Veteran slugger and MLB All-Star Choo Shin-soo makes his final KBO appearance

SSG Landers' Choo Shin-soo walks to the dugout after playing the final regular season at-bat of his professional career in the bottom of the eighth pitch at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday. (NEWS1)

Choo Shin-soo, the winningest Korean hitter in major league history, made the final regular-season appearance of his storied career at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday.

The 42-year-old on Monday ended a career that began 24 years ago in the Seattle Mariners system as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of SSG Landers' final game of the 2024 KBO season.

Choo came on as a substitute for Ha Jae-hoon, with the Landers already leading 7-1 over the Kiwoom Heroes. He walked onto the field to thunderous applause from a sold-out crowd at Incheon SSG Landers Field, the stadium he called home for the final four seasons of his career.

Choo finished in second place at the end of his final regular season and finished the season with a .281 batting average that season, 71 hits, 37 RBIs and five home runs in 78 games.

After leaving the field, Choo was greeted in the dugout with a bouquet of flowers by his teammates and manager Lee Sung-yong.

“I never expected such a reception,” Choo said after the game, according to Yonhap News Agency. “Nobody gave me a heads up was really surprised.”

“I was so grateful. Although I was born in Korea, I have spent so much time abroad that many things here are new to me. And my teammates have helped me so much here. They gave me the fuel to keep going and I really appreciate that.

Choo Shin-soo of the SSG Landers swings in the eighth inning of a game between the Landers and the Kiwoom Heroes at the Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Monday. (NEWS1)

Choo announced last December that he would retire at the end of the 2024 season and would finally hang up his bat this week after more than 2,800 professional games in the KBO and the major and minor leagues.

After finishing school in Busan, Choo went straight to the United States at the turn of the millennium instead of initially pursuing his job at the KBO. In 16 seasons in the major leagues, he played for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers.

Choo joined the Mariners organization in 2000 and initially played in the minor leagues. In 2005, he made his MLB debut with the Mariners, but was traded to the Indians midway through the 2006 season and was immediately added to the Major League roster. Choo spent most of 2007 in the minor leagues, battling injuries as he underwent Tommy John surgery on his left elbow.

He returned to the majors in 2008 and never really looked back, joining the 20-20 club for the first time in 2009 with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Choo struggled with injuries in 2011 but bounced back in 2012, his final season with the Indians.

Choo was traded to the Reds in 2013, becoming the first Korean ever to hit a home run in the postseason during the Wild Card game.

Texas Rangers' Choo Shin-soo poses for a portrait during MLB Media Day in Surprise, Arizona on February 19, 2020. (AFP/YONHAP)

After signing a massive $130 million contract with the Rangers in 2014, Choo endured the worst season of his career. Choo's form improved in the following years, but he suffered from injuries and missed the entire 2017 season.

It was 2018 that turned out to be Choo's year. Already a veteran by this point, Choo returned with a vengeance, recording an incredible 52-game on-base streak, one of the longest in MLB history and a new Rangers record. He was named to the All-Star squad and named Rangers Player of the Year.

Things had quieted down a bit in 2020 for Choo, once an outfielder but now more often the designated hitter. He finished the shortened 2020 season with a .236 batting average with five home runs and 15 runs batted in.

During his 16 years in the MLB, Choo has a career batting average of .275 with 1,671 hits, 782 runs batted in and 218 home runs.

Famous for his fearlessness at bat, he averaged 152 hits per pitch over the course of his major league career, the second-most of any active player at the time and the 23rd-highest of all time. His career on-base percentage of .377 puts him on par with some of the biggest names in modern baseball, including Derek Jeter and Mike Piazza.

Choo Shin-soo watches from the dugout before a baseball game between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore on September 6, 2019. (AP/YONHAP)

When Choo announced he would return to the KBO in 2021, the Landers were his only option.

The team had the right to sign Choo after SK Wyverns, the club's former name, won the right to draft him in a controversial draft for foreign Korean players held almost 14 years earlier on April 2, 2007 to acquire. This allowed KBO clubs to honor Korean players who had gone abroad straight out of high school, giving them a team to return to if they chose or needed to return to Korea.

Choo had been critical of the overseas draft, saying he would like to play for his hometown club, the Lotte Giants, before retiring, the same team his uncle Park Jeong-tae played for. That was never supposed to happen, but Choo quickly found a home in Incheon and became one of the Landers' biggest stars over the course of his four years in the KBO.

In his first year with the Landers, he became the oldest player in KBO history to join the 20-20 club. A year later, the Landers won the Korean Series.

That year, Choo became the oldest position player in KBO history to ever appear in a game, record a hit, hit a home run and steal a base. He did it all for free, voluntarily taking the league minimum salary of 30 million won (US$23,000) and donating the whole thing to charity.

Monday's win puts the Landers in a fifth-place playoff with the KT Wiz, the first of its kind in KBO history. The winner of this game, played on Tuesday, advances to the wildcard series to face the Doosan Bears.

But while the Landers still have at least one game left this season, Choo believes he won't be fit enough. Instead, retirement is imminent, and the Landers will hold a more formal retirement ceremony for Choo sometime next season.

BY JIM BULLEY ([email protected])