Choi Jeong, who was called the ‘boy general’, surpasses the ‘legend’ Lee Seung-yeop and becomes KBO’s ‘heavenly general’

SSG Landers’ ‘big gun’ infielder Choi Jeong (37) has become the new owner of the most home runs in the KBO League.

Choi Jeong-eun started as the third hitter and third baseman in the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League Lotte Giants game held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 24th, and hit a one-run home run against Lee In-bok in the top of the fifth inning.

This is Choi Jeong’s 10th home run of the season and 468th home run in his career. With this, Choi Jeong-eun surpassed Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop, who retired after hitting 467 home runs in the KBO League, and became the sole leader in career home runs.

The career home run record was held by coach Seung-Yeop Lee for over 10 years.

Manager Lee hit his 352nd home run as a member of the Samsung Lions on June 20, 2013, rising to the top spot in career home runs, and maintained the top spot for 11 years, surpassed by Choi Jeong in 9 years.

Choi Jeong-eun has been a ‘tree that calls for good fortune’ since her school days. She showed her talent in batting early on, receiving the Lee Young-min Batting Award when she was a member of Suwon Yugogo. He was evaluated as a potential successor to Kim Dong-ju (formerly Doosan), who swept the league as a right-handed slugger in the early 2000s.

He joined SK Wyverns (now SSG) in 2005 and immediately hit 12 balls over the fence the following year. SK’s fans gave Choi Jeong the title ‘Boy Merchant’.

Since then, Choi Jeong has become synonymous with consistency by hitting double-digit home runs for 19 consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2024.

In the process, Choi Jeong-eun, who won the home run title three times, gradually built up his career home run record.

He achieved 100 home runs in his personal career in 2011 and 200 home runs in 2016, and reached 300 home runs in the Incheon Hanwha Eagles game on July 8, 2018.

On July 24, 2020, he hit 350 home runs against Hanwha in Daejeon. He became the youngest player ever to hit 350 home runs at the age of 33 years, 4 months, and 26 days.

Choi Jeong-eun, who hit his 352nd home run on July 29, 2020, surpassed Yang Jun-hyuk and rose to second place in the career home run category.

On October 19, 2021, he hit his 400th home run in his personal career against the KIA Tigers. He was the second player in history to reach 400 home runs after manager Lee Seung-yeop, and the first right-handed hitter to reach 400 home runs. He also surpassed Lee Dae-ho (374 home runs), a right-handed hitter who represented Korea.

Choi Jeong-eun, who hit a total of 458 home runs until last year, added 9 more as of the 16th, putting him on par with manager Lee.

However, in the KIA game on the 17th, when a new record was imminent, he was struck in the ribs by a ball thrown by Will Crow and was immediately replaced.

At first, a microfracture of the ribs was suspected, but fortunately, a simple bruise was diagnosed, and he returned to action against Lotte on the 23rd, 6 days later. Choi Jeong tried to add a home run the day before, but due to rain, a no game was declared, so his return game was postponed by a day, and he eventually achieved the record today.

Choi Jeong, who is in the twilight of his career as a player, has now become a player worthy of being called ‘the best of the world’ instead of ‘the best of the world’.

Some say that Manager Lee’s record is more valuable because Choi Jeong-eun has been playing in the KBO League for 20 years and Manager Lee has played in the KBO League for 15 seasons, excluding the seasons when he played overseas (2004-2011).

However, no one can deny the fact that Choi Jeong has performed the most consistently in the country. Coach Lee acknowledged Choi Jeong, saying, “When we talk about a specific record, we don’t talk about how many seasons it was set. In baseball, records tell the story.”

Choi Jeong’s record of being number one in career home runs seems unlikely to be broken for some time. Currently, the 3rd place player with the most home runs in his career is Park Byeong-ho (KT Wiz), who hit 380, and the gap with Choi Jeong is wide.

Choi Jeong is expected to be able to play for at least 2 to 3 more years if he is in his current physical condition. If he maintains his current form, he could become the first player in the KBO League to surpass 500 home runs and continue to break his own record.

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