Sun-hee Lee

Sun-hee Lee (이선희)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 174 lb.

• High School Kyeongbuk High School

• Born February 14, 1955 in Daegu South Korea

BR register page

Biographical Information

Sun-hee Lee pitched in the Korea Baseball Organization.

In the years before professional baseball in South Korea, Lee was a star southpaw for the South Korean national team, especially noted for his effectiveness against Japan. He was with South Korea for the 1975 Intercontinental Cup and 1975 Asian Championship (winning their second Asian Championship). He was MVP of the 1976 Haarlem Baseball Week. He led the 1977 Intercontinental Cup with 48 2/3 IP as South Korea won it all. He then led the 1980 Amateur World Series in innings (40 1/3) and victories (4) as South Korea got a Silver Medal. He also won Silver in the 1981 World Games and appeared in the 1981 Intercontinental Cup.

Lee pitched for the Samsung Lions in the first KBO season, 1982. As a rookie, he was 15-7 with a save and a 2.91 ERA. He was 6th in the league in games pitched, 7th in ERA, tied Yeong-ho Kwon for second in shutouts (3, one behind Ki-ryong Ha), 9th in strikeouts (73) and 9th in innings (167). In the 1982 Korean Series, he won game 2 over the OB Bears, the first win in Korean Series history (as game 1 had been a tie). He dropped game 5, though. In game 6, he was back on the hill despite five innings two days earlier. It was 3-3 entering the 9th but Yoo-dong Kim hit a grand slam to give OB the game and the Series.

In 1983, the 28-year-old was 5-13 with a 3.76 ERA, possibly 5th in the league in losses. He was only 2-4 with a 4.53 ERA in 1984. Moving to the MBC Blue Dragons, he rebounded to 5-7, 2 Sv, 2.28 in 1985. He finished 4th in ERA behind Dong-yol Son, Dong-won Choi and Si-jin Kim. He was 0-2 with a 5.09 ERA in limited action in 1986 and 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in 1987.

Lee finished his KBO career 28-36 with 3 saves and a 3.35 ERA in 133 games. In 539 2/3 innings, he allowed 506 hits and struck out 236.

He later was a coach for the Binggrae Eagles (1988-1990), Samsung (1991-1993), Hanwha Eagles (1994-2000) and Samsung again (2000-2007). He then was a scout for Samsung from 2008 to 2012 before returning to the coaching ranks with Hanwha in 2013.

Sources

• KBO page
• A History of Cuban Baseball by Peter Bjarkman (1977 Intercontinental Cup, 1980 Amateur World Series)
• Korean Wikipedia entry