"Coach Kim Sung-geun confesses to 'Fireworks Baseball' until this year at the most." [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

Kim Jung-joon, head coach of the LG Twins' first team, made significant comments regarding manager Kim Sung-geun's appearance in the "strongest baseball."

Coach Kim Jung-joon appeared on the YouTube channel "Jung Geun-woo's Baseball Life" on the 5th and told various stories related to manager Kim Sung-geun.

First, coach Kim Jung-joon confessed, "As a son of a father, it was a great blessing and joy to walk the same path, but at the same time, it was a difficult life." He said, "He is still at the forefront of baseball even when he is over eighty, shouting 'fireball', and I often think I am not keeping up with that passion."

Coach Kim Jung-joon said of Kim Sung-geun's daily life, "He usually stays in his study at home. You look lonely when you see that. I want to be closer, but I'm sorry that I can't because I'm busy with each other, he said. "I recently went to Tokyo and Kyoto with my father for four nights and five days, and it was overwhelming to follow him because he kept walking ahead."

In particular, coach Kim Jung-joon said, "I watched the last game of manager Kim Sung-geun, who led the 'fireball' last year. I thought that might be my father's last baseball," he said, adding, "I think this year (it could be the last time for real). At least this year. I think it'll be too hard (if I keep doing it)," he said.

"The Greatest Baseball," which became popular as a real sports entertainment program where retired professional baseball players teamed up to challenge baseball again, has formed a solid mania base since its first broadcast in June 2022, but Studio C1, which was in charge of production, withdrew from "The Greatest Baseball" after a conflict with JTBC and launched "Fireworks Baseball" with existing cast members such as Kim Sung-geun, Lee Dae-ho, Park Yong-taek and Jung Geun-woo.

The conflict between the two sides has erupted since early 2025. JTBC claimed that Studio C1 charged excessive production costs and did not disclose financial records, while Studio C1 countered that it was structurally impossible to charge excessive production costs.

JTBC filed a criminal complaint against Studio C1 and PD Jang Si-won on charges of violating copyright law and trademark law and breach of duty, and filed a request for an injunction against copyright infringement and prohibition of unfair competition activities to ban the production, sale, and distribution of "fireball." In December 2025, the court ruled in favor of JTBC and decided to ban the production of "fireball" and the disclosure of related contents, saying, "The act of producing and transmitting "fireball," which contains contents that suggest that it is actually the follow-up season of "the strongest baseball," constitutes an act of unfair competition under Article 2, No. 1 of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act."

In response, Studio C1 countered that some of the claims were not accepted, and later attempted to release the contents, but eventually deleted the main video. JTBC has made it clear that it will take additional legal action immediately if the new season of "fireball" is released in the future. He also warned, "Even after the decision to dispose of the provisional disposition, the act of stealing the law, such as disclosing consecutive rounds, will be subject to strict legal judgment in the main lawsuit."

According to the court ruling, the production, transmission, sale, distribution, and distribution of videos and programs that display the name of "fireball" or feature a team named "fireball" as content that corresponds to consecutive seasons of the same video, including all episodes of "fireball" released so far, are prohibited.

"Firework Baseball" deleted all the main episodes uploaded to YouTube as if conscious of the court's decision to dispose of them, but immediately declared that it would enforce the production of season 2 and announced on its official YouTube channel, "This decision to dispose of the movie is a provisional judgment on the video of this season's actual broadcast," and added, "We will do season 2 of Firework Baseball."

JTBC strongly criticized, "The court decided to ban 'fireball' because it clearly judged that 'fireball' was illegal content that used the performance of 'strongest baseball' without permission due to JTBC's investment. Nevertheless, Studio C1 is blurring the nature of illegal activities with a trick to change the season." Apart from the legal conflict with Studio C1, JTBC decided to end the season with the end of the broadcast on February 2, and decided to end the season with the remaining broadcast. JTBC has secured the exclusive broadcast rights of the "2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics," which will open on February 6, and has decided to organize the season in consideration of the scheduling conditions ahead of the broadcast.

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*This content was translated by AI.