KBO's first championship-winning manager Kim Young-deok dies at 87

Kim Young-deok speaks to reporters at a press event to mark 30 years since the OB Bears won the inaugural Korean Series held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on April 2, 2011. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Kim Young-deok, the baseball manager that led the KBO's first title-winning team, died on Saturday at 87 years old.

Kim died after being hospitalized due to his deteriorating health, his family said Saturday.

Kim managed the OB Bears through the KBO's inaugural 1982 season, leading the Seoul club, now known as the Doosan Bears, to victory in the first Korean Series.

Born in Japan in 1936, Kim moved to Korea in 1964 after first playing in the Japanese baseball league. With no professional league established in Korea until the early 1980s, Kim spent the remainder of his playing career here with semi-professional baseball clubs.

Aside from the Bears, Kim also coached the semi-professional Korea Shipping Corporation, Crown Beer and Hanil Bank teams, as well as Bugil Academy in Cheonan, South Chungcheong and Jangchung High School in Seoul.

In the KBO, Kim managed the Samsung Lions to multiple league wins and took the helm at the Binggrae Eagles, now the Hanwha Eagles, before retiring in 1993 with a record of one Korean Series title and six runner-up finishes.

The mourning altar for Kim has been set up at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi and his funeral will be held on Jan. 25.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]