KBO Standings and Highlights (week of June 8, 2003)

Highlights of Tuesday's games and standings:

SK Wyverns 8 - Doosan Bears 2:
The Wyverns took advantage of the five costly errors to tree the Bears in Inchon. Cho Ung-chun pitched 1 and 2/3 innings for his 16th save of 2003.

Samsung Lions 16

After I wrote the preceding material I realized how incredible the home run display Lee Seung-yeop is putting on. 29th homer of 2003, 297th of his carrer, and on pace to hit 73 this year.

Wow!!!

What impresses me more is that he's almost to 300 career home runs. I was under the impression that the yearly baseball schedule in Korea was even shorter than that in Japan (which is shorter than in MLB). Do you know how many seasons it has taken?

The KBO has a 133 game season, but I'm not sure what year Lee Seung-Yeop started. Possibly 1997?

Jang Jong-hoon of the Hanwha Eagles is the only player to have hit over 300 career home runs.

I'm glad you guys talked me into an Asian baseball forum. Thanks for the information.

What I really like about Korean baseball so far is that they do play double headers. Not sure if they're scheduled or make-up games, but I really think that NPB should make up games with double headers at the first possible chance (or first weekend chance) rather than wait for the first half of October.

Thanks again for bringing us news around Asia.

Korean Baseball Organization - June 13, 2003

 W    L   T    Pct     GB 
35   20   1   .636          SK Wyverns
33   20   2   .623    1.0   Samsung Lions
32   22   1   .593    2.5   Hyundai Unicorns 
29   24   1   .547    5.0   Kia Tigers
27   26   3   .509    7.0   Hanwha Eagles
26   27   2   .491    8.0   LG Twins
18   36   2   .333   16.5   Lotte Giants
15   40   0   .273   20.0   Doosan Bears

Korean Baseball Organization - June 14, 2003

 W    L   T    Pct      GB 
36   20   1   .643           SK Wyverns
34   20   2   .630     1.0   Samsung Lions
32   23   1   .582     3.5   Hyundai Unicorns 
30   24   1   .556     5.0   Kia Tigers
27   27   3   .500     8.0   Hanwha Eagles
26   28   2   .481     9.0   LG Twins
19   37   2   .339   17.0   Lotte Giants
16   41   0   .281   20.5   Doosan Bears

Lee Seung-yeop is in his 9th season.

Originally a pitcher when drafted but the Samsung Lions, they saw more of a future in him as a hitter.

At first, he was rather a contact hitter hitting "only" 24 home runs in his first two seasons. But from 1997, he began to hit it over the fence and is on pace, according to Korean media, to become the youngest man to reach the 300-HR plateau (his DOB is Aug. 18, 1976).

Including games through June 18, 2003, he has hit .306, 298 HRs, and 872 RBIs in 1,071 games played. His career high was 54 HRs in 1999.

I live on Maui and was able to watch the Samsung Lions train here at the beginning of the year. I do not follow Korean baseball, but I am a huge sports fan and did some research on the Lions since they were here. I found out a lot about Seung Yeop-Lee, and even had him sign some baseballs for me.

Will he try and make one of the Major League Teams next year, 2004? Also, if the Lions come back next year, whose autograph should I get then?

Thanks for any input!

Get the authograph of whomever you want - sports and sports collecting should be fun not money driven.