Kim wins 1,000 and KBO sees longest game ever
Two milestones were set in the Korea Baseball Organization Wednesday and early yesterday - very early indeed.First, SK Wyverns’ manager Kim Sung-keun picked up his 1,000th victory as manager, as the Wyverns shut out the Heroes 8-0 at home in Incheon.
Then at Seoul’s Jamsil Stadium, the home team Doosan Bears edged out the Hanwha Eagles 1-0 in 18 innings in a game that finished at 12:22 a.m. yesterday. With an elapsed game time of five hours and 51 minutes, it was the longest game in KBO history.
In June, a game between the Heroes and the Kia Tigers finished at 12:49 a.m., but there was a 55-minute rain delay.
Kim, the most senior KBO manager at 65, is the second manager in the history of the league to get to 1,000 wins. He began his managerial career with the OB Bears (currently Doosan Bears) in 1984 and has been with five other teams over his career.
After the victory, home fans at Munhak Stadium chanted his name in celebration and Kim thanked them and others for helping him reach the milestone.
“I’ve taken it one game at a time to get this far,” he told the JoongAng Ilbo. “But today was just a regular season game for us. Our next victory will be just as important as this one. I wasn’t thinking about the 1,000-win mark in the dugout.”
Kim was later presented with a commemorative T-shirt with the number 1,000 emblazoned on the front. The numbers were made up of images of the 93 pitchers that have won games for Kim.
“I am such a blessed man to have managed these great players,” Kim said. “The players and coaches have put in a lot of work for me. It’s all thanks to them that I am still in a baseball uniform today, all happy.”
The all-time leader is Kim Euong-young, who won 1,476 games with the Haitai (currently Kia) Tigers and the Samsung Lions. He is now president of the Lions.
Elsewhere, while Kim and the Wyverns were celebrating their win, the Bears and the Eagles were still playing, tied up at 0-0.
Then in the bottom of the 18th, Doosan’s Kim Hyun-soo drew a bases-loaded walk from Hanwha pitcher Ahn Young-myung. After getting two outs in the inning, Ahn issued four straight walks to end the baseball marathon.
Starting this year, the KBO has scrapped the tie rule: previously, a tie would be called after 12 innings in the regular season and 15 innings in playoffs.
A July 6 game between the Lions and the Tigers ended in 15 innings and a June 12 affair between the Tigers and the Heroes finished up in 14. But no other game in KBO history had ever gone past 16 innings until yesterday.
The winning manager Kim Kyung-moon thanked his players for fighting through to the end and said he believed such a long game “can only make our team stronger.”
“From a manager’s perspective, it can get difficult to make pitching changes in a game like this,” Kim told Yonhap News Agency. “But at least we put on something for the fans.”
The Bears and the Eagles set other dubious marks. They combined for 38 strikeouts, the most in a game, and remained scoreless through a record 17 innings.
The first three hitters in the Doosan lineup, Lee Jong-wook, Ko Young-min and Kim Hyun-soo, each had nine plate appearances to set the single-game record.
Fighting for a playoff berth, neither team backed down on this day. The Eagles threw seven pitchers at the Bears, who responded with four pitchers. Doosan’s Kim Sang-hyun got the win by throwing six perfect innings in relief and striking out 10.
The scoreboard at the Jamsil Stadium only has enough lines for 14 innings. From 15 innings and on, the line scores were displayed on an adjacent screen, which normally shows commercials between innings.
Officially, 7,273 attended the game, but only about a thousand stayed until the end. Fast food coupons were distributed to the remaining faithful.
By Yoo Jee-ho Staff Reporter [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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