KBO throws curveball at 'youngest,' 'oldest' records as league moves away from lunar birthday registration

Korean baseball's "youngest" or "oldest" records may soon change as the KBO will finally overhaul its chaotic birthday system, which operated based on both the lunar and Gregorian calendars.

In the early years, the league allowed athletes to register their birthdays according to either calendar. Widely used across Asian cultures, the lunar calendar is measured using a full cycle of the moon's phases, with each year having 354 days. The Gregorian calendar, meanwhile, has 365 days.

The changeover is already set to disturb one record in the making this year, as the Kia Tigers' Kim Do-yeong chases the "youngest to 40 home runs."

The current titleholder is Lee Seung-yuop, formerly of the Samsung Lions, whose birthday was recorded as Aug. 18, 1976. However, that birthday is based on the lunar calendar. Lee was born on Oct. 11 per the Gregorian calendar. In short, Lee has been alive two months fewer than his legal age. 

Per the Gregorian calendar, Lee will remain the youngest to 40 homers. Kim, by days, has already lived longer than Lee had when he claimed the title at 22.

“After this season, [the KBO] will prepare an appropriate standard on how to count athletes’ ages,” a KBO representative said.

A review of the birthday registration system appears increasingly necessary as Korean baseball goes global. The KBO is on track to increase the pool of foreign players at each club starting next year, while a growing number of Korean ballplayers are making moves to MLB.

The KBO logs record holders' ages by the number of years, months and dates. MLB, meanwhile, employs a different scheme by only indicating years and days.

The U.S. counting method is more precise as it counts by the exact number of days, whereas the Korean system groups them into months, with no distinction between 30-day and 31-day months.

Time zones throw an even wilder curveball into the record books: Even if a U.S.-born athlete and a Korean athlete were born on the same day, the Korean player could, theoretically, be considered older because Korea is typically 12 to 17 hours ahead of the United States.

Even going by dates, then, could lead to unearned records.

Ahead of a recalculation that could rewrite the record books, the KBO vowed to uphold the legacies held by incumbent title holders.

“Through in-depth internal discussions, we will try our best to preserve the current records of the youngest and the oldest,” a KBO representative said.

Until the end of the current season, the Korean league is set to calculate only based on birthdays registered with the KBO — leaving calendar matters for a later date.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]