Coach Kim Kyung-moon, who returned to the KBO League head coach with the baton of the Hanwha Eagles in professional baseball, will challenge for his 900th career victory against the Doosan Bears, a “friendly team.”
Kim, who took over as Hanwha’s 14th coach on the 2nd, finished his first week back on the field with three wins, one draw and two losses.퀸알바
Kim’s victory clock, which had remained at 896 wins (30 draws and 774 losses) for six years since June 3, 2018, has also begun to turn again. He won three consecutive games right after taking office, leaving only one win to become the sixth “900 wins coach in total.”
It was NC Dinos coach Kang In-kwon who blocked Kim. Kang, who had a unique relationship with Doosan and NC as a coach and player, and as a coach and coach, did not give up a single game to Kim in their showdowns between the 7th and 9th.
Coach Kim, who has 899 wins (31 draws and 776 losses), will move to Jamsil this time to face the Doosan Bears. The Hanwha Eagles will hold three consecutive away games against the Doosan Bears from Friday.
Doosan is a special team for Kim.
Kim made his debut as an OB Bears player in 1982, the first year of his professional baseball career. Except for the 1990 season when he played in the Pacific, he played in OB until 1991.
He also made his managerial debut with Doosan. He began his career as Doosan’s head coach in 2004 and posted 512 wins, 16 draws, and 432 losses in 960 games until his resignation in the 2011 season. Since then, he became the first head coach of NC, a new team, and posted 384 wins, 14 draws, and 342 losses in 740 games through the middle of the 2018 season.
Coincidentally, manager Lee Seung-yeop, who is at the helm of Doosan, also boasts strong relationship with Kim. The two players created a gold medal myth by spending a hot summer in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Kim, who was leading the national baseball team at the time, failed to regain trust in Lee Seung-yeop, the No. 4 hitter who had been in a deep slump since the beginning of the tournament. As if repaying Kim, who had been the center hitter until the end, Lee hit a dramatic two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning when his team was tied 2-2 in the semifinal against Japan, and shed tears.
This is one of the best scenes of “Baseball of Tuksim,” which represents manager Kim’s baseball view.
Coach Lee began his leadership career as Doosan’s head coach in October 2022, when Kim was away from the scene. He led the team to fifth place in his first year in office, and this year, he is competing at the top, ranking third until the 10th.
Now the two reunite as enemies fighting for victory.
Hanwha’s foreign pitcher Jaime Barria will take the lead in Kim’s 900-win challenge. Barria, who joined Felix Peña as a substitute, recorded four hits, one walk, four strikeouts and two runs in four innings against KT Wiz on the 5th, when he made his KBO league debut.
Doosan Bears is touting Kwak Bin, who has grown into a native ace. Kwak Bin recorded five wins and four losses with a 3.18 ERA in 13 games this year. He has made quality starts (more than six innings and less than three earned runs) in the recent three consecutive games, displaying stable pitching.