Choi Jeong hits his 468th home run with a bang, overcoming Lee Seung-yeop’s fence

Jeong Choi (SSG Landers) set a new record for the most home runs in his career and became the new home run king of the professional baseball KBO League.

Choi Jeong-eun started as SSG’s third hitter and third baseman in the KBO League game against the Lotte Giants held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 24th and hit his 10th home run of the season and 468th of his personal career in the top of the 5th inning. Choi Jeong-eun, who was at bat for the third time with two outs and no runners, hit Lotte starting pitcher Lee In-bok’s first-pitch slider and hit a solo home run that flew 110 meters and over the left wall.

With this home run, Choi Jeong-eun broke the record for the most home runs (467) in KBO history, tying with current Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop.

Choi Jeong-eun, who hit his first home run in the first team in a game against the Hyundai Unicorns on May 21, 2005, hit only one home run in his first year of debut. However, after hitting double-digit home runs (12) for the first time in his second year in 2006, he continued to hit home runs every year, emerging as the home run king representing the KBO League. In 2016, he recorded 40 home runs in one season, becoming the home run king for his first season, and then won the home run title a total of three times in 2017 (46 home runs) and 2021 (35 home runs).

With this home run, Choi Jeong also set a double-digit home run record for 19 consecutive years. Double-digit home runs for 19 consecutive years is a record that no one has achieved in the KBO League. Choi Hyeong-woo (KIA) followed suit by hitting double-digit home runs for 16 consecutive seasons from 2008 to last year. Retired Jang Jong-hoon (1988-2002) and Yang Jun-hyuk (1993-2007) have recorded double-digit home runs for 15 consecutive years, and Choi Jeong’s longest streak of double-digit home runs seems unlikely to be broken in the KBO League for the time being.

In this game, SSG captain Choo Shin-soo recorded a heavy hit in the top of the second inning, achieving the 2,000th hit in Korea and the United States. Choo Shin-soo recorded 1,671 hits in the Major League Baseball (MLB) and 329 hits in the KBO League. In the game, SSG came from behind to win 12 to 7 over Lotte, breaking their recent two-game losing streak.

[김지한 기자]