Jae-won Shim

Jae-won Shim (심재원)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 176 lb.

• School Sungkyunkwan University
• High School Busan High School

• Born July 30, 1953 in Busan South Korea
• Died May 19, 1994

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jae-won Shim caught for the South Korean national team (winning Gold Medals in 3 events) and in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Shim was with South Korea when they won the 1977 Intercontinental Cup (first global title). In the 1978 Amateur World Series, he hit .212/.297/.242 for South Korea as they won the Bronze, their first medal in an Amateur World Series. He drove in 5 runs, tied for second on the team, trailing Il-kwon Kim. He fielded .991 and allowed 16 steals in 20 tries; he caught all but one inning in their ten games as the other catcher (Hae-chong Park) was used almost entirely as the DH.

Shim was with South Korea when they improved to Silver in the 1980 Amateur World Series. He won Silver in the 1981 World Games, was medalless in the 1981 Intercontinental Cup and then Gold in the 1982 Amateur World Series, their only Gold in the history of the event. The team's talent was then diluted by the formation of the Korea Baseball Organization. Shim joined the circuit in 1983, the year he turned 30. He hit .225/.286/.297 for the Lotte Giants, who had taken him in the 5th round of the draft.

He improved to .250/.291/.314 in 1984. Moving to the MBC Blue Dragons, he fell to .206/.274/.270 in 1985 and hit .235/.276/.306 in 1986. He produced at a .188/.283/.219 rate in 1987, .202/.276/.239 in 1988 and .146/.220/.171 in 1989. He played for the LG Twins in 1990 (.211/.276/.244) and 1991 (2 for 8).

He had hit .213/.276/.265 in 551 KBO games, with 102 runs and 90 RBI. He showed surprising steal success for a catcher whose pro career was almost entirely in his 30s, going 21-for-30.

He later coached for LG before dying of lung cancer at age 40.

Sources

• Statiz.co.kr
• KBO player page
• Defunct IBAF site
• Korean Wikipedia entry