[서울신문] Kim Tae-gyun → Lee Dae-ho → Choo Shin-soo The golden generation that kept the annual salary king for 10 consecutive years

Choo Shin-soo, who joined the Shinsegae Group baseball team, quickly set a new record for the highest professional baseball salary and climbed to the 2021 professional baseball salary king.

On the 4th, the Korean Baseball Commission (KBO) released annual salary data for this season. The highest annual salary is Choo Shin-soo, who receives 2.7 billion won. The annual salary king Lee Dae-ho (Lotte Giants), who received 2.5 billion won last season, has a joint 10th place with an annual salary of 800 million won.

As Choo Shin-soo climbed to the salary king this season, the golden generation born in 1982 remained in the salary king position for 10 consecutive years. This is the first time that friends have done annual salary king for 10 consecutive years.

After returning from Japan, Kim Tae-gyun has maintained the annual salary king position for five consecutive years since 2012. In 2012, he received an annual salary of 1.5 billion won without a down payment. The record for the fourth consecutive year increased by another year when Tae-gyun Kim became a free agent (FA) in 2016 and received a total of 8.4 billion won for four years with Hanwha Eagles. Kim Tae-gyun received an annual salary of 1.6 billion won, an increase of 100 million won that year.

In 2017, when Lee Dae-ho signed a four-year free agency contract with Lotte for 15 billion won, the annual salary king position changed. Lee Dae-ho received an annual salary of 2.5 billion won, leaving the name as the highest annual salary for four consecutive years until last year.

Kim Tae-gyun and Lee Dae-ho have kept the salary king record of 1982 for the 9th consecutive year, and has increased to 10 years as Choo Shin-soo took over this season. If Choo Shin-soo performs as expected this year and receives a similar level of salary next year, the record could be further increased.

Shinsegae Group’s baseball team, which saw a sharp drop in salary due to the fall of Kim Gwang-hyun (St. Louis Cardinals) last season, rose 20.3% from the previous year to 174.2 million won, thanks to Choo Shin-soo’s annual salary. It is the highest and highest rate of increase among 10 clubs.

Following the Shinsegae Group baseball team, NC Dinos (139.3 million won), Doosan Bears (133.4 million won), Samsung Lions (12.37 million won), LG Twins (12.24 million won), Kiwoom Heroes (12.57 million won) , kt Wiz (99.27 million won), Lotte (94.74 million won), KIA Tigers (84.17 million won), and Hanwha (74.68 million won) followed.

In addition, Lee Jeong-hoo (Keewoom), who received 550 million won in his fifth year, recorded a new record for the highest annual salary for three consecutive years. The rookie king So-Jun So-Jun (kt) recorded a 418.5% increase compared to last year, recording the highest rate of increase of 140 million won.

In line with the retirement of high-paid players and the fostering of clubs, the total annual salary decreased from 7.37 billion won last year to 65.29 billion won this year. On average, this is a decrease of 15.1% from 144.4 million won last year to 12,273 million won. However, the number of players with a billion-year salary was 161, the third-most record ever.

Reporter Ryu Jae-min [email protected]