Kim Tae-kyun (; born May 29, 1982) is a South Korean

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

who played for the

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon that competes in the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark. They have won the Korean Series once, in 1999, and the league penn ...

in the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

. He bats and throws right-handed. He is one of the top career hitters in the KBO, with a lifetime

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

over .320, and more than 300 career

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 1300

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

Amateur career

Kim attended Bugil High School in

Cheonan Cheonan (; ) is the largest and most densely populated city of South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, and the third largest city in the Hoseo region after Daejeon and Cheongju. Cheonan borders Gyeonggi Province ( Pyeongtaek and Anseong) i ...

South Chungcheong Province South Chungcheong Province (), informally called Chungnam, is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, province of South Korea in the Hoseo region in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. South Chungcheong borders the provinces of Gyeonggi to ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. In 2000, he was selected for the South Korean Junior National Team. The team won the 2000 World Junior Baseball Championship in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Canada, and Kim led the attack alongside Lee Dae-ho, Choo Shin-soo (the eventual MVP of this event), and Jeong Keun-woo, batting .433 with 3 home runs.

Notable international careers

Professional career

Kim was a first-round pick of the Hanhwa Eagles in 2001 following a successful youth career. He made his KBO debut on April 17, 2001, as a starting first baseman against the

Hyundai Unicorns 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 20 ...

. As a rookie in 2001, he hit 20 home runs and drove in 54 runs with a .335 batting average. After the 2001 season, Kim was honored with the KBO League Rookie of the Year Award. He became the first Eagles player to win the award. In 2002, Kim experienced a

sophomore slump A sophomore slump (also known as a sophomore jinx or sophomore jitters) is when a sophomore fails to live up to the relatively high standards that occurred during freshman year. It is commonly used to refer to the apathy of students (second year ...

, batting .255 with 7 home runs, but came back strong in 2003 to bat .319 with 31 home runs and 95 RBIs. From 2003 through 2005, he notched three consecutive seasons batting .300+. His stats dipped slightly in 2006 and 2007, but he broke out again in 2008, batting .324 with 31 home runs and 92 RBIs. He was first in home runs and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, 4th in RBI, and 5th in batting average. Kim performed spectacularly in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...

, driving in 11 runs to lead all players, as well as scoring nine runs. As a result, he was named to the 2009 All WBC Team as the first baseman. (South Korea was the runner-up to Japan in the 2009 WBC.) Kim left the KBO for

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

in 2010–2011, playing for the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

. He had success his first year in the NPB, hitting .268 with 21 home runs and 92 RBI. 2011 was not as successful, as Kim only played in 31 games and hit only .250. He returned to the Hanhwa Eagles in 2012, and has played with them ever since. In his first season back in the KBO League, Kim hit .363 to lead the league. He hit .365 in both 2014 and 2016, finishing second in the batting title both seasons. His 136 RBI in 2016 was also second in the league. On 6 June 2020, Kim became the youngest player in the KBO to reach the career milestone of 3,500

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hit (baseball), hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single (baseball), single, 2 for a double (baseball), double, 3 for a triple (baseball), triple and 4 ...

. Kim was the fourth player in the KBO League to reach 3,500 total bases in his career, and the first right-handed hitter to do it, after lefties Yang Joon-hyuk,

Lee Seung-yuop Lee Seung-yuop (born 18 August 1976) is a retired baseball player and the current manager of the Doosan Bears. He spent most of his career with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. At the age of 26, he became the youngest professional baseball ...

, and

Park Yong-taik Park Yong-taik (; born April 21, 1979) is a South Korean outfielder who has played his entire career for the LG Twins in the KBO League. With 2,504 career hits, he is the all-time career hit leader in the KBO. He bats left-handed and throws righ ...

. He is also the youngest to ever do it, about two months ahead of Yang, who was 38 years old, two months, and nine days old.

Personal life

Kim was Cheongan-si Ambassador to

in April 2009. He was a Neowiz Games Slugger PR Ambassador in May 2009. He was a Korean Red Cross Ambassador in 2013 and May 2014. He was a Good Driver's Mileage Ambassador in July 2013.

Awards, honors, and achievements

*2001 Rookie of the Year *2005 Golden Glove Award (1B) *2008 Golden Glove Award (1B), Home Run Title, Slugging Percentage Leader * 2012 KBO League Batting Champion, Bases on Balls Leader * 2016 Bases on Balls Leader *2017 Professional Baseball 'Sports Seoul' Record of the Year Award *2016 KBO Golden Glove designated hitter Award

Career statistics (KBO)

League-leader.

Notable international tournaments

Filmography

Television shows

References

External links

Career statistics and player information
from

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League () and KBO Futures League ( (F ...

Kim Tae-kyun
at Hanwha Eagles Baseball Club *
Kim Tae-gyun Fancafe
at Daum {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Tae-kyun 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2006 World Baseball Classic players Chiba Lotte Marines players Hanwha Eagles players Sportspeople from South Chungcheong Province South Korean expatriate baseball players in Japan KBO League Rookie of the Year Award winners KBO League first basemen 1982 births Living people Asian Games gold medalists in baseball Asian Games baseball players for South Korea 2003 Baseball World Cup players 2013 World Baseball Classic players Baseball players at the 2010 Asian Games 2017 World Baseball Classic players Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games South Korean Buddhists KBO League players with retired numbers World Baseball Classic players of South Korea