2002 Korea Baseball Organization

The 2002 Korea Baseball Organization season was the 21st KBO season. Seung-yeop Lee, first baseman of the Samsung Lions, was the big story, though not as big as he would be in 2003. Lee led the KBO in both home runs and RBI and was named MVP for the fourth time. That broke the record of Dong-yol Son, who had been a three-time MVP. Like Son, Lee would spend the majority of his remaining career in Japan. Samsung went on to win its first title in 17 years. Including Lee, they had half of the league's award-winners as best at their position with C Kab-yong Jin, 3B Han-soo Kim, SS Tilson Brito and DH Hae-yong Ma.

Standings

1. Samsung Lions, 82-47-4
2. KIA Tigers, 78-51-4
3. Hyundai Unicorns, 70-58-5
4. LG Twins, 66-61-6
5. Doosan Bears, 66-65-2
6. SK Wyverns, 61-69-3
7. Hanwha Eagles, 59-69-5
8. Lotte Giants, 35-97-1

Playoffs: LG def. KIA, 3 games to 2. LG def. Hyundai, 2 games to 0.

2002 Korean Series: Samsung def. LG, 4 games to 2.

Leaders

Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average	Sung-ho Jang	KIA Tigers	.343
Runs	Seung-yeop Lee	Samsung Lions	123
Hits	Hae-yong Ma	Samsung Lions	172
Doubles	Seung-yeop Lee	Samsung Lions	42
Triples	Jun-ho Jeon Jin-young Lee	Hyundai Unicorns SK Wyverns	8
Home Runs	Seung-yeop Lee	Samsung Lions	47
Runs Batted In	Seung-yeop Lee	Samsung Lions	126
Stolen Bases	Jong-kook Kim	KIA Tigers	50
Walks	Seung-yeop Lee	Samsung Lions	89

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
ERA	Narciso Elvira	Samsung Lions	2.50
Wins	Mark Kiefer	KIA Tigers	19
Losses	Young-soo Kim	Lotte Giants	18
Holds	Myong-ju Cha	Doosan Bears	17
Saves	Pil-jung Jin	Doosan Bears	31
Innings Pitched	Jin-woo Song	Hanwha Eagles	220
Appearances	Hei-chun Lee Dong-hyon Lee	Doosan Bears LG Twins	78
Hits Allowed	Gary Rath	Doosan Bears	202
Home Runs Allowed	Soo-kyung Kim	Hyundai Unicorns	25
Strikeouts	Jin-woo Kim	KIA Tigers	177
Base-on-Balls	Ravelo Manzanillo	LG Twins	94

Award Winners

Award	Player	Team	Position	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W - L	SV	IP	HA	HRA	BB	SO	ERA
Most Valuable Player	Seung-Yeop Lee	Samsung Lions	Infielder	511	123	165	47	126	1	.323	.436	.689	Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year	Yong-jun Cho	Hyundai Unicorns	Pitcher	Did not bat									9 - 5	28	109.0	80	7	38	116	1.90

Gold Glove

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2002.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jin-woo Song	Hanwha Eagles
C	Kab-yong Jin	Samsung Lions
1B	Seung-yeop Lee	Samsung Lions
2B	Jong-kook Kim	KIA Tigers
3B	Han-su Kim	Samsung Lions
SS	Tilson Brito	Samsung Lions
OF	Jong-beom Lee	KIA Tigers
OF	Ji-man Song	Hanwha Eagles
OF	Jeong-su Sim	Hyundai Unicorns
DH	Hae-yeong Ma	Samsung Lions