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Kim Sung-keun

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For other people with the same name, see Kim Sung-keun.
Kim Sung-keun
Manager
Born: (1941-10-30) 30 October 1941 (age 83)
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Teams
As coach

As manager

Career highlights and awards
Kim Sung-keun
Hangul
김성근
Hanja
金星根
Revised RomanizationGim Seonggeun
McCune–ReischauerKim Sŏnggŭn
In this Korean name, the family name is Kim.

Kim Sung-keun (Korean: 김성근; Hanja: 金星根; born October 30, 1941, in Kyoto, Japan) is a retired South Korean left-handed baseball pitcher and KBO League manager.[1] Over the course of his managerial career, Kim managed seven different KBO League teams, and is only the second manager in the history of the league to record 1,000 victories. He is a four-time KBO Manager of the Year, and as manager of the SK Wyverns led the team to victory in the Korean Series three times. His nickname is the "Baseball God."[2]

Biography

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Kim spent his childhood as a resident of Japan and adopted a Japanese name, Seikon Kanebayashi, but remains a Korean citizen, thus making him a Zainichi Korean.[citation needed]

He began in the newly formed KBO as the pitching coach of the OB Bears from 1982 to 1983. Elevated to manager in 1984, Kim managed the Bears through the 1988 season, making the playoffs twice. He was given the KBO Manager of the Year award in 1986.[citation needed] Kim then moved on to the Pacific Dolphins in 1989-1990, where he won his first playoff series in the 1989 season. Kim managed the Samsung Lions in 1991–1992.

After taking a year off, Kim returned to the KBO in 1994–1995 as a coach for the Haitai Tigers. He was re-hired as a manager in 1996, by the Ssangbangwool Raiders, where he lasted until part-way through the 1999 season.

After being fired by the Raiders, Kim returned to the Lions as a coach in 2000, and to the LG Twins in 2001. Elevated to Twins manager in 2002, Kim took the team to his first Korean Series, where they eventually lost to Samsung four-games-to-two.

Kim returned to Japan in 2005–2006 as a coach for Nippon Professional Baseball's Chiba Lotte Marines.

Kim was hired by the SK Wyverns in 2007 and led the team to victories in the 2007, 2008, and 2010 Korean Series. In 2008, Kim reached the 1,000-victory milestone in the KBO League,[3] only the second manager to ever do so.[citation needed] Between 2009 and 2010, the Wyverns had a 23-game winning streak that ended in April 2010.

In 2011, Kim was ousted near the end of the season after a long-standing disagreement between him and the SK front office.[4] This led to bench coach Lee Man-soo taking over the reins – a move that brought a lot of protests from the SK Wyverns fans, as Kim had led SK to the Korean Series in every year that he had been at the helm.

Immediately after leaving the Wyverns, Kim was hired by Hur Min to manage the independent minor league team the Goyang Wonders, which ended up playing in the KBO Futures League. He managed the team for all three seasons of its existence.[5]

After the disbanding of the Wonders, Kim returned to the KBO in 2015 to manage the Hanwha Eagles. He left a game in 2016 due to dizziness.[6] His stint as the Eagles manager did not yield much success — he was fired by the team in May 2017, 43 games into the 2017 season, with a record of 18 wins and 25 losses.[7]

Controversy

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In 2002, Kim was fined ₩5,000 during that season for a beanball war that erupted between the Twins and Tigers. (The Tigers' manager was similarly fined.) In 2015, after another beanball incident, "Kim was fined ₩3 million for failing to manage the team properly, the first time in KBO history that only one manager was punished in a beanball incident."[2]

KBO League managerial record

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Year Team Finish Games W L D Win % Notes
1984 OB Bears 3 100 58 41 1 .585
1985 4 110 51 57 2 .473
1986 4 108 56 40 4 .580 Lost Playoff vs. Samsung (2–3)
1987 3 108 54 52 2 .509 Lost Playoff vs. Haitai (2–3)
1988 5 108 54 52 2 .509
1989 Pacific Dolphins 3 120 62 54 4 .533 Won Semi-Playoffs vs. Samsung (2-1)
Lost Playoffs vs. Haitai (0-3)
1990 5 120 58 59 3 .496
1991 Samsung Lions 3 126 70 55 1 .560 Won Semi-playoff vs. Lotte (2–1–1)
Lost Playoff vs. Eagles (1–3)
1992 3 126 67 57 2 .540 Lost Semi-playoff vs. Lotte (0–2)
1996 Ssangbangwool Raiders 3 126 70 54 2 .563 Lost Playoffs to Hyundai (2-3)
1997 3 126 71 53 2 .571 Lost Semi-Playoffs to Samsung (1-2)
1998 3 126 58 66 2 .468
2002 LG Twins 2 133 66 61 6 .520 Won Semi-playoff vs. Hyundai (2–0)
Won Playoff vs. Kia (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Samsung (2–4)
2007 SK Wyverns 1 126 73 48 5 .603 Won Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (4–2)
2008 1 126 83 43 0 .659 Won Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (4–1)
2009 2 133 80 47 6 .602 Won Playoff vs. Doosan (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Kia (3–2)
2010 1 133 84 47 2 .632 Won Korean Series vs. Samsung Lions (4–1)
2011 3 133 71 59 3 .546 Won Semi-playoff vs. Kia (3–1)
Won Playoff vs. Lotte (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Samsung (1–4)
2015 Hanwha Eagles 6 144 68 76 0 .472
2016 7 144 66 75 3 .469
2017 8 43 18 25 0 .431
Overall record 2511 1,338 1,121 52 .539 Won 3 Korean Series; lost 3 Korean Series

References

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  1. ^ "현역 외 선수 기록페이지 (타자)," KoreaBaseball.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  2. ^ a b JOO KYUNG-DON, KIM SIK. "Eagles manager hit hard by beanball talk and KBO fine," JoongAng Daily (April 17, 2015).
  3. ^ Yoo Jee-ho. "Kim wins 1,000 and KBO sees longest game ever," Korea JoongAng Daily (September 4, 2008).
  4. ^ "Wyverns abruptly fire manager Kim Sung-keun," The Korea Times (Aug. 18, 2011).
  5. ^ Kang Seung-woo "Goyang Wonders living up to name," The Korea Times (2012-08-23).
  6. ^ Yonhap. "KBO manager's collapse shows how stressful the job is," Korea JoongAng Daily (June 28, 2020).
  7. ^ Yonhap. "Baseball club Hanwha Eagles to keep interim manager for remainder of '17," The Korea Herald (Jun 13, 2017).
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