Record-setting season for Korean baseball in 2009

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Record-setting season for Korean baseball in 2009

The 2009 Korea Baseball Organization season was one of the best in years. The national team was the runner-up at the World Baseball Classic in March, and this made for impressive attendance figures starting early in the season. New attendance records were set for both regular and postseason play.

In 532 regular season games, a total of 5.9 million fans packed baseball stadiums around the country. The previous record was 5.4 million fans in 1995. The postseason had a total of 16 games. A new postseason attendance record was set at 410,262, replacing the previous best of 379,978 set in 1995.

The regular season also included several impressive records. The SK Wyverns set a new record among professional Asian teams to close off the 2009 regular season with 19 consecutive wins. The Wyverns will need eight more consecutive wins in the 2010 season to break the record set by the 1916 New York Giants in the MLB. The Kia Tigers also set a record for the most wins in a season in the month of August, with 20 wins and four losses.

This season was also notable for the number of personal records set by veteran players. Yang Joon-hyuk of the Samsung Lions grabbed the record for most home runs on May 9 by swatting his 341st home run against the LG Twins. Song Jin-woo of the Hanhwa Eagles set the new record for most innings pitched by pitching 3,3000, before retiring. Kim Sang-hyun of Kia Tigers tied the record for most home runs and RBI in a month by swatting 15 home runs and 38 RBI in the month of August.

By Jason Kim [jason@joongang.co.kr]

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