runs and 107 RBIs in 2018, while helping the Wyverns to the Korean Series championship.
In five years, Romak belted out 155 home runs, third on the all-time list among foreign players in the KBO.
He was also a popular teammate and a beloved figure in Incheon and across the league. Romak was the top vote-getter for the 2019 All-Star Game,
Romak also made his All-Star appearance count that summer, as he came out wearing a military jacket, hat and sunglasses in a nod to Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
It was a play on Romak's nickname, Romak-Arthur, which Incheon fans had given him for firing cannons into outfield seats. Gen. MacArthur was instrumental in an amphibious Incheon landing operation during the Korean War, a surprise maneuver that helped turn the tide in favor of the U.N. Command.
Romak recounted that All-Star Game as one of the most special moments from his time in Korea.
"To get to do that in a MacArthur outfit, that taught me a lot about special interactions we as players should have with fans," Romak added.
But nothing beats winning a championship. Romak won his only Korean Series title with the then Wyverns in 2018. He specifically recalled the moment that star left-hander Kim Kwang-hyun, usually a starter, swung open the bullpen gate to come out in the bottom of the 13th inning to protect a 5-4 lead over the Doosan Bears in the clinching Game 6.
"I hadn't been paying attention to the bullpen. I didn't know Kwang-hyun was warming up," Romak said. "I saw Kwang-hyun running out, and the stadium went crazy. It just kind of hit me, 'This is awesome.' I became a fan for a moment. That was amazing."
Romak didn't have as much fun this year, as he was hobbled by a neck disc that limited him to 107 games. He still managed to hit 20 home runs, becoming only the second foreign hitter in the KBO to reach that mark in five consecutive years.
"I think if I really strongly had the desire to continue playing, it would have been cool to break the foreign player home run record (of 174 home runs by Tyrone Woods)," Romak said. "But that's a very personal and selfish thing. I wouldn't have been genuine in coming back to try to do something solely for my own benefit."
And being genuine is something Romak feels will help all players, especially the new foreign hitter who will step into his void.
"If you enter with gratitude and sincerity, then everything else will take care of itself," he said. "If you're grateful for the opportunity, you will respect the culture and teammates. If you have desire to perform, you will do what's necessary to adjust. Sincerity in wanting to be a great teammate and grateful for the opportunity... if you keep those things in mind, everything will fall into place."
Romak had already decided entering the 2021 season that this would be his last one. Playing in Korea away from his young family during the COVID-19 pandemic -- his second son, Pierce, was born in March last year and Jamie didn't see him for eight months -- took an emotional toll on both him and his wife.
Romak is now ready to become a full-time father and husband, so much so that he won't rush into his second career just yet.
"Setting up roots for my family and being a husband to my wife, those are the most things important things right now," he said. "I can say for certain that whatever it is I do will involve far less travel than being a baseball player."
But Romak admitted he will not leave the game of baseball entirely.
"I think it's more than likely that my career will lead me in that path," he said. "I think baseball has been my life. It's what I've always had passion for. If there's an opportunity for me to positively impact the next generation of players, it's more than likely that in some capacity, I will be involved in baseball."
Romak endeared himself to his South Korean teammates because he threw himself fully into the clubhouse culture unique to the KBO and took younger players under his wing. He called on an upcoming generation of players to keep their focus on the process and to put the team ahead of themselves.
"I think the biggest area for improvement (in the KBO) moving forward would be just in the mentality of continuing to work the processes, rather than be so concerned with outcomes," said Romak, adding that the 2018 Wyverns, managed by Trey Hillman, won the Korean Series title precisely because of that "trust the process" approach.
"And if I could recommend to the next generation, having the sort of mentality of wanting to be someone who contributes to a winning franchise, rather than someone who's just in it for themselves ... that's the biggest piece of advice I could possibly give them."
Source: Yonhap News Agency