Yang Joon-hyuk of the Samsung Lions inched closer to the KBO all-time home run record by slamming his 340th home run at the bottom of the first inning in Tuesday’s game against the Hanhwa Eagles. He needs one more home run to overtake Jang Jong-hoon, the current manager of the Eagles minor league team.

At 39, Yang is well past his prime and is an old man playing among rookies 20 years his junior. Playing in his 17th professional season, he has hit more than 20 home runs in nine seasons.

The left-handed Daegu native has over 2,000 hits in a career that started with the Samsung Lions in 1993. He also played for the Haitai Tigers and the LG Twins before he returned to the Lions in 2002.

Yang’s career stats and accomplishments read like that of a sure-fire hall of famer.

He won rookie of the year in 1993, eight golden gloves, has appeared in 14 All-Star games and notched up 20 home runs and 20 steals in a single season four times.

He has hit at least 100 hits in 16 straight seasons from 1993 to 2008, 15 straight seasons in which he registered double-digits in home runs and nine straight seasons in which he has averaged .300, from 1993 to 2001. He has hit for the cycle (a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game) twice against Hyundai in Aug. 23, 1996 and April 15, 2003.

Although Jang was the first to hit over 40 home runs in a season with 41 in 1992, he reached his 340 home runs in 19 seasons. Yang has remained modest about his feat, stating that Jang is the real power hitter and that he should be held in higher esteem.

While there must have been many memorable home runs for Yang in his long career, there is one that sticks out.

“While all home runs were important, one that I cherish over others is my first homer in the KBO. I hit my first home run against Lee Dae-jin [of KIA] at Daegu Baseball Stadium in his first season. I pulled it and hit it over the right center field area,” stated Yang, describing the three-run home run in the fifth inning on April 20.

As for pitchers, Yang has faced many and but a couple of pitchers gave him more fits than others. “Kim Jung-soo [retired] and Lee Hae-chun [Yakult] were the most difficult to face. They had some nasty pitches. Lee had a 150 kilometers [92.2 miles] per hour fastball and being a sidearm pitcher, he was tricky to deal with,” Yang said.


article date: April 16, 2009
By Kim Jong-sun, Kim Sung-won [jason@joongang.co.kr]