KBO 40 Legends: Vote leaders

Baseball

Published: 20 Sep. 2022, 17:51 Updated: 20 Sep. 2022, 17:53

KBO 40 Legends: Vote leaders

Clockwise from top left: Sun Dong-yol, Choi Dong-won, Lee Seung-yuop and Lee Jong-beom. [KBO]

The KBO on Monday announced the final four members of the league’s “40 Legend” team, a round-up of the top 40 KBO players of all time that has been slowly compiled since the All-Star game in July.

Players were chosen for the 40-man squad from a list of 177 candidates, including all former Golden Glove and Korean Series MVP winners, as well as any pitchers who had recorded 800 appearances with 100 wins, 150 saves and at least one 20-win season and any batters who had appeared in 2,000 games, hit 200 home runs, 2,000 hits and had at least one 40-home run season.

All active players, including those playing overseas, were excluded.

The first four players to make the list were the vote leaders, the four people chosen by the panel of experts and fans as the greatest ball players ever to ply their trade in the KBO.

Sun Dong-yol

Former Haitai Tigers pitcher Sun retired with an all-time leading 1.20 ERA and 29 complete game shutouts to his name, having led the Tigers to six Korea Series titles and been named regular season MVP three times.

Sun Dong-yol [KBO]

Choi Dong-won

Choi followed Sun on the all-time ERA list, at 2.46. He made his name in 1984, when he picked up 27 wins for the Lotte Giants in the regular season and then went on to win all four games against the Samsung Lions in the Korean Series.

Choi Dong-won [KBO]

Lee Jong-beom

Lee was an extremely versatile infielder, combining speed and power throughout his career with the Tigers. In 1994, his MVP season, he made a record 84 steals and hit 19 home runs with a .393 batting average.

Lee Jong-beom [KBO]

Lee Seung-yuop

Lions legend Lee was the youngest player in the world to pass 300 career home runs at 26. He holds the KBO record for home runs, runs scored, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS.