Fire still burns inside KBO outfielder after being named player-coach

He may have been named "player-coach" by the Kiwoom Heroes on April 18, but veteran outfielder Lee Yong-kyu sees himself more as a player than as a coach. Lee is about four months shy of his 40th birthday, but the fire in his belly hasn't been extinguished. He wants to prove that he can still play in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) while setting a good example for the youthful Heroes team featuring a few teenage rookies. In a conversation with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday, Lee said he wanted to set the record straight: he is not about to retire anytime soon, just because he has been asked to serve in a dual role. "I want to keep playing," Lee said before a game against the Lotte Giants at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. "I know people would just assume that I am about to get into coaching because I've been named player-coach. But at the moment, I am still a player helping out teammates in the dugout." Lee made his KBO debut with the LG Twins in 2004, but became a star and a national team mainstay during his nine-year tenure with the Kia Tigers from 2005 to 2013. In that nine-season spanWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times