Active for 23 Years in Korean and Japanese Pro Baseball
Hit .412 in First Year of Korean Pro League
Led LG Twins to Championship as Inaugural Manager in 1990
Paik Incheon, the only player in Korean professional baseball history to achieve a .400 batting average and also a former manager, passed away at around 6:30 a.m. on August 14, 2026, due to complications from a stroke. He was 83 years old.
According to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and acquaintances of the late Paik, he was residing in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. On the morning of the 14th, he suffered cardiac arrest and was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, but ultimately passed away. Despite suffering four strokes over the years, Paik fought against illness with unwavering determination and was reportedly in relatively good condition during a routine hospital check-up just the previous day. However, he unexpectedly passed away.
Paik’s funeral will be held as a KBO-organized ceremony. A memorial altar will be set up at Dankook University Hospital in Cheonan. The detailed funeral schedule, including the burial, will be decided once his younger sibling returns from the United States.
Former manager Paik Incheon, the only Korean Baseball Organization player with a .400 batting average, passed away at the age of 83 due to worsening cerebral infarction. Yonhap News
Paik Incheon was born in 1942 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. He migrated to South Korea during the Korean War and learned baseball at Kyungdong Middle School and Kyungdong High School. As a catcher, he joined Nonghyup’s company baseball team in 1961, then signed as a free agent with the Toei Flyers (now Nippon-Ham Fighters) of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan in 1962. He later played for the Taiheiyo Lions (now Saitama Seibu Lions), Lotte Orions (now Chiba Lotte Marines), and Kintetsu Buffaloes, continuing his career in Japan through 1981. In 1975, he won the Pacific League batting title with a .319 average.
With the launch of Korean professional baseball, Paik returned to Korea in 1982 as a player-manager for the MBC Cheongryong. That year, he finished the season with a .412 batting average, making him the only .400 hitter in Korean professional baseball history. He continued his playing career for two more seasons with the Sammi Superstars from 1983 to 1984, and after 23 years as a professional player in both Korea and Japan, he retired from active play.
Hot Picks Today
7,000 Stranded at Airport, Many Koreans Among Them… Emergency as Record-Breaking Rain Hits Greater Tokyo Area
Paik began his coaching career in 1985 as a hitting instructor for the Cheongbo Pintos. In 1990, after MBC Cheongryong was acquired and reconstituted as the LG Twins, he became the club’s first manager and advocated for “Baseball with Spirit,” leading LG Twins to a Korean Series championship and reaching the peak of his career. Paik went on to manage three teams: the LG Twins (1990–1991), Samsung Lions (1996–1997), and Lotte Giants (2002–2003).
This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.
© The Asia Business Daily. All rights reserved. Unauthorized AI training and use prohibited.