Lee Bum-ho (;

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 ...

: 李杋浩; born November 25, 1981) is a South Korean former

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

who played primarily in the

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 ...

. He bats and throws right-handed. Lee is considered one of the best defensive third basemen in the KBO league history. He made great contributions on offense as well. He hit with considerable power, which enabled him to collect 20+ home runs nearly every season.

Professional career

Lee made his pro debut in 2000, drafted by 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 ...

in the 2nd round (8th pick, 16th overall) of the 2000 KBO Draft. He had a couple of mediocre seasons as a backup

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

, but started to show signs of promise in 2002 when he batted .260 and hit 11 home runs. After the 2002 season, Lee was selected for the

South Korea 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. At ...

for the first time and competed in the

2002 Intercontinental Cup The 2002 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 3 December 2002, between Real Madrid of Spain, winners of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, and Olimpia of Paraguay, winners of the 2002 Copa Libertadores. The match was ...

held in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. In the gold medal game, Lee hit a solo home run off Cuba's starter José Ibar in the bottom of the 4th inning to break a scoreless tie. His stats dipped slightly in 2003, but broke out again in the 2004 season when he batted a career-high .308 with 23 home runs and 74 RBIs, playing in all 126 regular-season games as a shortstop. In 2005, Lee moved from shortstop to third base, and hit a career-high 26 home runs with 68 RBIs. He won his first

KBO League Golden Glove Award The KBO League Golden Glove Award is an award given out annually by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to the best overall player at each position in the KBO League. It is also commonly known as the KBO Golden Gloves. The award was established i ...

at third base, edging out Kim Dong-Joo in the balloting. Prior to the 2006 season, Lee was called up to the

and competed in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. From 2004 through 2007, Lee had four consecutive seasons with 20 or more home runs. In 2006, Lee won his second KBO League Golden Glove Award. In 2008, he batted .276, hit 19 home runs, drove in 77 runs and stole a career-high 12 bases. In March 2009, Lee competed for the South Korean national baseball team for the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

. For the Classic, Lee went 8-for-20 with 3 home runs, 5 runs and 7 RBIs in six games. He was fifth in RBI and tied for the lead with six others in home runs in the tournament, and named to the All-Star team at third base. In the 2009 KBO season, Lee had another solid performance, batting .284 with 25 home runs (7th in the league), 124 hits and a career-high 79 RBIs in 126 regular-season games as a third baseman. Lee signed as a free agent with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League in November 2009. He batted .226 in 48 games for the Hawks in 2010, with 4 home runs and 8 RBI. He hit his first NPB home run on April 9, 2010, against

Nippon Ham (English name before 2014: Nippon Meat Packers, Inc.) is a food processing conglomerate headquartered in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. History Founded in 1949, the company is commonly known as Nippon Ham. As a multinational corporation, Nipp ...

at Fukuoka Dome in the seventh inning off

Hirotoshi Masui Hirotoshi Masui (増井浩俊, born June 25, 1984) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher. He selected . Pitching style Masui is a right-handed pitcher with an overhand delivery. As a reliever, he throws a four-seam fastball (tops out at ...

. On January 27, 2011, Lee returned to the

, signing with the Kia Tigers.

Career statistics

Notable international careers

External links

Profile and stats on the KBO official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Bum-Ho 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2006 World Baseball Classic players Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players Hanwha Eagles players Kia Tigers players South Korean expatriate baseball players in Japan KBO League third basemen 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Daegu

Professional career

Career statistics

Notable international careers

See also

External links