1997 Korean Series

The 1997 Korean Series was the 15th Korean Series, the 9th won by the Haitai Tigers; the Tigers would not win again for 12 years. Jong-beom Lee, Haitai's star shortstop, won his second Korean Series MVP, becoming the second player to accomplish that (Yong-soo Kim had been the first).

Haitai had finished first in the regular season (75-50-1) under manager Eung-young Kim. They had four Gold Glove winners in SS Jong-beom Lee (.324/.428/.551, 30 HR, 112 R, 64 SB), 3B Hyun-woo Hong (.271/.395/.489, 22 HR, 20 SB, 87 BB), P Dae-jin Lee (17-6, 3.14) and DH Jae-yong Park (a meek .245/.318/.367). Also helping out on the hill were Chang-yong Lim (14-8, 26 Sv, 2.33) and Kang-chul Lee (11-3, 2.99).

The LG Twins, Bo-sung Chun's squad, had gone 73-51-2 in the regular season to finish second, then beat the Ssangbangwool Raiders 3 games to 2 in the playoffs. They had the KBO Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove outfielder Byung-kyu Lee (.305/.368/.442, 31 2B, 8 3B, 23 SB, 82 R) and Gold Glove catcher Dong-soo Kim (.236/.335/.421, 17 HR). Sang-hoon Lee (10-6, 37 Sv, 2.11) led the league in saves and other offense came from Yong-bin Seo (.316/.379/.439) and Jae-hak Shim (.285/.363/.455, 15 HR).

In game one, at Jamsil Stadium, the Tigers cruised to a 6-1 win, Dae-jin Lee beating Yong-soo Kim while Chang-yong Lim got the save and Jong-beom Lee hit a home run. The next game, LG came back with a 10-1 win, scoring five runs apiece in the 4th and 5th innings. Sun-dong Im got the victory, while Kang-chul Lee took the loss. In game three, Haitai took the lead again with a 5-1 victory, Tae-won Kang getting the win over Sang-hoon Lee, while Chang-yong Lim got his second save.

On October 23, Haitai won a 7-4 game, with three players going deep in support of Dae-jim Lee, who again beat Yong-soo Kim. Chang-yong Lim got his third save. In the finale, 20-year-old Sang-jin Kim went the distance, becoming the youngest hurler to pitch a complete game in a Korean Series, as Haitai won 6-1, beating Sun-dong Im.

Sources include Korean Wikipedia