1998 Korea Baseball Organization

The 1998 Korea Baseball Organization was the 17th Korea Baseball Organization season. It was the first season to feature foreign players (in the past, Japanese players of Korean descent had been permitted, as well as at least one Korean-American, Daniel Choi). One player immediately made an impact, OB Bears batter Tyrone Woods. Woods went deep 42 times to set a new KBO home run record (Jong-hun Jang had the old mark of 41, set in 1992). Woods also led the league in RBI (103) and was named MVP. It would be 9 years until another foreign player, Danny Rios, would claim a MVP.

The Hyundai Unicorns won the first of four KBO titles.

Awards

The KBO MVP was Tyrone Woods of OB. The KBO Rookie of the Year was Hyundai pitcher Soo-kyung Kim, who went 12-4 with a 2.76 ERA and 168 strikeouts.

The following players won Gold Gloves, which in the KBO go to the best overall player at each position are not a defensive (only) award.

• P: Min-tae Chung, Hyundai Unicorns
• C: Kyung-wan Park, Hyundai Unicorns
• 1B: Seung-yeop Lee, Samsung Lions
• 2B: Jong-tae Park, Lotte Giants
• SS: Ji-hyun Yoo, LG Twins
• 3B: Han-soo Kim, Samsung Lions
• OF: Jun-ho Jeon, Hyundai Unicorns
• OF: Jae-hyun Kim, LG Twins
• OF: Jae-hong Park, Hyundai Unicorns
• DH: Joon-hyuk Yang, Samsung Lions

Standings

1. Hyundai Unicorns, 81-45
2. Samsung Lions, 66-58-2
3. LG Twins, 63-62-1
4. OB Bears, 61-62-3
5. Haitai Tigers, 61-64-1
6. Ssangbangwool Raiders, 58-66-2
7. Hanwha Eagles, 55-66-5
8. Lotte Giants, 50-72-4

Playoffs: LG def. OB, 2 games to 0; LG def. Samsung, 3 games to 1

1998 Korean Series: Hyundai def. LG, 4 games to 2

Offensive Leaders

• Average - Joon-hyuk Yang, Samsung .342
• Home Runs - Tyrone Woods, OB 42
• RBI - Woods, 103
• Steals - Soo-keun Jung, OB 44

Pitching Leaders

• ERA - Myung-won Jeong, Hyundai 1.86
• Wins - Yong-soo Kim, LG 18
• Saves - Chang-yong Lim, Haitai 34
• Strikeouts - Dae-jin Lee, Haitai 183