Seung-yeop Lee

   

Seung-Yeop Lee (이승엽)
(The Lion King, Young Lion)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 210 lb.
• High School Kyeongbuk High School

• Born August 18, 1976 in Daegu South Korea

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Biographical Information

Seung-yeop Lee was one of the most prolific home run hitters in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he was a five-time MVP, the most in league history. He also was named the best player at his position ten times, a league record. He set single-season home run records for the KBO and Asia (the latter being broken). He then played for eight years in Nippon Pro Baseball before returning to the KBO. He hit 646 homers between the KBO and NPB. Despite 7 years away, he held the KBO career homer record for a period. Lee also shares the mark for most homers in a World Baseball Classic. Not just a home run threat, he was the first KBO player to 2,000 career hits. He is also an Olympic Gold Medalist and won Gold in the Asian Games as well.

Early career

Lee hit .394 in the 1994 World Junior Championship with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, 13 runs and 10 RBI to help South Korea to its second Gold Medal in the event's history. He somehow was left off of the tournament All-Star team despite finishing among the leaders in every category. The Samsung Lions took him in the 1995 KBO draft, with hopes of him pitching, but injuries turned him into a hitter. He hit a decent .285/.345/.477 as a rookie in 1995, with 29 doubles, 13 homers and 73 RBI. The teenager tied Hyeong-seok Kim for third in two-baggers. The KBO Rookie of the Year went to infield mate Dong-soo Lee.

The young slugger fell to nine homers in 1996 but had 32 doubles, 6 triples, 76 RBI and a .303/.354/.458 batting line. He was 6th in hits (139, between Jae-hong Park and Kwang-lim Kim), second in doubles (one behind Jun-hyeok Yang) and tied for second in triples (3 behind Jun-ho Jeon).

Five-time MVP in Korea

He then exploded in 1997, batting .329/.391/.598 with 96 runs, 37 doubles, 32 home runs and 114 RBI. He became the KBO's youngest home run champ by two ahead of Jong-beom Lee and Yang. He was third in runs, led in hits (13 ahead of Jong-beom Lee), tied Dong-joo Shin for the most doubles, led in RBI (16 ahead of Yang), just missed a Triple Crown when he was second to Ki-tae Kim in average (.015 back) and led in total bases (309, 28 ahead of Jong-beom Lee), though he did not lead in slugging. He won his first KBO Gold Glove at first base; the award, unlike Gold Gloves in other countries, goes back to the best overall player at the position rather than just the top defender. He also won his first KBO MVP.

The KBO added foreign players for the first time in 1998 (not counting a smattering of Japanese pitchers of Korean descent who were allowed to play previously). The new imports were all over the leaderboards but Lee held his own at .306/.404/.621 with 100 runs, 38 homers, 102 RBI and 78 walks. He was 8th in average (between Ki-tae Kim and Tyrone Woods), lost the RBI race by one to Woods, led in runs (six ahead of Ji-hyun Ryu), was 3rd with 146 hits, ranked 3rd in doubles (32, behind Ryu and Hae-young Ma), was second in dingers (four behind Woods), was 4th in walks, was 3rd in OBP (behind Yang and Ki-tae Kim), edged MVP Woods for the slugging title by .001 and was 3rd in OPS (behind Ki-tae Kim and Yang). He again was named the star first baseman in the KBO. He was the second defending Gold Glove winner to take the honor again at first base, following Sung-han Kim had won each year from 1985-1991.

In 1999, he bashed 54 homers while hitting .323/.458/.733 with 128 runs, 123 RBI and 112 walks. The Young Lion easily broke the home run record Woods had set the year before (42) and came close to Sadaharu Oh's Asian record of 55. He then hit three more in seven playoff games. He also broke Jong-hun Jang's 7-year-old RBI record by four and set a new league walk record. He led in runs (128, 11 more than Byung-kyu Lee), tied for 5th in doubles (33), led in homers by 9 ahead of Dan Rohrmeier), edged Félix José by one for the RBI title, tied for 7th with 12 HBP, led in walks by 7 ahead of Tracy Sanders, led in OBP by .016 ahead of Ma), led in slugging (.063 ahead of Ma) and obviously led in OPS. He won the Gold Glove and his second MVP. He helped South Korea win the 1999 Asian Championship to earn a spot in the 2000 Olympics.

He slumped to .293/.404/.604 in 2000 with 108 runs, 36 homers, 33 doubles, 95 RBI and 80 walks, fine numbers but a drop from his '99 numbers. He led the league in runs (seven more than Jae-hong Park), tied Ji-man Song for second in doubles (3 behind Young-woo Lee), was 4th in homers, tied Kyung-wan Park for 7th in RBI, was 4th in walks (between Jae-hyun Kim and Woods) and was 4th in slugging (between Woods and Dong-joo Kim). He won another Gold Glove. He spent time representing South Korea in the 2000 Olympics, eking out a .179/.250/.357 line though he did drive in a team-high seven in nine games. He missed the top ten in RBI by one.

Remaining fairly steady in 2001, he hit .277/.412/.605 with 101 runs, 39 homers, 95 RBI and 96 walks. He tied Woods for second in runs (six behind Byung-kyu Lee), tied Kyung-hyun An for 3rd in doubles (31), won the home run crown (three ahead of José), tied Ma for 8th in RBI, tied Ji-hyun Ryu for second in walks (31 behind Woods), was 9th in OBP (between Ma and Ji-hyun Ryu), was second to José in slugging and 3rd in OPS (after José and Jae-hak Shim). He won another Gold Glove and MVP. In the 2001 Korean Series, he came to bat in the finale with two on, two outs and a 6-5 deficit against the Doosan Bears when the stadium dramatically lost power for about 15 minutes. He singled off Pil-jung Jin but no runners scored and his team fell when the next batter was retired.

Lee led his Lions to the pennant in 2002 (.323, 89 BB, 47 HR, 123 R, 126 RBI that year) and hit a key 3-run homer off of Sang-Hoon Lee in the finale of the Korean Series. He was second in average (.022 behind Sung-ho Jang), led in runs (22 ahead of Jong-soo Shim), tied Sung-ho Jang for 2nd with 165 hits (7 behind Ma), led in doubles (42, 2 ahead of Ma), edged Jong-soo Shim by one for the homer lead, led in RBI (7 ahead of Jong-soo Shim), led in walks (3 ahead of Sung-ho Jang), was second in OBP (.009 behind Sung-ho Jang), led in slugging (.046 ahead of Jong-soo Shim) and led in OPS (78 ahead of Jong-soo Shim). He broke Dong-yeol Son's record of three MVP awards in the KBO. With his sixth straight Gold Glove, he moved within one of Sung-ham Kim's record. In the 2002 Asian Games, he starred for the Gold Medal winners, with six RBI in six games.

He had his most memorable KBO season in 2003, when he hit .301/.428/.699 with 115 runs, 56 homers, 144 RBI and 101 walks, while going 7-for-7 in steals. He set a new Asian home run record (Tuffy Rhodes, Oh and Alex Cabrera had all hit 55 in Nippon Pro Baseball). Wladimir Balentien broke his mark in 2013. He also became the youngest player to 300 professional homers. He led in runs (two ahead of Han-lee Park), edged Jong-soo Shim by three in the exciting home run race, edged Jong-soo Shim by only two in RBI, was second in walks (23 behind Jong-soo Shim), was 3rd in OBP (behind Jong-soo Shim and Dong-joo Kim), was second in slugging (.021 behind Jong-soo Shim) and was second in OPS (70 behind Jong-soo Shim). Given his record-setting performance, he won the MVP over Jong-soo Shim for his 5th KBO MVP. He also won his 7th Gold Glove. Lee also represented South Korea in the 2003 Asian Championship, winning Bronze.

Lee had won five MVP awards in the KBO before the age of 29, clobbering 324 homers in his Korean career, good for second on the all-time list behind Jong-hun Jang.

Japan

After his record-breaking 2003 campaign, Seung-Yeop declared his interest in playing in Major League Baseball. He had previously spent spring training with the Chicago Cubs in 2002 and the Florida Marlins in 2003 . While he was given a glance by some teams, and offered minor-league contracts, he did not get the guarantee of an MLB job that he was looking for.

Lee opted instead to go to Japan, where he signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines. Lee was a clear bust in 2004, hitting only .240/.328/.450 with 14 homers as the Marines' DH. It looked like the American teams had been wise to pass on Lee. In 2005 Seung-Yeop improved while moving to left field part-time (which he shared with Matt Franco) while remaining at DH primarily. He hit .260/.315/.551 with 30 homers in 117 games. While his OBP was poor for a DH-LF, he was 7th in the Pacific League in slugging (between Kenji Johjima and José Fernández), 6th in homers and 8th in RBI (between Fernández and Franco). He starred in the 2005 Japan Series, going 4 for 4 with 2 doubles, a homer and all 3 Chiba Lotte RBI in the final game. He went deep in three of four games, hitting .545/.583/1.545 with six RBI. No other player had multiple homers that Series and he had more RBI than the entire Hanshin Tigers team that they swept; his five extra-base hits were three more than the Hanshin lineup mustered. He led the Series in RBI, two ahead of Toshiaki Imae, Kazuya Fukuura and Tomoya Satozaki. He led in OPS, 545 ahead of #2 Imae. Imae beat him out for Japan Series MVP, though. The Marines and Lee split ways after the year, though, due to salary disputes, and he signed with the Yomiuri Giants, still saying he wanted to get a crack at the US majors one day.

As he turned 30 during the 2006 season, it was unlikely many major league teams would be interested unless he had a breakthrough year. He did draw quite a bit of international attention preceding the 2006 campaign, and got his first popular exposure in the USA when he hit 5 homers in the first 6 games of the 2006 World Baseball Classic, all of which his South Korea team won. Through 2023, he remains the home run leader for a single WBC tournament; Trea Turner tied his mark that year. He tied Yuli Gurriel for second in the event in runs (8, 3 behind Nobuhiko Matsunaka), led in homers (one ahead of Adrián Beltré), tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the most RBI (10), led in total bases (23, one more than Griffey), was 4th in slugging (.958, between Griffey and Beltre) and was 4th in OPS (1372, between Derrek Lee and Beltre). He was named the tournament All-Star first baseman, joining Gurriel, Derek Jeter and Beltre as the All-Star infielders.

In 2006, he had the big year he needed, batting .323/.389/.615 (second in the Central League in average behind Kosuke Fukudome, third in slugging (after Fukudome and Woods) and tied with Akinori Iwamura for 5th in OBP. He also made leaderboards with 101 runs (4th, between Adam Riggs and Hirokazu Ibata), 30 doubles (tied for 4th with Shuichi Murata, Alex Ochoa and Takuro Ishii), 41 homers (second to his old KBO rival Woods), 108 RBI (4th, between Alex Ramírez and Fukudome) and 322 total bases (4th, between Fukudome and Iwamura). He was named by some as a MVP candidate during the year but finished a distant 9th in 2006 Central League Most Valuable Player Award voting, 4th among position players behind Fukudome, Woods and Tomoaki Kanemoto. Woods also beat him out for Best Nine honors at first base. On August 1, 2006, Lee hit his 400th career professional home run. Only Oh and Alex Rodriguez had previously reached that level while in their 20s.

MLB teams were showing the most interest they ever had in Lee but he opted to re-sign with Yomiuri. He struggled in 2007, hitting .254/.312/.453 with 15 HR by July 12 and was demoted to ni-gun . Lee bounced back a bit in the final months to finish with a .274/.322/.501 line with 30 HR and 84 runs. He tied Takahiro Arai for 7th in the CL in runs, tied Masahiko Morino and Yoshinobu Takahashi for 7th in the CL in doubles (29), was 8th in the league in home runs (between Michihiro Ogasawara and Ramírez), 9th in slugging (between Nori Aoki and Takahiro Saeki) and 4th with 119 strikeouts. Lee was held scoreless in the first-round playoff defeat to the Chunichi Dragons. An inflamed base of his left thumb was cited as one reason for the demotion; the problem had apparently been bothering him for at least three years. He had surgery on his thumb after the season. Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe was highly critical of Lee after the year.

Lee put on another excellent performance in international competition in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, helping South Korea earn a ticket to the 2008 Olympics. Lee hit .478/.500/.870 with 5 runs, 12 RBI, 3 doubles and 2 home runs in 7 games. He was 5th in the competition in average, led in RBI (four ahead of anyone else) and tied Matt Rogelstad, Carlos Valencia, Karim Garcia and Kuo-Hui Lo for second in home runs, one behind Nick Weglarz. He drove in four against Australia, 3 against Germany and 2 against Mexico.

Lee started off 7 for 52 with 2 RBI and no home runs to begin 2008 and was again sent to ni-gun. He joined South Korea for the 2008 Olympics and came up with several key hits despite a .167/.265/.400 batting line; he drove in 6 runs in 8 games. Against the Japanese national team in the semifinals, he broke a 2-2 tie in the 8th with a 2-run homer off of Hitoki Iwase to help South Korea advance to the Gold Medal game. In that contest, he delivered a 2-run first-inning home run against Norberto González that was the big blow in a 3-2 win by Korea as they won Gold.

For the 2008 NPB season, Lee hit only .248/.324/.431 in 45 games, with 8 home runs; Ogasawara was moved from third base to take his spot at first. In the 2008 Japan Series, he was 2 for 18 with 4 walks and 12 whiffs as Yomiuri lost to the Softbank Hawks. In 2009, he batted .229/.327/.484 with 16 HR as a part-timer for the Giants (with 70 games at 1B, he led the team there, 20 ahead of Ogasawara and 23 ahead of Yoshiyuki Kamei). In the 2009 Japan Series, he went 3 for 12 with a homer (game 3, off Keisaku Itokazu) as the Giants beat the Nippon Ham Fighters. He hit only .163/.280/.337 as a bench player. He split 2010 between the top club (.163/.280/.337) and the farm, as Takahashi and Ogasawara were the team's main first basemen. He joined the Orix Buffaloes for 2011 and put up a batting line of .201/.257/.365 with 15 home runs. He was 8th in the Pacific League in homers and 5th with 121 strikeouts.

Back to Korea

Lee returned to Korea and Samsung in 2012 and had a big year, at .307/.384/.502 with 28 doubles, 21 HR, 84 runs. He was 6th in the 2012 KBO in slugging (between Seok-min Park and Seong-hoon Jeong), 6th in average (between Jin-young Lee and Jeong), runs (3rd, 2 behind Yong-kyu Lee and one behind Jung Choi), doubles (tied for 6th with Sang-ho Jung), homers (5th, between Seok-min Park and Min-ho Kang) and RBI (3rd after Byung-ho Park and Seok-min Park). In the 2012 Korean Series, he remained hot, going 8 for 23 with 7 RBI in six games as Samsung beat the SK Wyverns to the title. The Lion King drove in all 3 Lions runs in the opener, including a 2-run homer off Hee-sang Yoon to start the Series scoring, then delivered a 3-run triple in the finale. He was named Korean Series MVP, one honor he hadn't claimed in his first go-around in the KBO. He was the first KBO player to 2,000 career hits.

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, the old-timer was back on the Korean national team and did very well, going 4 for 10 with 3 doubles, 3 runs and a RBI to lead them in OPS and finish second to Dae-ho Lee in average. They were surprisingly ousted in 3 games when his teammates did not fare as well. He still tied for 4th in the Classic in doubles despite playing many fewer games than co-leaders Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano and Carlos Beltran, each of whom hit four.

Despite missing eight seasons to play in NPB, Lee became the KBO's career home run leader when he hit #352 off Hee-sang Yoon on June 20, 2013 to break the record held by former teammate Joon-hyuk Yang. Jung Choi would break his record 11 years later. He finished the season at .253/.298/.395 for his worst season in the KBO. Samsung won the 2013 Korean Series. In the 2013 Asia Series, Lee hit a decisive 3-run homer off Fortitudo Bologna's Junior Oberto.

He rebounded in 2014 to bat .308/.358/.557 with 30 doubles, 32 homers and 101 RBI; the league offensive totals were up, so the numbers weren't quite as impressive as they might have been in prior years but he was still 4th in homers (behind Byung-ho Park, Jung-ho Kang and Eric Thames), tied for 5th in RBI (with Sung-bum Na) and 9th in slugging (between Tae-kyun Kim and Yamaico Navarro). When he homered off Henry Sosa in game 2 of the 2014 Korean Series, he broke Woods' KBO postseason record for career homers as it was his 14th. Samsung won yet another title. He won his 9th Gold Glove in the KBO, this time at DH, to surpass Dae-hwa Han and Joon-hyuk Yang for the all-time league lead regardless of position (again, made even more impressive by the eight years he played in Japan).

Lee hit .332/.387/.562 with 26 home runs, 87 runs and 90 RBI in 2015. With offensive numbers still high, he did not make the top 10 in homers, but he was 7th in average (between Yong-kyu Lee and Yong-taik Park) and 8th in slugging (between Hyung-woo Choi and Jim Adduci Jr.). He won his 10th Gold Glove (again at DH) and became the oldest player to win a Gold Glove in the KBO. He batted .303/.380/.519 with 91 runs, 32 doubles, 27 homers, 118 RBI and 65 walks in 2016. He tied for 8th in dingers (with Jae-gyun Hwang, Eui-yoon Jung and Jae-il Oh) and was 6th in RBI (between Wilin Rosario and Hwang). His final season, 2017, he still hit well (.280/.347/.517, 30 2B, 24 HR, 87 RBI). He was the KBO's career RBI leader until Hyung-woo Choi broke his mark in 2023 (and that was with Lee having spent 8 years away from the KBO!) He went out with a bang, going deep twice in his final game. He retired with 1,795 runs, 2,946 hits, 619 doubles, 646 homers, 2,002 RBI and 1,241 walks in his pro career, having slugged .550 in 2,809 games between NPB and KBO.

He then was a baseball commentator from 2018-2022 before becoming the skipper of the Doosan Bears, succeeding Tae-hyeong Kim. He guided them to a 74-68-2 record in 2023.