Since 2015, the uniform number 88, which no one has been able to touch for 8 years, has found a new owner.
Coach Taehyung Kim, who took office as Doosan’s 10th command 토토 tower in the 2015 season, became a free agent at the end of the 2022 season. On October 11 of last year, the Doosan club said, “Considering the long-term direction of the team, we decided not to renew the contract with manager Kim Tae-hyung. We are grateful for the hard work of coach Tae-hyung Kim who led the club’s heyday.”
Coach Kim is the man who opened the era of the Doosan Dynasty. From his first year in office to 2021, he wrote a new history of advancing to the Korean Series for 7 consecutive years, and in the meantime, won 2 combined championships (2016, 2019) and 3 Korean Series championships (2015, 2016, 2019).
Coach Kim’s overall record as a coach is 647 wins, 486 losses and 19 draws in 1152 games, with a win rate of .571. This is followed by Kim Eung-yong (1554 wins), Kim Seong-geun (1388 wins), Kim In-shik (978 wins), Kim Jae-bak (936 wins), Kang Byeong-cheol (914 wins), Kim Gyeong-moon (896 wins), Kim Young-deok (707 wins), and Ryu Joong-il (691 wins). 9th most wins ever.
With coach Kim’s resignation, attention was focused on the new owner of the uniform number ’88’. Since it was number 80, it seemed that one of the coaching staff would engrave it rather than the player.
Meanwhile, a coach appeared who wanted the number 88. It was Jeong Jin-ho, Futures coach, who made his leadership debut with the number 83 at Doosan last year. Coach Jung said in a recent phone call with OSEN, “There was no big reason for choosing number 88. I wanted to wear number 88 because I was born in 1988. Since the seat was empty, I asked the club for number 88 with the thought of’let’s try it on’.”
Coach Jeong then revealed another story related to the number, saying, “Coach Taehyung Kim’s uniform number was number 23 during his active career, but I also had a coincidence that I wore number 23 at Doosan.”
Coach Jeong, who joined Doosan in the 5th round of 2011 in the 38th place, played for Doosan (2011-2019) and Hanwha (2020-2021). He was not a prominent outfielder, but in June 2017, he made a mark in KBO history by achieving his 23rd career cycling hit at the Jamsil Samsung Game. In addition, he did this in 5 innings and 4 at-bats, setting the record for the smallest inning cycling hit ever.
Coach Jung, who took his first steps as a coach last year in Icheon, is expected to support Lee Seung-ho by guiding promising players at Futures this year.
Coach Jung said, “Last year was a year of getting to know the position of coach. He felt that he had to study more,” he said. “I think his experience last year will definitely help him this year. This year, he wants to become a leader that players can feel comfortable with and approach. When a player asks a question, I will think about it together and find the answer together.”