Byung-Hyun Kim

Byung-Hyun Kim, or BK, as he was known to his teammates, was one of the first and most successful major-league players from South Korea. Although he is most remembered for devastating back-to-back blown saves in Game Four and Game Five of the 2001 World Series, those failures obscure the fact that for several years he was one of the top closers in the major leagues. With a quirky submarine-style delivery, he threw pitches with unexpected velocity and movement that at times made him almost unhittable, especially by right-handed batters. His finest years were as a closer, but he never embraced that role, strongly preferring to be a starter. When he finally did become a starting pitcher in the later years of his career, he was unable to perform at the same high level. In addition to overcoming the challenge of language barriers and cultural differences, he was hampered by various injuries over the course of his career.

Born in Gwangju,1 South Korea, on January 19, 1979, Kim was a 1997 graduate of Gwangju Jeil High School, a school noted for producing baseball talent.2 His prodigious pitching ability was evident at an early age. After being chosen for the Junior National Team in 1996, he was a member of the South Korean National Team in 1997 and 1998.3 He shined in various international competitions, including a dominating June 1998 performance against Team USA in Tucson, Arizona, in which he struck out 15 batters.4 After graduating from high school, he attended Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, but his higher education was cut short when the Arizona Diamondbacks signed him as an amateur free agent in February 1999.

After arriving in the United States in late March, Kim was sent to the El Paso Diablos, Arizona’s Double-A affiliate in the Texas League. Working out of the bullpen, he made 10 appearances, picking up two wins with a 2.11 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 21⅓ innings before being promoted in mid-May to Triple-A Tucson. He started only three games for the Sidewinders when he was called up to the Diamondbacks on May 28. On arriving in New York for a series against the Mets, Kim revealed that his dream was to strike out Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, and Mo Vaughn.5 He didn’t wait long to cross one of those names off his list. On the very next day he made his major-league debut. At 20 years old, he became the youngest player in the major leagues, and only the third Korean-born player after Chan Ho Park (1994) and Jin Ho Cho (1998).

With the Diamondbacks holding a slim 8-7 lead, Kim was sent out in the bottom of the ninth inning to close out the game. Mets manager Bobby Valentine tried unsuccessfully to rattle the young rookie by questioning the size of his glove.6 Kim retired the Mets’ Edgardo Alfonzo, John Olerud, and Mike Piazza in order, to record his first major-league save. In striking out Piazza to end the game, the Diamondbacks catcher, Damian Miller, reported that Kim had thrown “a couple of Nintendo sliders … the ones you see in the video games with the huge bend on them.”7

While Kim did not have any more saves during the season, he became a bullpen regular, appearing in 25 games, primarily as a set-up man. His rookie season was shortened by an injury in late July that landed him on the disabled list, followed by a rehab stint in Tucson. After missing nearly two months, he returned to the Diamondbacks in late September, making three relief appearances to end the season, including picking up his first major-league win on October 2. In only their second season of existence, the surprising Diamondbacks won the NL West with a 100-62 record. Kim, however, was not included on the postseason roster, as Arizona lost in the NLDS to the New York Mets.

When injury-plagued Diamondbacks closer Matt Mantei began the 2000 season with two stints on the disabled list, Kim took over as the primary closer. Over the first half of the season, he was impressive in that role, making 34 appearances, and converting 14 of 16 save opportunities with a 1.94 ERA. After recording his last save of the season on July 5, however, he slumped badly, blowing three straight save opportunities. At the end of July, he was sent down to Tucson to work on his pitching issues. He was only there long enough to make two starts before being recalled, but by then a healthy Mantei had reclaimed the closer role. For the remainder of the season, Kim was used mainly as a set-up man, and was unable to recapture his earlier success. In his final 27 appearances of the season, he gave up 26 earned runs in only 29 innings of work (an 8.07 ERA). After winning the NL West in 1999, the Diamondbacks fell back to third, with an 85-77 record, 12 games behind the San Francisco Giants.

After only eight appearances in April 2001, Mantei went down at the end of the month with a season-ending elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. Kim was again inserted into the team’s closer role. He appeared in a career-high 78 games with a 2.94 ERA, saving a team-leading 19 games as the Diamondbacks won the NL West. His 98 innings pitched were one of the heaviest workloads among relievers.

Kim initially continued his regular-season dominance in the postseason as the Diamondbacks defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS and the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS to win their first National League pennant. Over the two series, Kim appeared in four games pitching 6⅓ scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, and collecting three saves, including a two-inning save in the pennant-clinching game, a tight 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Kim’s luck ran out in the World Series against the New York Yankees. He did not appear until Game Four in Yankee Stadium with the Diamondbacks holding a 2-1 Series lead. On Halloween night he was sent to the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning with the Yankees losing 3-1. Kim, who had not pitched in 10 days, struck out the side and remained in the game for the ninth inning to face the top of the Yankees order. Derek Jeter grounded out and Paul O’Neill singled, before Bernie Williams struck out swinging. With two outs, Tino Martinez then hit a two-run home run to tie the game. Kim put on two more men with a walk and a single before getting the final out of the inning with a strikeout. Surprisingly, Kim was left in the game to pitch the 10th inning. After retiring the first two batters, he surrendered the game-winning home run to Jeter.8

Despite Kim’s throwing a season-high 61 pitches in Game Four, Arizona manager Bob Brenly inexplicably went to him again on the very next night with the Diamondbacks leading 2-0 in the ninth inning. After a leadoff double by Jorge Posada, Kim got two outs before giving up yet another gruesome game-tying two-run home run, this time to Scott Brosius. Kim was mercifully replaced by Mike Morgan, who got the final out of the inning, but the Yankees went on to win 3-2 in the 12th inning to take a 3 games to 2 lead.9 After Kim’s two monumental blown saves, it was noticed that only once before in the entire history of the World Series had a team come from behind with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game with a two-run home run.10

Kim did not pitch again in the Series, but fortunately for him and his teammates, the Diamondbacks came back to win the final two games, dethroning the three-time defending champion Yankees in seven games. In only their fourth year of existence, the Diamondbacks became the youngest franchise to win the World Series, and Kim became the first Asian-born player on a World Series-winning team.

Despite his nightmare 2001 World Series performance, Kim returned as the Diamondbacks’ closer in 2002. With Matt Mantei recovering from Tommy John surgery, for the first time Kim was the team’s closer for the entire season. He responded with the best year of his career. Early in the season his manager, Bob Brenly, wryly commented, “If he has any lingering effects from what happened last year, he’s hiding them well.”11

On May 11, Kim joined an exclusive pitching fraternity. In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the Diamondbacks clinging to a 5-4 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies, he threw an “immaculate inning,” striking out Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, and Pat Burrell in succession on nine straight pitches.

In the following month, he gained a measure of redemption when the Diamondbacks traveled to New York for an interleague series with the Yankees. On June 12, in his first mound appearance in Yankee Stadium since his disastrous 2001 World Series performance, he entered the game with a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. He struck out the side and got out of a ninth-inning jam for his 17th save of the season. Afterward he joyously hurled the game ball from the pitcher’s mound over the left-field wall. Teammate Mark Grace joked, “I think that was his best fastball of the year.”12

In July Kim was selected as an All-Star, becoming only the second Korean-born player to make an All-Star team.13 He had a role in the most controversial All-Star Game in its history. Kim entered in the top of the seventh inning with two outs, a man on base, and the National League holding a 5-3 lead. He promptly gave up three straight hits before getting the final out, giving the American League a 6-5 lead. The game lasted until the 11th inning, ending in an infamous 7-7 tie.14 Kim, however, immediately bounced back from his weak All-Star Game performance to get saves on three straight days, earning him recognition as NL Player of the Week.

Kim ended the regular season with a team-low 2.04 ERA in 72 games. His 36 saves set a new Arizona season record, breaking Gregg Olson’s record of 30 set during the Diamondbacks’ first season, 1998.15 The Diamondbacks won the NL West for the third time in four seasons but were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. Kim’s only appearance was in the deciding third game, when he was brought on in the eighth inning to keep the score close with the Diamondbacks behind 4-3. Instead, he gave up two runs on two hits and three walks as the St. Louis Cardinals eliminated the Diamondbacks, 6-3.

Although Kim had proved himself as an elite closer, he regularly made it clear that he preferred to be a starting pitcher. Manager Brenly went so far as to say that Kim “despised” being a closer.16 With a healthy Mantei returning from Tommy John surgery, Kim finally got his chance to join the starting rotation for the 2003 season. Brenly commented, “If he has done as well as he has the last few years in a role that he did not like, I’m anxious to see what he is going to do in a role that he wants.”17 Kim made six starts in April before going on the disabled list at the end of the month with an ankle injury. After three rehab appearances in Tucson, he returned to the Diamondbacks, making a quality start in a no-decision on May 27.

Despite a 1-5 record over his seven starts, Kim had pitched well, with a 3.56 ERA. Two days after his last start for the Diamondbacks, the Boston Red Sox, needing to bolster their pitching staff, traded their All-Star third baseman, Shea Hillenbrand, for Kim. Interestingly, with his acquisition the Red Sox had fielded four of the first five Koreans to play in the major leagues.18 Five of Kim’s first seven appearances for the Red Sox were as a starter (2-1, 3.10 ERA). When the team’s closer-by-committee approach wasn’t working out, however, he was pressed into service as the closer at the beginning of July.19 He performed impressively in that role, converting 16 of 19 save opportunities with a 2.28 ERA over the final three months of the season.

In 12 September appearances, Kim did not give up a single earned run. He recorded three wins and five saves in those games as Boston edged out the Seattle Mariners by two games for the league’s wild-card playoff spot. On September 22 he picked up his 16th and final save of the season, which surprisingly would turn out to be the last save of his major-league career.

Kim’s only appearance in the postseason came in Game One of the ALDS in Oakland against the Athletics. He entered the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Red Sox nursing a 4-3 lead. In the process of getting two outs, he also put two men on base with a walk and hit batter. Manager Grady Little then pulled his closer for Alan Embree, who gave up a game-tying single in a game that Boston ultimately lost in the 12th inning.

When the Red Sox returned home for Game Three down two games to none, Kim was ungraciously booed during pregame introductions. The young pitcher who had played such a vital role in the Red Sox getting to the postseason responded with a slight smile on his face and a raised middle finger. An official apology for his ill-advised gesture was issued afterward on his behalf by the Red Sox. Years later he candidly explained, “In the heat of the moment, I was just being honest with my emotions. When the fans booed me, I felt really misunderstood, and all of that frustration came out.”20 With his status questionable due to reported stiffness in his right arm, Kim did not pitch again in the divisional playoff as Boston swept the next three games to defeat Oakland. He was also left off the roster for Boston’s heart-breaking ALCS loss to the Yankees, in which they certainly could have used a healthy Kim in their bullpen.

During the offseason, the Red Sox signaled that Kim would not be returning as the team’s closer in 2004 by signing free agent All-Star closer Keith Foulke. Foulke was coming off a 2003 season in which he led the American League with 43 saves for the Oakland Athletics. At the same time, Boston’s management demonstrated their desire to retain Kim’s services by signing him to a two-year, $10 million contract.

Under new manager Terry Francona, Kim was projected to be the team’s fifth starter, joining Derek Lowe, Pedro Martínez, Tim Wakefield, and the newly acquired Curt Schilling. Kim began the season on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain. After a rehab start in Sarasota and two more in Pawtucket, he finally made his Fenway Park debut on April 29 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In his first appearance on the mound since his obscene gesture to jeering fans during the 2003 divisional playoffs, he pitched five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit to pick up the victory. He was cheered by the large hometown crowd, leading him to joke afterward, “Maybe the fans who don’t like me didn’t show up.”21

Sadly, that was the high point of Kim’s 2004 season. Poor outings in his next two starts put him back in Pawtucket on May 11. He made only a couple of starts there before landing on the disabled list again with back issues and lingering shoulder problems. At the end of May, he traveled to South Korea for medical treatment, and did not return until late June. Most of the remaining season was spent in Pawtucket, but he never recovered his effectiveness, going 2-6 for the PawSox with a 5.34 ERA in 22 games, including 19 starts. Bronson Arroyo was the beneficiary of Kim’s lost season, filling in capably as the team’s fifth starter.

Kim was finally recalled by Boston in late September, making four appearances out of the bullpen and retiring the final 10 batters he faced. He appeared in only seven games (three starts) in his two brief stints with Boston, going 2-1 with a 6.23 ERA. It was the worst ERA of his major-league career. He was ineligible for the postseason as the wild-card Red Sox staged a dramatic playoff run that culminated in their first World Series title since 1918.

Given Kim’s 2004 struggles, it was no great surprise when just before the opening of the 2005 season, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies for veteran catcher Charles Johnson, minor-league pitcher Chris Narveson, and cash. Neither acquisition ever played a game for the Red Sox.22 Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd acknowledged the gamble they were taking on Kim, saying he “is someone we want to take a flier on. You never get a guy like this when he is going good. But he’s not that far removed from being an All-Star and a dominant young closer.”23

Other than a couple of spot starts, for the first two months of the season Kim worked out of the Rockies bullpen. In early June, however, due to injuries and trades, he landed a spot in the starting rotation for the rest of the season. Although he was only 5-9 as a starter, his 4.37 ERA as a starter was among the best on a team that finished last in the NL West with a 67-95 record.

On August 5, the Rockies acquired Sun-Woo Kim (no relation) off waivers from the Washington Nationals. He became the only Korean teammate Kim had during his major-league career. “Sunny” Kim made his first appearance for Colorado on August 8 in the first game of a doubleheader, and “BK” Kim pitched the second game. It was the first time that pitchers with the same last name had started both ends of a doubleheader since June 22, 1974, when brothers Jim Perry and Gaylord Perry accomplished the feat for the Cleveland Indians.24

After re-signing as a free agent with Colorado for the 2006 season, Kim was a member of the South Korean team that finished third in the inaugural World Baseball Classic played in March. Belatedly joining the Rockies for spring training, he strained the hamstring in his right leg and started the season on the disabled list. After three rehab starts with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the Rockies Triple-A affiliate, he made his season debut with the Rockies on April 30. He went 6⅔ innings, giving up only one run to pick up the victory. For the first and only time in his major-league career, Kim spent the entire season in the starting rotation. His 27 games started, 155 innings pitched, and 129 strikeouts were all career highs.

On May 22, in his fifth start of the season, Kim pitched against fellow South Korean and former high-school teammate Jae Weong Seo of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the first time in major-league history that two Korean-born pitchers had faced off against each other as starters.25 Although Kim gave up only one earned run in six innings, he was charged with the loss in the Dodgers’ 6-1 victory.

In his next start, on May 28, against the San Francisco Giants, Kim earned an unwelcome place in the record books. In the bottom of the fourth inning, he delivered the pitch that Barry Bonds hit for his 715th home run, moving him ahead of Babe Ruth on the all-time list, second only to Henry Aaron.26 Kim got the last laugh, however, picking up the win in a 6-3 Rockies victory.

Kim ended the season with an 8-12 record and a 5.57 ERA as the Rockies finished in a tie for last place in the NL West with a 76-86 record.

After two appearances in relief and one start to begin the 2007 season, Kim went on the disabled list with a bruised thumb. He made five rehab starts with Colorado Springs, but on May 13, a day after his last start for the Sky Sox, he was traded to the Florida Marlins for right-handed reliever Jorge Julio. Five days later he was plugged into the Marlins’ starting rotation. Over the next 2½ months, he made 13 starts before being released at the beginning of August. The Arizona Diamondbacks claimed him off waivers, but after two bad outings he was released again. Several days later he rejoined the Marlins, where he finished out the season. As it turned out, all three of Kim’s former teams made it to the 2007 postseason. Colorado defeated Arizona in the NLCS before losing to Boston in the World Series.

On September 28 at Shea Stadium, the site of his 1999 debut, Kim got the start in what turned out to be the last game of his major-league career. He picked up the victory for his 10th win of the season (a career high), finishing with a respectable combined record of 10-8, but a not-so-respectable 6.08 ERA. In a nine-year career with four teams, Kim compiled a 54-60 record with 86 saves in 394 games (87 games started) and a 4.42 ERA.

Still only 28 years old after the 2007 season, Kim attempted to extend his major-league career by agreeing to minor-league contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008 and the San Franciso Giants in 2010. He was unable to make it out of spring training for either club. After a 2010 season with the Orange County (Fullerton, California) Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League, he played for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Japan Eastern League in 2011. For the next four years he played for the Korean Baseball Organization’s Nexen (Seoul) Heroes (2012-2013) and his hometown Kia (Gwangju) Tigers (2014-1205). It was clear, however, that he was not the pitcher he had once been.

At age 39 Kim staged one last comeback, with the Melbourne Aces of the Australian Baseball League. Although he appeared in only nine games during their brief 2018-2019 season, he struck out nine batters in 9⅔ innings with a 0.93 ERA. That performance allowed him to retire on a high note, with him saying, “I was happy with myself in that moment, and that’s when I decided to walk away.”27 In reflecting on all the highs and lows of his career, he commented, “I’m fine with how it happened. Now, it’s all a good memory.”28

In his post-baseball retirement, Kim became an owner of multiple restaurants, including one in San Diego, California, as well as being active as a television personality in his native South Korea.

Sources

Unless otherwise indicated, statistics and team records were derived from baseball-reference.com and retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Also transliterated as “Kwangju.” “Birthplace of Byung-Hyun Kim Identified,” SABR Biographical Research Committee Monthly Report, November/December 1999: 1, http://sabr.org/research/biographical-research-committee-newsletters.

2 Andrew Keh, “Where School Spirit Is Metaphysical,” New York Times, October 3, 2015: D2. Two of Kim’s high-school teammates, Jae Weong Seo and Hee-seop Choi, also made it to the major leagues.

3 2004 Boston Red Sox Media Guide, 154.

4 Phil Villarreal, “Korean pitcher Fans 15 in Rout of Team USA,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), July 1, 1998: D6.

5 “Young Gun … Byung Gun,” Sports Illustrated, June 7, 1999: 31. Kim would eventually strike out Piazza, Sosa, and Vaughn on multiple occasions. McGwire faced Kim only twice in his career during the regular season, drawing two bases on balls, one of them intentional.

6 Jason Diamos, “Mets Fall 2 Runs and a Few Tricks Short,” New York Times, May 30, 1999: 8-2.

7 “Young Gun … Byung Gun.”

8 Stew Thornley, “October 31, 2001: Jeter becomes Mr. November,” SABR Baseball Games Project,  

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-31-2001-jeter-becomes-mr-november/.

9 Stew Thornley, “November 1, 2001: Scott Brosius deja vu in the Bronx,” SABR Baseball Games Project,  

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/november-1-2001-scott-brosius-deja-vu-in-the-bronx/.

10 Tom Verducci, “Desert Classic,” Sports Illustrated, November 12, 2001: 41-42. In Game Five of the 1964 World Series in Yankee Stadium, Tom Tresh of the New York Yankees hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off future Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson to tie the game, 2-2. The St. Louis Cardinals, however, won in the 10th inning with Gibson going the distance.

11 Stephen Cannella, “Saved!” Sports Illustrated, May 13, 2002: 48.

12 Jack Curry, “Same Kim, Same Site, but a Different Result, New York Times, June 13, 2002: D4.

13 Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers made his only All-Star Game appearance the year before, in 2001.

14 See Stew Thornley, “July 9, 2002: All-Star Game ends in a historic tie,” SABR Baseball Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-9-2002-all-star-game-ends-in-a-historic-tie/, accessed April 7, 2023; Jack Curry, “No Winner, Loser or M.V.P., but Plenty of Boos,” New York Times, July 10, 2002: D1, D3. The second All-Star Game of the 1961 season, played on July 31, also ended in a tie.

15 Kim’s record stood until 2007 when it was broken by José Valverde, who finished the year with 47 saves.

16 Ken Rosenthal, “D-backs Playing a Game of Risk,” The Sporting News, March 10, 2003: 50.

17 Daniel G. Habib, “Starting with Closers,” Sports Illustrated, March 17, 2003: 46.

18 The three Koreans to play previously for the Red Sox, all pitchers, were Jin Ho Cho (1998-1999), Sang-Hoon Lee (2000), and Sun-Woo Kim (2001-2002).

19 Daniel G. Habib, “Boston’s Bullpen Gamble,” Sports Illustrated, March 17, 2003: 42-46.

20 Tim Rohan, “After a Career of Being Misunderstood, Byung-Hyun Kim Is at Peace,” Sports Illustrated, July 3, 2019, https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/07/03/byung-hyun-kim-diamondbacks-yankees-world-series, accessed May 14, 2023.

21 Marvin Pane, “For Starters, Kim Gets Warm Fenway Reception,” Boston Globe, April 30, 2004: E5.

22 Johnson was released on the day of the trade, and Narveson was sent to Pawtucket, before being released in August.

23 Troy E. Renck, “Rockies to Roll the Dice with Kim,” Denver Post, March 31, 2005: D1.

24 Troy E. Renck, “Rockies 4-5, Marlins 3-3, (First, 11 innings) – Mohr’s Homer Blasts Him into Lead,” Denver Post, August 9, 2005: D1.

25 Bill Shaikin, “Dodgers Foil Rockies with Dogged Defense,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2006: D1.

26 Coincidentally, Kim’s countryman, Chan Ho Park, gave up Barry Bonds’ 71st home run during the 2001 season, which moved Bonds past Mark McGwire for the single-season record. See Alexander Harriman, “October 5, 2001: Barry Bonds hits 71st home run to set new single-season record,” SABR Baseball Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-5-2001-barry-bonds-hits-71st-home-run-to-set-new-single-season-record/. 

27 Rohan.

28 Rohan.