SEOUL, SSG Landers slugger Choi Jeong tied the all-time South Korean baseball home run record Tuesday, reaching the cusp of history thanks to a dramatic shot with his team down to their final out. Choi blasted a solo home run off Kia Tigers closer Jung Hai-young in the bottom of the ninth inning of the teams' Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular-season game at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul. With his 467th home run, Choi pulled into a tie with former Samsung Lions star Lee Seung-yuop atop the career home run list. Choi also leads the league this season with nine home runs. Choi's homer was also significant for the Landers, as it tied the score at 4-4 with two outs in the bottom ninth. Choi took three straight balls and then looked at a fastball for a called strike. With the count still in his favor at 3-1, Choi turned on a belt-high fastball, clocked at 147 kilometers per hour, and drove it 125 meters into the seats in left field. Two batters later, Han Yoo-seom smoked a t wo-run homer as the Landers walked off the Tigers 6-4. Lee, currently manager of the Doosan Bears, finished with 467 home runs after playing 1,906 games. This was Choi's 2,183rd game. Choi and Lee are the only two players with at least 400 home runs in the KBO. Choi, 37, has spent his entire career with the Landers franchise. He made his debut in 2005 when the team was called the SK Wyverns under different corporate ownership. After hitting just one home run in 45 games as an 18-year-old rookie, Choi had 12 homers in 92 games in 2006. And Choi reached double figures in home runs every year from 2006 to 2023, the longest such streak in league history. He now sits one away from extending his record streak to 19 seasons this year. Source: Yonhap News Agency