Veterans shine in first half of ‘The Value of Accumulation’, breaking all-time records

Demonstrating the value of consistency, veterans have achieved significant milestones in the first half of the 2023 KBO League.

바카라사이트Choi Hyung-woo (40), a veteran hitter for the resurgent KIA Tigers, broke two all-time records held by Lee Seung-yeop (47) of the Doosan Bears.

On 20 June, Choi hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning against the Daejeon Hanwha Eagles to reach the 1,500-run milestone. He surpassed Lee Seung-yeop (1,498 RBIs), the previous record holder, and became the first player in KBO history to reach 1,500 RBIs.

Prior to this, Choi Hyung-woo hit his 465th career double in the first inning against the Gwangju Samsung Lions on 23 April. He surpassed the previous record holder, Lee Seung-yeop (464). Choi has since added 13 more doubles and now has 478 doubles in his career.
Choi Jung (36-SSG Landers), the best right-handed hitter in the KBO, became the first player in KBO history to hit double-digit home runs in 18 consecutive seasons with a solo shot in the third inning against the Incheon Samsung Lions on 1 June. He surpassed his previous record of 17 consecutive seasons.

Choi also became the first right-handed hitter to do so in the first half of the year. On 28 April, he hit a solo home run in the first inning against Incheon Doosan to reach 3,700 career hits, becoming the youngest player in KBO history (36 years, 2 months) and the first right-handed hitter to do so.

Oh Seung-hwan, the ‘End of the World’, has lost some of his power this season, but he still managed to achieve the first ever record with a steady step. On 6 June, Oh pitched a scoreless first inning against the Daegu NC Dinos to record his eighth save of the season, 278th of his KBO career, and 500th of his Korean-American career. The 500-save milestone is unheard of in Nippon Professional Baseball and has only been achieved by Mariano Rivera (652 saves) and Trevor Hoffman (601 saves) in Major League Baseball. Oh added two more saves to reach 380 saves in the first half of the KBO season.

In the first half of the 2023 season, the veterans impressed fans with records that showed the value of accumulation. It will be interesting to see what other records will be set in the second half of the season.

Oh Seung-hwan of the Samsung Lions / Photo by Newsis