Landers slugger Choi Jeong becomes 1st KBO player with 500 home runs
SSG Landers hitter Choi Jeong hits his 500th home run during the sixth inning in a KBO match against NC Dinos at Incheon SSG Landers Field, Tuesday. Yonhap
Choi Jeong of the SSG Landers became the first player in Korean baseball history with 500 career home runs Tuesday.
Choi launched a two-run shot for his milestone homer off Riley Thompson of the NC Dinos at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul, for a piece of Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) history.
Choi, 38, is already the KBO's career home run leader. He moved past former Samsung Lions great Lee Seung-yuop by hitting his 468th home run on April 24 last year.
He came into this season five shy of 500. But he missed about a month at the start of the campaign due to a hamstring injury, delaying the inevitable until Tuesday.
Choi homered in his season debut on May 2, and then went deep once each on May 4 and 5.
He moved within one of the milestone Saturday by hitting a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in a 5-4 loss to the Kia Tigers.
It set the stage for the historic moment Tuesday.
Batting third as designated hitter, Choi grounded out to second baseman Park Min-woo in the bottom of the first inning, after swinging on the first pitch he saw from Thompson.
Choi struck out swinging against Thompson in the bottom of the fourth after whiffing on a 1-2 fastball.
Then with two outs and a runner at first in the bottom sixth, Choi drilled a 3-2 slider that hung over the heart of the plate and sent it into the seats in left field for the big home run. Also importantly for the Landers, the blast tied the score at 2-2, after they had managed just one hit and struck out 10 times against Thompson through the first five innings.
At 3-1 count earlier in the at-bat, Choi checked his swing on a low slider and appeared to have drawn a walk. However, third base umpire Koo Myung-hwan pointed to his ear piece and indicated that the automated ball-strike system had sent him a strike call on the pitch.
It extended the at-bat for Choi, who then got another slider that he drove into the left-field seats.
After Choi touched home, the game was briefly paused to recognize his accomplishment. Choi received flowers from his teammates and stood next to a commemorative plaque alongside team captain Kim Kwang-hyun for photo-ops.
Choi had just one home run as an 18-year-old rookie in 2005, and that first homer came almost 20 years to the date, May 21, 2005. Choi has reached double figures in every season since then. That 19-year run is the longest such streak in KBO history and he is now five away from pushing it to 20.
Choi has hit at least 20 home runs in a record nine consecutive seasons, from 2016 to 2024, a streak that could very much be extended this year. The Landers have 106 games left after the doubleheader.
Overall, Choi, a three-time home run king, has had a dozen 20-homer campaigns, tied with Lee Seung-yuop for most in the KBO. In the annual home run race, Choi has finished inside the top 10 on 10 occasions and has been among the top five every year since 2019. (Yonhap)