Ex-player Heo Koo-youn nominated as next baseball commissioner

Heo Koo-youn, a commentator for MBC, was nominated Friday to serve as the next head of South Korean professional baseball.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced that its board of directors advanced Heo's nomination as the new league commissioner to the general assembly, comprised of owners of its 10 clubs.

Heo, 71, will become the KBO chief if his nomination is passed by a three-quarters majority in the general assembly to be scheduled later.

The KBO's top position has been vacant since its former Commissioner Chung Ji-taik abruptly resigned in February about a year after his three-year term started.

The new KBO leader will serve the post for the remainder of Chung's tenure until the end of 2023.

If Heo is elected, he will be the first former baseball athlete to become the KBO chief since its launch in 1982.

He started his baseball career as a player in semiprofessional clubs in the 1970s and became the manager of the now-dissolved Cheongbo Pintos in the KBO in 1985.

He is currently serving as a baseball commentator for local broadcaster MBC, after having worked with the Lotte Giants of the KBO and the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. (Yonhap)