Former home-run king Park Byung-ho is starting his teaching profession along with his outdated membership, the Kiwoom Heroes, the Korea Baseball Group (KBO) workforce introduced Tuesday.
The 39-year-old, who retired after the 2025 season with the Samsung Lions, has been appointed chief coach for the reserve squad, marking his return to the franchise the place he loved probably the most profitable years of his profession.
Drafted by the LG Twins in 2005, Park rose to prominence after a 2011 commerce to the Nexen Heroes — now Kiwoom — the place he turned one of many KBO’s most feared sluggers.
Park nabbed the primary of his two MVP awards in 2012 after main the league with 31 dwelling runs and 105 RBIs.
Park was voted the MVP once more in 2013, when he topped the KBO with 37 dwelling runs and 117 RBIs.
In 2014, Park launched 52 dwelling runs, changing into solely the third participant in KBO historical past to surpass the half-century mark in dwelling runs. Then he adopted that up with 53 dwelling runs, and he stays the one participant with back-to-back 50-homer campaigns. Additionally in 2015, Park set a single-season file with 146 RBIs, a mark damaged this 12 months by his Lions teammate, Lewin Diaz, who had 158.
Park led the KBO in homers in 4 straight seasons from 2012 to 2015, the longest such streak in league historical past. He was the house run king six occasions total, additionally a KBO file. Park is the primary participant with 5 consecutive 100-RBI seasons.
He ranks fourth on the all-time listing with 418 dwelling runs and tenth total with 1,244 RBIs.
Park additionally spent two seasons with the Minnesota Twins and their Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, New York, from 2016 to 2017.
He launched 35 dwelling runs whereas batting a stable .275 solely three years in the past with the Wiz however has since been in steep decline. In 2025, he solely appeared in 77 video games for the Lions, batting .199 with 15 dwelling runs — his fewest since 2011.
“Our new coach Park Byung-ho is likely one of the most symbolic gamers in Heroes historical past,” Kiwoom mentioned in a press release. “He represented the workforce as a number one slugger and a league icon. We deeply thank him for his dedication and contribution.”
The membership added that it expects Park’s professionalism and expertise to function “a optimistic affect” on the workforce’s younger gamers as he begins “the second stage of his baseball life.”
