1986 Korean Series

The 1986 Korean Series was the fourth Korean Series. After the Samsung Lions were declared outright winners with no Series in 1985, they faced off with the Haitai Tigers this year; Haitai would begin a run of four straight Series titles, two of them over Samsung.

The Lions had the best regular season record in the 1986 KBO at 70-37-1 under skipper Yeong-duk Kim. They boasted the batting champion, OF Hyo-jo Jang (.329/.436/.467) and had two other players picked as the best at their positions: C Man-soo Lee (.321/.397/.585, 16 HR in 59 G) and 2B Seong-rae Kim (.288/.362/.427). They had a balanced staff with Jun Song (15-5, 2.36), Si-jin Kim (16-6, 2.47) and Hisao Niura (13-4, 2.53) all doing very well. Haitai was only a little behind, 67-37-4 under manager Eung-ryong Kim, but had five players named as the best at their spots, led by KBO MVP Dong-yol Son (24-6, 6 Sv, 0.99 ERA, 204 K), the pitching Triple Crown winner. Son easily carried the bulk of the work, his 262 2/3 IP more than double runner-up Jung-soo Kim (9-6, 2.65)'s 125 2/3. The position players picked as the best at their positions were 1B Sung-han Kim (.280/.340/.453), 3B Dae-hwa Han (.298/.372/.503), OF Jong-mo Kim (.313/.381/.460) and DH Bong-yun Kim (.300/.363/.514, a KBO-best 21 HR and 67 RBI). Also, Jeong-hwan Seo hit only .256/.335/.317 but had a league-best 43 swipes.

In game 1, October 19, Haitai won in 11 innings, 4-3. Jung-soo Kim got the win in relief of Son while Si-jin Kim took the loss. Seong-rae Kim hit a two-run homer in a losing cause. In game 2, Samsung got their lone win, a 2-1 affair, Niura getting the victory and Dong-chul Cha the loss. Jun-hwan Kim homered for Haitai. Two days later, Haitai retook the lead, 6-5. Jung-soo Kim got another win and Dong-chul Cha a save, while Si-jin Kim lost his second. Jun-hwan Kim and Yeong-hwa Cha homered for the winners, Seong-rae Kim for the losers.

On October 23, they had a second 11-inning game, Haitai winning, 7-4. Dong-chul Cha got the win, Dong-han Jin the loss. Yeong-hwa Cha homered again while Seong-rae Kim went deep for the third time in four games, all losing efforts for his Lions. At Jamsil Baseball Stadium on October 25, the Tigers wrapped it up with a 5-2 win. Jung-soo Kim won his third, Si-jin Kim lost his third and Dong-yol Son finally factored in with a save. Man-soo Lee homered for the losers, while the big hit for the victors was a two-run triple by Jong-mo Kim.

Primary Source: Korean Wikipedia