Kim Sung-keun (

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 le ...

: 김성근,

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, ...

: 金星根) (born December 13, 1942, in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, Japan) is a retired South Korean

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

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 ...

. 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 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 ...

three times. His nickname is the "Baseball God."

Biography

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 comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

. He began in the newly formed KBO as the pitching coach 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 ...

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. Kim then moved on to the

Pacific Dolphins The Hyundai Unicorns () were a South Korean professional baseball team based in Suwon. They were a member of the KBO League. The Unicorns won the KBO championship four times (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004). The Unicorns were dissolved after the 2 ...

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 Kia Tigers ( ko, KIA 타이거즈) are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 and based in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Until 2001, they were known as the Haitai Tigers. The Tigers are a members of the KBO League and are ...

. 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 LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is t ...

in 2001. Elevated to Twins manager in 2002, Kim took the team to his first

, where they eventually lost to Samsung four-games-to-two. Kim returned to Japan in 2005–2006 as a coach for

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

. Kim was hired by the SK Wyverns in 2007 and led the team to victories in the 2007, 2008, and 2010

. In 2008, Kim reached the 1,000-victory milestone in the KBO League, only the second manager to ever do so. 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. This led to bench coach

Lee Man-soo Lee Man-soo (, Hanja: 李萬洙; born September 9, 1958 in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do, South Korea), also spelled as Man Soo Lee, is a former Korea Professional Baseball catcher and First baseman and manager. After a distinguished career as a pro ...

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 The Goyang Wonders ( ko, 고양 원더스) was a South Korean professional baseball team based in Goyang. They were a member of the unaffiliated Freedom Division of the KBO Futures League, and played games from 2012 to 2014. The team was managed b ...

, which ended up playing in the

KBO Futures League KBO Futures League () or Korea Baseball Futures League is South Korea's second level of baseball, below the KBO League. It serves as a farm league with the purpose to develop professional players on-demand to play in the KBO League. The league ...

. He managed the team for all three seasons of its existence.Kang Seung-wo
"Goyang Wonders living up to name,"
''The Korea Times'' (2012-08-23). After the disbanding of the Wonders, Kim returned to the KBO in 2015 to manage the

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles ( ko, 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon. They are a member of the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium. The Eagles have won the Korean Series on ...

. He left a game in 2016 due to dizziness. 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.Yonhap
"Baseball club Hanwha Eagles to keep interim manager for remainder of '17,"
''The Korea Herald'' (Jun 13, 2017).

Controversy

In 2002, Kim was fined

₩ The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won. Appearance Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...

5,000 during that season for a

beanball "Beanball" is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking them such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head (or "bean" in old-fashioned slang). A pitcher who thro ...

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."JOO KYUNG-DON, KIM SIK
"Eagles manager hit hard by beanball talk and KBO fine,"
''JoongAng Daily'' (April 17, 2015).

KBO League managerial record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Sung-keun Living people 1942 births Zainichi Korean people Baseball people from Kyoto South Korean baseball managers South Korean baseball coaches South Korean baseball players Samsung Lions coaches LG Twins coaches Doosan Bears managers Samsung Lions managers LG Twins managers SSG Landers managers Hyundai Unicorns managers Hanwha Eagles managers category:Nippon Professional Baseball coaches