Samsung Lions

The Samsung Lions (Korean: 삼성 라이온즈)[1] are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Series eight times (they have also finished runner-up ten times). The Samsung Lions is the first team to win four consecutive Korean Series titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). The Samsung Lions are also the first Korean team ever to win a regular league title for five consecutive years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015).

Samsung Lions
삼성 라이온즈
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
LeagueKBO League (1982–present)
LocationDaegu, South Korea
BallparkDaegu Samsung Lions Park (2016–present)
Year established1982 (1982)
League championships1982,[lower-alpha 1] 1984,[lower-alpha 2] 1985,[lower-alpha 3] 1986,[lower-alpha 2] 1987,[lower-alpha 3] 1999,[lower-alpha 4] 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Korean Series championships1985,[lower-alpha 5] 2002, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Former ballparksDaegu Baseball Stadium (1982–2015)
ColorsBlue, white and grey
     
Retired numbers10, 22, 36
OwnershipCheil Worldwide
(Samsung's subsidiary)
ManagerHeo Sam-yeong
Websitewww.samsunglions.com
Uniforms
Samsung Sports
Football Baseball Volleyball
Basketball
(Men's)		 Basketball
(Women's)
Table Tennis Badminton Equestrian
Athletics Wrestling Taekwondo

History

The Samsung Lions were founded in 1982 as one of the original six KBO League 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 and Kim ll-young; as the Lions were winners of both half-season pennants that year, no Korean Series was held and the Lions were declared champions outright.[2]

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 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 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, 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.[3][4] In 2016, Samsung Lions moved to their new stadium, Daegu Samsung Lions Park.[5]

Season-by-season records
SeasonStadiumLeagueFinishRegular seasonPostseasonAwards
RankGamesWinsLossesDrawsWin%BAHRERA
1982Daegu Baseball StadiumKBO2/62/64026140.650.266572.70Lost Korean Series vs. OB Bears (1–1–4)
1/64028120.700
1983KBO4/65/65021263.447.263903.42Did not qualifyLee Man-soo (MVP)
2/65025241.510
1984KBO2/61/65032180.640.270783.35Lost Korean Series vs. Lotte Giants (3–4) 
5/65023270.460
1985KBO1/61/65540141.741.276972.98Not held[lower-alpha 5] 
1/65537180.673
1986KBO2/71/75439150.722.276742.95Won Playoff vs. OB Bears (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (1–4)		 
4/75431221.585
1987KBO2/71/75433210.611.3001053.58Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (0–4)Jang Hyo-jo (MVP)
1/75431230.444
1988KBO3/75/75423301.435.278854.18Lost Playoff vs. Binggrae Eagles (0–3) 
2/75433201.620
1989KBO4/74/712057585.496.272964.42Did not qualify 
1990KBO2/72/712066522.558.2631314.13Won Semi-playoff vs. Binggrae Eagles (2–0)
Won Playoff vs. Haitai Tigers (3–0)
Lost Korean Series vs. LG Twins (0–4)		 
1991KBO3/83/812670551.560.2721084.23Won Semi-playoff vs. Lotte Giants (2–1–1)
Lost Playoff vs. Binggrae Eagles (1–3)
1992KBO4/84/812667572.540.2651244.55Lost Semi-playoff vs. Lotte Giants (0–2)
1993KBO2/82/812673485.599.2681332.95Won Playoff vs. LG Twins (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (2–1–4)		Kim Seong-rae (MVP)
Yang Joon-hyuk (ROTY)
1994KBO5/85/812660642.484.2601063.47Did not qualify 
1995KBO5/85/812660606.500.250943.90Did not qualifyLee Dong-su (ROTY)
1996KBO6/86/812654675.448.249884.23Did not qualify
1997KBO3/84/812666537.552.2771654.23Won Semi-playoff vs. Ssangbangwool Raiders (2–1)
Lost Playoff vs. LG Twins (2–3)		Lee Seung-yuop (MVP)
1998KBO3/82/812666582.532.2681434.32Lost Playoff vs. LG Twins (1–3) 
1999Magic League4/81/413273572.562.2732075.16Lost Playoff vs. Lotte Giants (3–4)Lee Seung-yuop (MVP)
2000Dream League3/83/413369595.539.2691774.64Lost Playoff vs. Hyundai Unicorns (0–4) 
2001KBO2/81/813381520.609.2771624.39Lost Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (2–4)Lee Seung-yuop (MVP)
2002KBO1/81/813382474.636.2841913.92Won Korean Series vs. LG Twins (4–2)Lee Seung-yuop (MVP)
2003KBO4/83/813376534.589.2842134.37Lost Semi-playoff vs. SK Wyverns (0–2)Lee Seung-yuop (MVP)
2004KBO2/82/813373528.584.2691323.76Won Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (3–1)
Lost Korean Series vs. Hyundai Unicorns (2–3–4)		Bae Young-soo (MVP)
2005KBO1/81/812674484.607.2681113.83Won Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (4–0)Oh Seung-hwan (ROTY)
2006KBO1/81/812673503.593.255733.33Won Korean Series vs. Hanwha Eagles (4–1–1)
2007KBO4/84/812662604.508.254863.71Lost Semi-playoff vs. Hanwha Eagles (1–2) 
2008KBO4/84/812665610.516.258924.42Won Semi-playoff vs. Lotte Giants (3–0)
Lost Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (2–4)		Choi Hyoung-woo (ROTY)
2009KBO5/85/813364690.481.2751464.98Did not qualify 
2010KBO2/82/813379522.594.2721183.94Won Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (3–2)
Lost Korean Series vs. SK Wyverns (0–4)		 
2011KBO1/81/813379504.612.259953.35Won Korean Series vs. SK Wyverns (4–1)Bae Yeong-seob (ROTY)
2012KBO1/81/813380512.611.272893.44Won Korean Series vs. SK Wyverns (4–2) 
2013KBO1/91/912875512.595.2831133.99Won Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (4–3) 
2014KBO1/91/912878473.624.3011614.52Won Korean Series vs. Nexen Heroes (4–2) 
2015KBO2/101/1014488560.611.3021764.70Lost Korean Series vs. Doosan Bears (1–4)Koo Ja-wook (ROTY)
2016Daegu Samsung Lions ParkKBO9/109/1014465781.455.2931425.65Did not qualify 
2017KBO9/109/1014455845.396.2801455.90Did not qualify 
2018KBO6/106/1014468724.486.2881465.19Did not qualify 
2019KBO8/108/1014460831.420.2561224.64Did not qualify 
2020KBO8/108/1014464755.460Did not qualify 
Overall recordGamesWinsLossesDrawsWin%
Regular Season491526442163108.549
Postseason17174907.453
Total508627182253115.546
  1. Latter half pennant winner.
  2. First half pennant winner.
  3. Both first and latter halves pennant winner.
  4. Magic League winners.
  5. The 1985 Korean Series was not played, as the Samsung Lions finished in the first place in both parts of the regular league season and thus were declared champions outright.

Current roster

Korean Baseball League MVP

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 AVG .341
1996 Yang Joon-hyuk AVG .346
1998 Yang Joon-hyuk 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 Lee Seung-yuop 32 HR
1999 Lee Seung-yuop 54 HR
2001 Lee Seung-yuop 39 HR
2002 Lee Seung-yuop 47 HR
2003 Lee Seung-yuop 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 honor 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 of the MLB and the SK Wyverns. Lee was a five-time KBO League Golden Glove Award-winner with the Lions, won the KBO League MVP in 1983,[6] and the hitting Triple Crown in 1984. The second number retired by the Samsung Lions organization was number 10, in honor of left-handed batter Yang Joon-hyuk, who played for the team from 1993 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2010.[6] 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).[6] The third retired number, 36, was retired in honor of Lee Seung-yuop, who has spent 15 seasons with the club and is the all-time KBO League leader in home runs with 467.[7] Lee also holds the KBO records for runs scored, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage, and OPS.


Yang Joon-hyuk
RF, DH
Lee Man-soo
C
Lee Seung-yuop
IF

Managers
  • Seo Young-moo (1982-1983)
  • Lee Chung-nam (1983)
  • Kim Yeong-duk (1984-1986)
  • Jeong Dong-jin (1986) (caretaker)
  • Park Young-gil (1987-1988)
  • Jeong Dong-jin (2) (1989-1990)
  • Kim Sung-keun (1991-1992)
  • Woo Yong-deuk (1993-1995)
  • Baek In-chun (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-yeong (2020–present)

References
General
  • "Complete league history and statistics" (in Korean). Korean Baseball League. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
Specific
  1. 삼성라이온즈 (in Korean). Samsung Lions official website. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  2. Young Hoon Lee, Rodney Fort, editors. The Sports Business in The Pacific Rim: Economics and Policy (Springer, Oct 31, 2014) p. 178.
  3. "Samsung wins 3rd straight title in Game 7". The Korea Observer. 2 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  4. Nam Hyun-woo (21 November 2014). "Lion King! Samsung wins 4th straight KBO title". The Korea Times. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  5. Jung, Yunsik (22 March 2016). "삼성 라이온즈 파크' 개장…"국내 최고 시설" [Samsung Lions Park is opened] (in Korean). news.sbs.co.kr. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  6. 레전드 [History -> Legends] (in Korean). Samsung Lions official website. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  7. "Legendary slugger homers twice in final game". Yonhap News Agency. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
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