Jang Hyo-Jo (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 장효조,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 張孝祚) (July 6, 1956 – September 7, 2011) was a South Korean

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the Korean professional baseball league who played for the

Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Champ ...

and

Lotte Giants The Lotte Giants ( ko, 롯데 자이언츠) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Busan. They are a member of the KBO League. The Lotte Giants are owned by Lotte Corporation, which also owns the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Pr ...

. Jang batted and threw left-handed. He was born in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

. Jang is widely regarded as one of the best KBO hitters for average of all time. He still holds several records as of 2011, including the highest career batting average (.331) and most career batting titles with four.

Playing career

Jang played college baseball at

Hanyang University Hanyang University (Korean: 한양대학교) is a private research university in South Korea. The main campus is located in Seoul and its satellite campus, the Education Research Industry Cluster (ERICA campus), is in Ansan. ''Hanyang'' (한양, ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. Upon graduation from Hanyang University in February 1979, he joined the

POSCO POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, i ...

baseball club in the Korean amateur league. In September 1982, Jang competed in the 1982 Amateur World Series as a member of the

South Korean national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team ( ko, 대한민국 야구 국가대표팀) is the national baseball team of South Korea. It won the Baseball World Cup in 1982, and participated in the Summer Olympic Games of 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000. ...

and helped his team to win its first world championship as a starting

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. After the competition, Jang announced his interest to join the KBO Draft, and he was eventually drafted by the

in the third round of the 1983 KBO Draft. In his first pro season (1983), Jang won the batting title with a .369 batting average, being the first KBO player to win the batting title as a rookie. He posted career-highs in home runs (18) and stolen bases (25) as well. However, he lost the

KBO League Rookie of the Year Award The KBO League Rookie of the Year Award is given to the player judged the best first-year player in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League. The most recent winner is Lee Jung-hoo of the Nexen Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korea ...

to Park Jong-hoon of the

OB Bears The Doosan Bears ( ko, 두산 베어스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the KBO League. The Bears have won six Korean Series titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and ...

, which has been considered one of the most controversial KBO elections of all time. In 1985, Jang won his second batting title with a .373 batting average and led the Lions to their first KBO championship. He won his third batting championship with a .329 average in 1986 and won his fourth title with a career-best .387 batting average in 1987. After the 1988 season, Jang was traded with Kim Si-Jin to the

for

Choi Dong-Won Choi Dong-won (Hangul: 최동원, Hanja: 崔東原) (May 24, 1958 – September 14, 2011) was a South Korean pitcher in the KBO League who played for the Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions. Choi batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Busan. ...

and

Kim Yong-chul Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese fo ...

. In 1991, Jang was runner-up in batting average with .347 and first in

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

with .452. In 1992, his last pro season, Jang earned his first

Korean Series The Korean Series is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play in ...

ring but he dipped down to batting a career-low .265, with 0 home runs and 25 runs batted in. After the 1992 season with the Giants, Jang announced his retirement. In a ten-season career, Jang batted .331 with 78 home runs and 437 RBI in 961 games and ended with a .430 on-base percentage. He had 1009 career hits in 3050

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s. Jang also topped the KBO in on-base percentage in six seasons and won five straight Golden Gloves from 1983 to 1987 for defensive excellence.

Coaching career

Following his playing career, Jang coached for the Lotte Giants in 1994 and the Samsung Lions in 2000. Jang was named

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of the Lions' second tier team in 2010.

Death

Jang died of

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

at a hospital in

on September 7, 2011.

References

External links

* Career statistics and player information fro
KBO official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jang, Hyo-Jo Lotte Giants players Samsung Lions players KBO League right fielders South Korean baseball players 1956 births 2011 deaths Sportspeople from Daegu Deaths from cancer in South Korea Deaths from liver cancer