Song Ji-man (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The ...

: 송지만,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 宋志晩) (born March 2, 1973 in Incheon,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

) is a South Korean former

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

in the

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League ( ko, KBO 리그) and K ...

professional baseball league. He bats and throws right-handed.

Professional career

Hanwha Eagles

Upon graduation from

Inha University Inha University (인하대학교(仁荷大學校)) is a private research university located in Incheon, South Korea. Known traditionally for research and education in the engineering and physical sciences, the University was established by the ...

in Incheon, Song made himself eligible for the 1996 KBO Draft and was selected in the second round by the

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles ( ko, 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon. They are a member of the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium. The Eagles have won the Korean Series onc ...

. In , Song joined his first 20-20 club and became a member of the

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 ...

championship team. In , he joined his second 20-20 club, batting a career-high .338 and having his first 30+ home run season (32), and won his first

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 i ...

after the season. In , Song posted career-highs in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s (38) and

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

(104), and won his second Golden Glove Award. However, Song was hampered by arm injuries during the whole season, batting only .253 and hitting a career-low 9 home runs.

Hyundai Unicorns

After the 2003 season, Song was traded to the

Hyundai Unicorns The Hyundai Unicorns () were a South Korean professional baseball team based in Suwon. They were a member of the KBO League. The Unicorns won the KBO championship four times (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004). The Unicorns were dissolved after the 20 ...

. In , he smacked 22 home runs and drove in 74 runs, and led his team to their last Korean Series championship. In , Song had another solid season with the Unicorns, batting a respectable .271 and amassing 24 home runs and 74 RBI. After the 2005 season, he was selected as a member of the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team ( ko, 대한민국 야구 국가대표팀) is the national baseball team of South Korea. It won the Baseball World Cup in 1982, and participated in the Summer Olympic Games of 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000. ...

and competed in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March .

Nexen Heroes

In the early 2000s (decade)

Hyundai Group Hyundai Group (; ) is a South Korean conglomerate founded by Chung Ju-yung. The first company in the group was founded in 1947 as a construction company. With government assistance, Chung and his family members rapidly expanded into various i ...

ran into financial problems, and they eventually abandoned the Unicorns in . The team was sold and became the

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

. During a series of "

fire sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventory ...

s" for the Unicorns' best players and franchises in the 2007 offseason, the Heroes kept attempting to trade Song for another big deal. However, prior to the season, Song announced that he would stay with the Heroes, accepting the 60% salary cut offered by the team. In 2008, Song batted .280, accumulating 13 home runs and 62 RBI. On April 20, 2008, he hit his 250th home run, which at that point was good for ninth-place in KBO history. In , Song had an offensively productive season again, batting .289 and posting 22 home runs and 67 RBI. On May 19, 2009, he made the 1700th hit of his career, which at that point was the fifth-highest total in KBO history.

Notable international careers

External links