KIA Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho finally stood in the “official stage.”
The KIA Tigers of professional baseball held the inauguration ceremony of manager Lee Bum-ho at the Gwangju Auditorium of Kia Autoland in Seo-gu, Gwangju on the 8th.
At the inauguration ceremony, CEO Choi Joon-young delivered a uniform and hat to manager Lee Bum-ho, while general manager Shim Jae-hak and captain Na Sung-beom delivered congratulatory bouquets, respectively.
Head coach Lee Bum-ho started the spring camp as a batting coach, but was appointed as KIA’s new head coach on the 13th of last month when former head coach Kim Jong-kook, who was investigated by prosecutors for receiving money from sponsors, was dismissed.
Lee led the team’s training as an “official head coach” in Canberra, Australia, and Okinawa, Japan.
The KIA team returned home after completing its spring camp schedule on the 6th, and the club held the inauguration ceremony of coach Lee Bum-ho, which was postponed, a day before the opening of the exhibition game.
Lee, who made his professional debut with the Hanwha Eagles in 2000, played for Hanwha for 10 years until 2009, advanced to the Softbank Hawks of the Japanese professional baseball league in 2010, and returned to the KBO League after signing with KIA in 2011.
He played for KIA for nine years until his retirement in 2019 and enjoyed the joy of winning the 2017 Korean Series under the leadership of former coach Kim Ki-tae. His total score is 0.271 with 329 home runs, 1,127 RBIs and 1,727 hits.
After retirement, he started his career as a coach at KIA, followed by scouting in 2020, Future’s (second-tier) coach in 2021, and KIA’s first-tier batting coach in 2022. He is famous for his nickname “Kkot Bum-ho,” and also held the record of most grand slam (17 homers) in professional baseball 노래방알바.
Coach Lee Bum-ho, born in 1981, will mark his first season as a coach, being recorded as the “first head coach of the KBO League in the 1980s.”
Coach Lee Bum-ho will make his “command tower debut” in the opening game of the exhibition game against the NC Dinos at NC Park in Changwon on the 9th.
The Hanwha Eagles will play against the Hanwha Eagles Park in Daejeon on Wednesday, and the Hanwha Eagles announced Ryu Hyun-jin, the former big leaguer, as the starting pitcher. Lee Bum-ho stood behind Ryu when he was a third baseman for the Hanwha Eagles.
Manager Lee, who watched Ryu Hyun-jin’s return to Korea as KIA’s head coach, predicted a head-to-head match, saying, “I think it’s an opportunity for our main hitters to hit Ryu Hyun-jin’s ball first, so I’ll make a batting order so that they can face each other at bat.”