KBO's Giants to retire Lee Dae-ho's No. 10

All News 11:29 September 29, 2022

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- The retiring South Korean slugger Lee Dae-ho will be the last player in Lotte Giants history to wear No. 10.

The Giants announced Thursday they will retire Lee's signature number when he calls it quits at the end of the ongoing Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season.

Lee Dae-ho of the Lotte Giants addresses fans at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul after receiving a retirement gift from the home team LG Twins prior to a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game on Sept. 22, 2022. (Yonhap)

It will be the second number retired by the Giants, after No. 11 worn by the late former pitcher Choi Dong-won.

The Giants will hold Lee's retirement ceremony after his final regular season game and also his last home game on Oct. 8 at Sajik Baseball Stadium in the southeastern city of Busan.

The Giants added every player on the team will don Lee's No. 10 jersey for that finale, and those uniforms will be auctioned off, with proceeds set to go to local charities.

The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. And starting at 3 p.m., Lee will give out autographed caps to 500 fans, including 250 children, selected from a draw on the team's official app.

Lee, 40, will hang up his cleats after his 22nd season in professional baseball -- 17 with the Giants, four with the Orix Buffaloes and then the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan, and one with the Seattle Mariners in the majors.

The veteran slugger has shown no signs of slowing down. He is batting .335/.379/.499 with 21 home runs and 94 RBIs, both of them his highest totals since 2018. Lee is fourth in the league in batting average, sixth in RBIs and seventh in on-base plus slugging percentage.