Two Away from Lee Seung-yup`s 300th Home Run

Two away from the record.

Lee Seung-yup of the Samsung Lions is two homers away from his 300th home run. Saturday, he hit a home run in the bottom of the 4th against Hyundai, making his career 298th home run.

The 298th home run also marked his season 30th, setting another record—he has hit thirty homers for seven years in a row. It also conveyed another record: he has hit 30 home runs in 56 games, the lowest number of games for that record. He had the previous record of 69 games. During that season, Lee hit 54 home runs. Thus, Lee is likely to set yet another record. If he maintains this pace, he will hit up to 71.

Lee, however, is not likely to set the 300th home run record during the three-game series against LG this week. That will take place at the Chamsil Ballpark, which is most similar to a U.S. Major League ballpark in size as compared to other Korean ballparks. Lee, due to the big size, has not hit a single home run there.

Next weekend, he will stand at bat against SK, which takes place at the much smaller Daegu ballpark venue like those in Japan. Therefore, his 300th home run will most likely will come out in the later part of the season.

Previously, Hanhwa Chang Jong-hoon hit his career 300th home run at the age of 32. Lee is now 26 years old.

When asked about his secret for hitting so many home runs, he attributed it to regular workouts. He works out in the gym at least two to three days a week and does not smoke or drink. He also has a sharp eye and seldom misses an opportunity to slam whatever pitches he can out of the ball park.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com