SSG Landers' Choo Shin-soo, former MLB star, records 2,000th hit

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SSG Landers' Choo Shin-soo, former MLB star, records 2,000th hit

Published: 25 Apr. 2024, 15:00 Updated: 25 Apr. 2024, 17:34

SSG Landers' Choo Shin-soo records 2,000 hits over two decades of professional baseball in Korea and the United States in a game against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

SSG Landers' Choo Shin-soo made his 2,000th hit over a two-decade-long career spanning the MLB, the minor leagues and the KBO in the Incheon club’s 12-7 win over the Lotte Giants at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Wednesday as fellow Landers slugger Choi Jeong locked in a new all-time KBO home run record.

The feat came at the top of the second inning, the Landers up 3-2 with one out and two runners on base. Choo hit a single, sending Park Ji-hwan from second base to home plate in a strong finish to a big inning, with the Landers ending it 4-2.

A few innings later, Choi hit his 468th career home run in what would be the start to a huge Landers comeback after a huge five-run inning for the Giants gave them the lead.

A sac fly by Choo at the top of the ninth earned the Landers another run, with Choi Ji-hoon on third making it home, and sealed the 12-7 win for the Incheon side.

Teammates congratulate Choo Shin-soo, left, after he records his 2,000th career hit in a game between the SSG Landers and the Lotte Giants at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Choo, 41, was at one point the most established Korean player in the MLB, heading straight for the States and skipping over a professional baseball debut in Korea.

He joined the Landers in 2021 for his first season in Korea after 16 years across the Majors and the Minors, batting an MLB career average .275 with 1,671 hits, 782 RBIs and 218 home runs.

He joined the Seattle Mariners organization as a teenager in 2000 and made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2005 before being sent down to the minors. He was traded to the Indians in the middle of the 2006 season and immediately entered the major league squad.

He was a breakout star at that year’s World Junior Baseball Championship, leading Korea to a gold medal over the United States and earning the MVP title for his work.

After being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2013, Choo became the first Korean ever to homer in the postseason during the Wild Card game where they fell short of a spot in the World Series.

In 2018, in the middle of a $130-million contract with the Texas Rangers, Choo recorded a 52-game on-base streak, one of the longest in MLB history, which earned him a spot in the All-Star squad and became the Rangers' Player of the Year.

Choo joined the KBO in 2021 and has a .257 batting average with 49 home runs, 171 RBIs and 329 hits over 372 games — all with the Landers, who signed him on an annual salary of 2.7 billion won ($2.4 million.)

SSG Landers' Choo Shin-soo kisses a baseball after the end of the inning that earned him his 2,000th career hit at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

He earlier announced he would retire at the end of the 2024 season.

The Landers have 15 wins, 11 losses and one draw as of press time Thursday.

BY MARY YANG AND JIM BULLEY [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]