Top 5 Tuesday: A farewell to Byung-ho Park’s bat flips

The time has come to say farewell to Byung-ho Park’s stupefying bat disposals. Here are the five best from his time in Korea.

Korean slugger Byung-ho Park could be on his way to America, but the potential move won’t come without a cost.

On Monday, the Minnesota Twins won the negotiating rights to Park by submitting a winning bid of $12.85 million, hoping to bring the first baseman to America. 

For years, Park has been capturing the hearts of Korean Baseball Organization fans with his majestic bat flips. As he transitions to Major League Baseball, where bat flips are sometimes seen as unsportsmanlike, he will be leaving them behind in South Korea.

Andrew Keh of The New York Times went to South Korea this summer and wrote about the nation’s wide acceptance of bat flips. In the article, he discovered that Park would be changing his ways:

An anecdote from Sept. on how Park Byung-ho stopped bat-flipping to prepare for this moment https://t.co/niTW5dPztS pic.twitter.com/y2XjdLQTxd

— Andrew Keh (@andrewkeh) November 9, 2015

So, the time has come to say farewell to Byung-ho Park’s stupefying bat disposals. Here are the five best from his time in Korea.

5. A quick discard.

4. The high arc.

3. The classic.

2. The fluid, casual toss.

1. The lean.

GIFs via Youtube