Lee Kang-chul (

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 ...

: 이강철; born May 24, 1966, in Gwangju,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

) is a South Korean former professional baseball

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 current manager of the

KT Wiz KT Wiz ( ko, KT 위즈) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Suwon. They are a member of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Suwon Baseball Stadium in Suwon. History On 11 January 2013, the Korea Baseball Organization offi ...

. A submarine-style pitcher,"Baseball club plucks coach from another team to fill managerial vacancy,"
Yonhap News Agency (October 20, 2018). he played 16 seasons 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 ...

, mostly for the Haitai/Kia Tigers. He is second all-time in the KBO League in career strikeouts and third in career victories. Lee was one of the top KBO pitchers of the 1990s, and is the only pitcher from that league to have won 10+ games in ten consecutive seasons, which he did from 1989 to 1998.

Playing career

Born in Gwangju, Lee attended

Gwangju Jeil High School Gwangju Jeil High School ( ko, 광주제일고등학교) is a boys' high school in Gwangju, South Korea. It has 840 students in grades 10, 11, and 12.Keh, Andrew"School Spirit May Be Metaphysical for South Korean Baseball Players,"''New York T ...

and

Dongguk University Dongguk University (Korean: 동국대학교, Hanja: 東國大學校) is a private, coeducational university in South Korea, fundamentally based on Buddhism. Established in 1906 as Myeongjin School (명진학교; 明進學校) by Buddhist pioneers ...

. He pitched for the South Korea national baseball team in the 1988 Baseball World Cup and also in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. Lee debuted with 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 ...

in 1989 at age 23 and had an immediate impact, going 15-8 with a 3.23

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

as the Tigers won 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 ...

. (During his career, Lee would win four more KBO championships with the Tigers.) Lee went 18-9 in 1992, with 155 strikeouts, enough to lead the KBO that year. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 1996

, which the Tigers won 4-games-to-2 over 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 ...

. During the Series, Lee had two wins, a save, and a 0.56 ERA. Lee sat out the 1999 season and returned to the KBO in 2000 with the Samsung Lions. He didn't pitch well for them, and mid-season 2001 was traded back to the Tigers franchise (now known as the

Kia 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 ...

). In his second stint with the Tigers he was primarily a relief pitcher. During the 2004 season, Lee broke Sun Dong-yol's career KBO strikeout record of 1,698, but Lee's total was surpassed later that season by current KBO career strikeout king

Song Jin-woo Song Jin-woo (Hangul: 송진우, Hanja: 宋津宇; born February 16, 1966) is a retired South Korean left-handed pitcher who played for the Hanwha Eagles his entire career. Song played in the KBO League for 21 seasons between and . He current ...

. Lee retired in 2005. His 1,749 career strikeouts are second all-time in the KBO League, and his 152 victories are third on the all-time list.

Coaching/managing career

Lee began coaching the season after he retired, serving as the Tigers' pitching coach from 2006 to 2012. He was "head coach" of the Nexen Heroes for four seasons, from 2013 to 2016. Lee coached for the South Korea national baseball team that won the Silver Medal in the 2017 Asia Professional Baseball Championship. Lee then moved to the

Doosan 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 ...

, serving as the team's

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 ...

manager in 2017 and the KBO team's pitching coach in the 2018 season.KIM SEEK, KANG YOO-RIM
Lee’s long road to the top pays off for Wiz,"
''Korea JoongAng Daily'' (August 29, 2019). He has been the manager of the

since the end of the 2018 season. Lee led the young club to its first .500 record in his first year as manager.

References

External links

* Career statistics and player information fro
MyKBOStats.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Kang-chul 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Gwangju South Korean baseball players Kia Tigers players Samsung Lions players KBO League pitchers Baseball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of South Korea Dongguk University alumni South Korean baseball managers South Korean baseball coaches KT Wiz managers

Playing career

Coaching/managing career

See also

References

External links