Jong-mo Kim

Jong-mo Kim (김종모)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.

• School Yeungnam University
• High School Kwangju Commercial High School

• Born November 1, 1959 in Hwasun County South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jong-mo Kim was a five-time .300 hitter in the Korea Baseball Organization.

When the KBO began play in 1982, he joined the Haitai Tigers, for whom he would spend his entire playing career. He hit .291/.333/.453 in the league's first season. In 1983, he had his best season, batting .350/.404/.524. He was 5th in the league in hits (109), 8th in runs (51), 10th in homers (11), second in average (19 points behind Hyo-jo Jang), 4th in slugging and second in OBP (to Jang). He won a Gold Glove, which in the KBO goes to the best all-around player at each position; the other outfielders honored that year were Jang and Jong-hoon Park. Haitai won the Korean Series.

Kim hit .316/.390/.522 in 1984, finishing 5th in average and home runs (14). He got another Gold Glove, picked with Jang and Mun-jong Hong. In 1985, he fell to .231/.281/.327. He rebounded to .313/.381/.460 in 1986 and was among the league's best in runs (59, 5th), hits (120, 3rd, behind Kwang-eun Lee and Bong-yun Kim), doubles (19, 8th), walks (42, 7th), homers (11, 8th), RBI (3rd, 61, behind Bong-yun Kim and Dae-hwa Han), average (2nd, 16 points behind Jang) and OBP (2nd to Jang). He won his third Gold Glove, picked with Jang and Kwang-eun Lee. Haitai won the 1986 Korean Series.

Jong-mo had his last big year in 1987 (.331/.377/.458), finishing 5th in the loop in average, 10th in hits (110) and 10th in home runs (9). He, Jang and Kwang-eun Lee repeated as the Gold Glove outfielders and Haitai repeated as Korean Series champions. He was also the All-Star Game MVP. In 1988, Kim faded to .300/.350/.368; the Tigers won the 1988 Korean Series. He hit only .236/.288/.268 in a part-time role in 1989, though Haitai kept rolling, taking the 1989 Korean Series.

In 1990, the 30-year-old produced at a .286/.360/.423 clip and was among the leaders for the final time, in doubles (20, 7th) and RBI (64, 6th). He eked out a .206/.262/.400 line in 1991 as Haitai went on to win the 1991 Korean Series, his sixth title. He was 4 for 20 with six walks and a homer in 1992.

Overall, Kim had hit .298/.358/.435 with 329 runs, 395 RBI and 82 home runs in 850 games in the KBO.

Kim later was hitting coach for the Tigers (1993-2000), Samsung Lions (2001-2005), KIA Tigers (2006-2009) and Hanwha Eagles (2013- ).

Sources

• KBO player page
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki
• Korean Wikipedia entry