Lee Seung-yuop rewrites Korean baseball history with 600th homer
Veteran slugger Lee Seung-yuop has hit his 600th professional home run.
Lee, designated hitter for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), belted a solo shot off Lee Jae-woo of the Hanwha Eagles on Wednesday for the milestone in the second inning at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
It was Lee's 441st home run in his 14th KBO season. He launched 159 home runs in eight seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Despite spending a good chunk of his career overseas, Lee is still the KBO's all-time leader in home runs and RBIs. The 40-year-old also owns the single-season record with 56, set in 2003.
The ageless wonder has been defying odds at the plate over the past three seasons. He batted .308 with 32 home runs and 101 RBIs in 2014. He then batted a career-high .332 in 2015, while hitting 26 home runs and driving in 90 runs.
This year, Lee began Wednesday with a .297 average, 24 home runs and 107 RBIs in 124 games. Lee has also hit 27 doubles and has hit at least 23 doubles in each of his 14 KBO seasons.
Lee, a five-time KBO MVP, has said the 600th professional home run wouldn't mean much to him because it's a combined total from two different leagues, and that he would be more pleased with getting to No. 450 in the KBO. (Yonhap)