In 2001, the year he turned 19, the Gyeongnam High School graduate was drafted by the Lotte Giants as a pitcher, with the fourth pick in the first round of the second phase. He threw one inning in an exhibition game, then switched to batting. In 2004, he became a regular in the first team and hit 20 home runs. In 2005, he hit 21 home runs and was named All-Star Game MVP for the first time.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 24, he won the batting Triple Crown with a .336 average, 26 home runs and 88 RBIs, the first in 22 years since Lee Man-soo in 1984, and became widely known.
In August 2008, he beat Cuba in the Beijing Olympic baseball final and won the gold medal with nine straight wins. In March 2009, Korea lost to Japan in the World Baseball Classic final and finished second. In December, he married his wife of nine years.
On Aug. 14, 2010, against KIA in Gwangju, he hit a home run in a ninth straight game, a world record and a first in Korean, U.S. and Japanese pro baseball. He finished the season first in seven batting categories and as regular-season MVP, and in November he won gold with the baseball team at the Guangzhou Asian Games.
In 2011, he won a second straight batting title, and in December he signed a two-year, 760 million yen deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball. In January 2012, a daughter was born.
In December 2013, after two years at Orix, he moved to the SoftBank Hawks. In 2014, his first year at SoftBank, the team won the Japan Series. In October 2015, he led SoftBank to a second straight Japan Series title and became the first Korean player named series MVP.
In February 2016, he signed with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball, in March a son was born, and in April he hit a walk-off home run against Texas. In January 2017, he returned to Lotte after six years on a four-year, 15 billion won deal. As captain, he led the team to its first postseason in five years. In 2018, he won the Golden Glove at designated hitter and became the third player to win Golden Gloves at three positions.
On Oct. 1, 2021, he reached 2,000 career hits in the KBO League. On Oct. 8, 2022, he held his retirement ceremony at Sajik Stadium, and his No. 10 was retired. From 2023, he worked as an SBS World Baseball Classic commentator and appeared on shows such as Strongest Baseball and Master in the House, and in August he opened his own YouTube channel. In 2026, he appears as a player on Bulkkot Yagu 2, a baseball variety show for retired players.
Lee Dae-ho (born Jun 21, 1982) joined the Lotte Giants as a pitcher in Mar 2001, the year he turned 19, and became known in 2006, the year he turned 24, when he won the batting Triple Crown. In 2010, the year he turned 28, he hit a home run in nine straight games and finished first in seven batting categories, and he retired in 2022.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.