Lee Bum-ho (Korean: 이범호; born November 25, 1981) is a South Korean former third baseman who played primarily in the KBO League. He bats and throws right-handed.

Lee Bum-ho
Third baseman
Born: (1981-11-25) November 25, 1981 (age 42)
Taegu, South Korea
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Professional debut
KBO: April 5, 2000, for the Hanhwa Eagles
NPB: April, 2010, for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Last appearance
NPB: 2010, for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
KBO: 2019, for the Kia Tigers
KBO statistics
Batting average.271
Home runs334
RBI1,127
NPB statistics
Batting average.226
Home runs4
RBI8
Teams
As player

As manager

Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's baseball
World Baseball Classic
Silver medal – second place 2009 Los Angeles Team
Bronze medal – third place 2006 San Diego Team
Korean name
Hangul
이범호
Hanja
李杋浩
Revised RomanizationI Beom-ho
McCune–ReischauerI Pŏm-ho

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.

Lee is currently the operations manager of the Kia Tigers.

Professional career

edit

Lee made his pro debut in 2000, drafted by the Hanwha Eagles in the 2nd round (8th pick, 16th overall) of the 2000 KBO Draft.

He had a couple of mediocre seasons as a backup shortstop, 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 for the first time and competed in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup held in Cuba. 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 at third base, edging out Kim Dong-Joo in the balloting.

Prior to the 2006 season, Lee was called up to the South Korea national baseball team 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. 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 at Fukuoka Dome in the seventh inning off Hirotoshi Masui.

On January 27, 2011, Lee returned to the KBO League, signing with the Kia Tigers.

In 2020, Lee began training with the Philadelphia Phillies.[1][2]

Career statistics

edit
Year Team AVG G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI RUN SB CS BB SO GIDP SF SLG
2000 Hanwha .162 69 74 12 7 0 1 3 11 1 0 11 21 2 1 .297
2001 .196 71 138 27 7 1 3 16 22 2 4 13 25 3 8 .326
2002 .260 111 296 77 20 2 11 35 41 5 1 27 57 5 6 .453
2003 .238 107 323 77 19 1 11 38 46 2 6 52 63 6 9 .406
2004 .308 133 481 148 35 3 23 74 80 6 3 51 80 8 9 .536
2005 .273 126 444 121 27 1 26 68 69 6 2 62 94 8 7 .514
2006 .257 126 421 108 25 1 20 73 53 0 2 72 87 11 4 .463
2007 .246 126 418 103 14 0 21 63 57 2 0 77 73 14 10 .431
2008 .276 125 434 120 21 3 19 77 80 12 1 70 50 18 4 .470
2009 .284 126 436 124 21 0 25 79 64 3 1 60 70 10 3 .505
Total 10 Season .265 1120 3465 917 196 12 160 526 523 39 20 495 620 85 61 .467

Notable international careers

edit
Year Venue Competition Team Individual Note
2002   Cuba Intercontinental Cup   .303 BA (10-for-33), 1 HR
2006   United States World Baseball Classic   .176 BA (3-for-17), 2 RBI, 1 R
2009   United States World Baseball Classic   .400 BA (8-for-20), 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R
All-Star (3B), HR title

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Lee Bum-ho to start training with Phillies next month". Korea JoongAng Daily. January 21, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  2. ^ Jee-ho, Yoo (January 20, 2020). "Ex-KBO slugger to take coaching training with Phillies". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
edit