Lee Seung-yuop (born 18 August 1976) is a retired baseball player and the current manager of the Doosan Bears.[2] He spent most of his career with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. At the age of 26, he became the youngest professional baseball player in the world to hit 300 career home runs. He formerly held the Asian home run record of 56 homers in a season, established in 2003 while playing for Samsung in the KBO. (The record was broken by Wladimir Balentien of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, on September 15, 2013, when he hit his 56th and 57th Home Runs of the season against the Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball League.) Lee holds the KBO records for career runs scored, RBI, total bases, and slugging percentage. Combined, across the KBO and NPB, Lee has also recorded more hits than any other native-born South Korean player. Since the 2022 KBO season as the manager of the Doosan Bears, Lee has two playoff appearances. In 2022, Lee lead the Bears to their first wild card game under his reign against the NC Dinos where they were eliminated from playoff contention after losing their first game. Lee then continued to the playoffs in 2024 where he lost against the KT Wiz that ended their season.
Professional career
Lee started his career with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League in 1995 and played with them for nine seasons. He was the first player in the KBO League to hit 50 home runs in a season when he clubbed 54 in 1999. He set the single-season home run mark with 56 in 2003.
In 2004 Lee signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League for two years. He signed a one-year contract with the Yomiuri Giants for 210 million yen, including a 50 million yen signing bonus, for the 2006 season. He batted fourth and played first base there. He explicitly showed interest in making a move to Major League Baseball.
He had a slow start in Japan. Lee hit just 14 home runs and drove in 50 runs while batting .240 in 100 games. In the next season, he greatly improved, making 30 home runs and 82 RBI while batting .260 in 117 games.
He was selected to play for the South Korea national baseball team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. He batted .333 and led all players in the tournament with 5 home runs and 10 RBI. This has increased speculation that an MLB team might eventually sign him. However, Lee was under contract to play with the Yomiuri Giants for the 2006 season.
On 1 August 2006, Lee became only the third professional baseball player to hit 400 career home runs before the age of 30 (others include Sadaharu Oh and Alex Rodriguez).[3] In the 2006 season, he batted .323 with 41 homers.
On 3 August 2006, a report on MLB Radio on XMsatellite radio stated that the New York Yankees and Lee had agreed to start negotiations during the offseason after the 2006 regular season. The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo had reported on July 19 that the Yankees had expressed interest in the slugger.[4]
After the conclusion of the 2006 season, Lee re-signed with the Yomiuri Giants, citing that he wishes to win a Japan Series with the team. However, a clause allowed him to be a free agent if the Giants won the series.
After being released by the Giants at the end of the 2010 season, Lee joined the Orix Buffaloes of Japan's Pacific League in December 2010.
On 5 December 2011, Lee rejoined his former team Samsung Lions, signing a one-year deal.[5]
He played with the Lions until his retirement at age 41 at the end of the 2017 season. Despite his age, Lee hit 143 home runs between 2012 and 2017. In his retirement game against the Nexen Heroes in October 2017, he hit two home runs.[6]
2008 Summer Olympics
Lee played for the South Korean national team in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Slowed down by an injury to his left thumb, Lee struggled in the preliminary rounds, limited to 3-for-22 (.136) with two runs batted in and no home runs, before coming alive in the medal round games against Japan and Cuba.
In the semifinal game against Japan, Lee hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off reliever Hitoki Iwase, which proved to be the winning runs in Korea's 6–2 win.
In the gold medal game against Cuba, Lee hit a two-run home run in the first inning off Cuban starter Norberto González to help Korea defeat Cuba and win the gold medal.[7]
^Lee Da-gyeom (October 22, 2021). "편먹고 공치리' 이경규·이승엽·이승기, 11월 6일 시즌2 컴백" [Lee Kyung-gyu, Lee Seung-yeop, and Lee Seung-gi of 'Eat Sideways and Gongchi-ri', season 2 comeback on November 6th] (in Korean). Maeil Business News. Retrieved October 22, 2021 – via Naver.
^Lee Da-gyeom (March 4, 2022). "이경규·이승엽·이승기·유현주, '편먹고 공치리' 시즌3로 돌아온다" [Lee Kyung-gyu, Lee Seung-yeop, Lee Seung-gi, and Yoo Hyeon-joo to return with season 3 of 'Eat Pylon and Gongchi-ri'] (in Korean). Star Today, Maeil Economic Daily. Retrieved March 4, 2022 – via Naver.
^Oh Ji-won (April 19, 2022). "[단독] 이승엽, 다시 야구장 선다…JTBC '최강야구' 출연 확정" [[Exclusive] Lee Seung-yeop to stand on the baseball field again... Confirmed to appear in JTBC's 'Strongest Baseball'] (in Korean). YTN. Retrieved April 19, 2022 – via Naver.
^Kang Ae-ran (April 21, 2022). "이승엽·박용택 등 레전드 총출동…예능 '최강야구' 상반기 방송" [Lee Seung-yeop, Park Yong-taek, etc. Legends all dispatched… 'Strongest Baseball' broadcast in the first half of the entertainment show] (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved April 21, 2022 – via Naver.
^Park Soo-in (December 18, 2021). "이승엽 금새록 박군 이현이 박하선, 신인상 수상 "평생에 한번"[SBS 연예대상]" [Lee Seung-yeop, Geum Sae-rok, Park Gun, Lee Hyun-i, Park Ha-sun, Rookie of the Year Award “Once in a Lifetime” [SBS Entertainment Awards]] (in Korean). Newsen. Retrieved December 18, 2021 – via Naver.
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