The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

and are members of the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

. Their home stadium is

Daegu Samsung Lions Park The Daegu Samsung Lions Park is a multi-use stadium in Daegu, South Korea. It is used mostly for baseball games and is the home stadium of KBO club Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 ...

. They have won the Korean Championship eight times, and also finished as runners-up on ten occasions. The Samsung Lions are the first team to win four consecutive Korean Series titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), and are also the first team to win the regular season league title for five consecutive years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015).

History

The Samsung Lions were founded in 1982 as one of the original six

teams. They won their first championship in 1985, going 40-14-1 in the first half and 37-18 in the second half for a total of 77–32 for the best one-season winning percentage in KBO League history (a record that still stands). The 1985 team had two 25-game-winners on their staff,

Kim Si-jin Kim Si-jin (Hangul:김시진, Hanja: 金始眞; born March 20, 1958 in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea) is a retired pitcher and a former manager in the Korea Baseball Organization. Playing career Amateur career Upon graduation from ...

and

Kim ll-young Hisao Niura, also known as Kim Il-young (Hangul: 김일융; born May 11, 1951), is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher who played Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan and KBO League baseball in South Korea. Over a 22-season career, h ...

; as the Lions were winners of both half-season pennants that year, no

Korean Series The Korean Series is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play in ...

was held and the Lions were declared champions outright.Young Hoon Lee, Rodney Fort, editors. ''The Sports Business in The Pacific Rim: Economics and Policy'' (Springer, Oct 31, 2014
p. 178
The Lions would also win the championship in 2002, 2005 and 2006, having the best record in each one of those years. In 2010,

Ryu Jung-il Ryu Joong-il (born April 28, 1963) is a former South Korean baseball player who is currently a former manager of the LG Twins of the KBO League. Ryu had a 30-year association with the Samsung Lions, from 1987 to 2016, starting as a player, th ...

was hired as the new manager of the Samsung Lions. He led the team to the best record in the league and its fifth KBO title in 2011. After the KBO League, the Samsung Lions won the

Asian Series The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — Australian Baseball League (ABL), ...

championship. The Samsung Lions became the first team to win the pennant race, the Korean Series, and the Asian Series in the same year. In 2012, one of the most notable players on the team,

Lee Seung-yuop Lee Seung-yuop (born 18 August 1976) is a retired baseball player and the current manager of the Doosan Bears. He spent most of his career with the Samsung Lions of the KBO League. At the age of 26, he became the youngest professional baseball p ...

, returned to South Korea from Japan. With his help, the Samsung Lions won their sixth championship in the 2012 season. They won another two championships in 2013 and 2014, for a total of eight Korean Series championships. In 2016, Samsung Lions moved to their new stadium,

Season-by-season records

Team

Current roster

Korean Baseball League MVP

* 1983: Lee Man-soo (catcher) * 1987: Jang Hyo-jo (outfielder) * 1993: Kim Seong-rae (infielder) * 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003:

(infielder) * 2004: Bae Young-soo (pitcher)

Player Records (batter)

Batting average

: 1983 Jang Hyo-jo AVG .369 : 1984 Lee Man-soo AVG .340 : 1985 Jang Hyo-jo AVG .373 : 1986 Jang Hyo-jo AVG .329 : 1987 Jang Hyo-jo AVG .387 : 1993

Yang Joon-hyuk Yang Joon-hyuk is a South Korean retired professional baseball player. A left-handed hitter and outfielder, he spent most of his career with the Samsung Lions. He is known by the nickname "Yangshin" (양신, 梁神), or "God, Yang". He retired ...

AVG .341 : 1996

AVG .346 : 1998

AVG .342

Home runs

: 1983 Lee Man-soo 27 HR : 1984 Lee Man-soo 23 HR : 1985 Lee Man-soo 22 HR : 1987 Kim Seong-rae 22 HR : 1993 Kim Seong-rae 28 HR : 1997

32 HR : 1999

54 HR : 2001

39 HR : 2002

47 HR : 2003

56 HR : 2007 Shim Jeong-soo 31 HR : 2011 Choi Hyoung-woo 30 HR

Retired numbers

The first number retired by the Samsung Lions organization was number 22, in honour of catcher and slugger Lee Man-soo, who played for the team from 1982 to 1997, and was later a coach with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

of the MLB and the SK Wyverns. Lee was a five-time

KBO League Golden Glove Award The KBO League Golden Glove Award is an award given out annually by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to the best overall player at each position in the KBO League. It is also commonly known as the KBO Golden Gloves. The award was established ...

-winner with the Lions, won the KBO League MVP in 1983, and the hitting Triple Crown in 1984. The second number retired by the Samsung Lions organization was number 10, in honour of left-handed batter

, who played for the team from 1993 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2010. Yang led the league in batting four times, and holds six career batting records (including at one time the home run record with 351, now surpassed by Lee Seung-yeop). The third retired number, 36, was retired in honour of

, who has spent 15 seasons with the club and is the all-time KBO League leader in home runs with 467. Lee also holds the KBO records for runs scored, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Managers

* Seo Young-moo (1982–1983) * Lee Chung-nam (1983) *

Kim Yeong-duk Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese fo ...

(1984–1986) * Jeong Dong-jin (1986) ''(caretaker)'' * Park Young-gil (1987–1988) * Jeong Dong-jin (1989–1990) *

Kim Sung-keun Kim Sung-keun (Hangul: 김성근, Hanja: 金星根) (born December 13, 1942, in Kyoto, Japan) is a retired South Korean left-handed baseball pitcher and KBO League manager. Over the course of his managerial career, Kim managed seven different ...

(1991–1992) * Woo Yong-deuk (1993–1995) *

Baek In-chun Baek In-chun (born November 27, 1943) is a retired Korean baseball player. Baek spent most of his career playing in Nippon Professional Baseball. He finished his career in Korea with the KBO League and then got into managing. Baek holds the KBO r ...

(1996–1997) * Cho Chang-soo (1997) ''(caretaker)'' * Seo Jeong-hwan (1998–1999) * Kim Yong-hee (2000) * Kim Eung-ryong (2001–2004) * Sun Dong-yol (2005–2010) * Ryu Joong-il (2011–2016) * Kim Han-soo (2017–2019) * Heo Sam-young (2020–2022) * Park Jin-man (2022–present)

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

Official website
{{Samsung KBO League teams Baseball teams established in 1982 Sport in Daegu

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Cheil Worldwide 1982 establishments in South Korea