Reaching milestones

A few ballplayers have recently reached some career milestones in Korea. While the numbers don't necessarily match up to what we have in the states, you have to remember that they play shorter seasons, and haven't their leagues as long as we have.

Baseball as a profession is still relatively new (within the last quarter century or so) thing in Korea, so they haven't had guys putting up 20 year careers to reach the big numbers. But, for persepective, it's still a big deal. They're not competing against the Major Leagues, they're competing against the other teams and players in Korea.

So I would say these are noteworthy accomplishments:

Samsung Lions slugger Yang Joon-hyuk hit career home run number 340 on Tuesday night to to tie him with former Hanwha Eagles great Jang Jong-hoon for the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) all-time home record.

The career numbers:

KBO HOME RUN KINGS

340 - Jang Jong-hoon
340 - Yang Joon-hyuk
328 - Shim Chong-soo
324 - Lee Seung-yeop

Yang isn't a bad player at all:

The 39-year-old debuted in the KBO in 1993 with the Lions, and cracked his first home run in his third game. He joins Jang, Lee Seung-yeop (Japan) and Shim Chong-soo (retired) as the only league players in the elite 300-homer club.

The left-handed power hitter is also the all-time leader in hits (2,207), doubles (437), total bases (3,714), RBIs (1,323), walks (1,286), at-bats (6,962) and runs (1,241).

Sounds like the Hank Aaron of the Land of the Morning Calm.

That's not the only milestone acheived:

Hanwha Eagles veteran right-hander Song Jin-woo recently became the first pitcher in the history of the KBO to reach the magical 3000th innings milestone. He debuted in the KBO as a reliever in 1989 with the Eagles who were then sponsored by Bingrae.

The 43-year old pitcher, who is currently in his 21st KBO season, best season was in 1992 when he racked up 191 1/3 innings and finished the season 19-8 with 17 saves in 48 appearances. In 2002, he set a career mark for innings pitched with 220 while finishing with a 18-7 record over 31 starts.

Song registered his 2000th career strikeout in 2008, and has compiled a record of 210-153 with 103 saves during his illustious career with the Eagles franchise.

The Korean John Smoltz?