Ko Young-min (

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 ...

: 고영민,

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 ...

: 高永民) (born February 8, 1984) is a retired

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n second baseman who played for 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 ...

in the

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the 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 ( ko, KBO 리그) and KBO ...

between 2002 and 2016. He batted and threw

right-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 subjecti ...

Professional career

Upon graduation from Seongnam High School, Ko was drafted by the

in the second round (17th overall) of the 2002 KBO Draft. He had several mediocre season, spending most of his time in the reserve team of the Bears. In 2006, Ko became a fixture in second base for the Bears as veteran second baseman

Ahn Kyung-hyun Ahn or AHN may refer to: People * Ahn (Korean surname), a Korean family name occasionally Romanized as ''An'' * Ahn Byeong-keun (born 1962, ), South Korean judoka * Ahn Eak-tai (1906–1965, ), Korean composer and conductor * Ahn Jung-hwan (born ...

moved to

first base 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 ...

due to deteriorating health. Ko batted a career-high .270 with 85

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, 29 RBIs, a career-high 5

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

s, and 14

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s, appearing 116 games as a starting second baseman. In 2007, Ko batted .268, compiling a career-high 12

home run 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 i ...

s, 119 hits and 66 RBIs while appearing all 126 regular-season games. He led the KBO league in

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

s (89), and 3rd in stolen bases (36). After the season, he won his first Golden Glove Award at second base. In 2008, Ko batted .267 with a career-high 70 RBIs, 114 hits, 84 runs, 39 stolen bases and 9 home runs. He led the KBO league in

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ov ...

s (74), and ranked 3rd in runs, 4th in stolen bases and 13th in RBI. In August 2008, Ko competed 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 ...

in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, where they won the gold medal in the baseball tournament. Ko's big hit in the Olympics was a three-run homer off of Yang Chien-fu in the 8-7 Korean win over

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

. Prior to the 2009 KBO season, Ko participated in 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 ...

in March 2009. In the WBC, he batted .308 with 4 hit in 13 at-bats, sharing the starting second base position with Jeong Keun-Woo. In

Round 2 Round 2 may refer to: * ''Round 2'' (J. Holiday album), 2009 * ''Round 2'' (The Stylistics album), 1972 * Round 2 (company) Round 2 is an American manufacturing company which produces scale models including die-cast, plastic, slot cars, and ot ...

, Ko smacked a solo home run off

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

starter

Óliver Pérez Óliver Pérez Martínez (born August 15, 1981) is a Mexican professional baseball pitcher for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League. He previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, ...

in the bottom of the 5th inning to lead his team to an 8-2 victory over

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Career stats

Bold = led KBO

Notable international careers

External links

Profile and stats at the KBO official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ko, Young-min 1984 births Living people Members of Sōka Gakkai South Korean Buddhists 2009 World Baseball Classic players Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic baseball players of South Korea Doosan Bears players KBO League second basemen South Korean baseball players Olympic medalists in baseball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics KT Wiz coaches Doosan Bears coaches