The national hitting star could not become the national manager. He boldly challenged the professional stage without any leadership experience but faced a harsh reality and met a 'sad ending' with a mid-term resignation.
The Doosan Bears announced officially on the afternoon of the 2nd that 'manager Lee Seung-yup has resigned voluntarily.'
Manager Lee Seung-yup visited the Doosan office located at Jamsil Stadium on that afternoon to meet with Chief Executive Officer Ko Young-seop and Director General Kim Tae-ryong in turn. At this meeting, the manager expressed his intention to voluntarily resign, saying, 'I will take responsibility for the poor performance this season,' and the club accepted this after consideration.
Lee Seung-yup, who was called the national hitting star during his active years, took office as the 11th commander of Doosan on Oct. 18, 2022, at the cafeteria of Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. After signing a contract with conditions stating a total of 1.8 billion won (signing bonus of 300 million won, annual salary of 500 million won), he put on a Doosan uniform emblazoned with the number '77' and opened the door to his first managerial career.
After suffering the humiliation of finishing 9th in their inaugural season, Doosan, along with manager Lee Seung-yup, rose to 5th place (74 wins, 2 draws, 68 losses) in the 2023 season, earning a postseason invitation for the first time in two years. They successfully overcame the shock of finishing 9th by making the offseason productive with the return of 'FA's top prize' Yang Eui-ji and '20-win ace' Raul Alcantara. Manager Lee, who took the reins of Doosan without any leadership experience, achieved a significant result by reaching the postseason in his first year.
However, Doosan fell to 5th place after competing for 3rd place until the end of the season, and the joy of returning to autumn baseball was diminished. There were perspectives that a higher ranking than 5th was possible, which overshadowed the achievement of moving up from 9th to 5th, and ultimately, in the final home game, some home fans booed manager Lee Seung-yup, leading to a rare situation. Moreover, the long-awaited autumn baseball also ended futilely after just one game in Changwon.
The 2024 season was a continuous series of misfortunes. Foreign pitchers such as Alcantara, Brandon Waddell, Shirakawa Keisho, and Jordan Balazovic suffered injuries and poor performance, derailing the mound plan envisioned during spring camp. The injury of left-handed rookie Choi Seung-yong and the unexpected slump of homegrown ace Choi Won-jun were also unanticipated variables. This naturally led to controversies over the overuse of young bullpen pitchers like Choi Ji-kang, Lee Byeong-heon, and Kim Taek-yeon. It was an extreme measure to minimize the collapse of the starting lineup, but at times it involved incomprehensible pitcher substitutions, earning the disgraceful nickname 'Tumakase.'
Despite the collapse of the starting lineup, manager Lee Seung-yup led the team to 4th place in the regular season (74 wins, 2 draws, 68 losses), achieving a second consecutive postseason appearance. However, once again, autumn's atmosphere turned its back on Doosan. In a rare postseason held at home, they faced the trial of losing both games in the wild card playoff against the 5th place team, marking the first time in the playoffs' history that a 5th place team won both games. While there had been two instances of a 5th place team winning the first game, there were no cases of them winning both. Thus, Doosan became the worst 4th place team in professional baseball history.
Additionally, a scandal involving O Jae-won and prescription sleeping pills shocked the baseball world, preventing manager Lee Seung-yup from including eight 1.5 tier players—Kim In-tae, Kim Min-hyeok, Jang Seung-hyun, Park Gye-beom, Je Hwan-yu, Park Ji-hoon, Lee Seung-jin, and Ahn Seung-han—in the game plan. The absence of clutch-strong Kim In-tae, 'backup catcher' Ahn Seung-han, Jang Seung-hyun, and 'infield utility' Park Gye-beom was also one of the factors that made the 2024 season race even more difficult. In fact, Ahn Seung-han announced his retirement after the end of the 2024 season due to this issue.
This year, at spring camp, he received a blunt message from club owner Park Jeong-won stating, 'We don't play baseball to finish 4th or 5th.' Manager Lee Seung-yup, facing the last year of his contract, shouted for the revival of Hustle Two and aimed for the Korean Series for the first time in four years. However, this time, homegrown ace Kwak Bin and dependable reliever Hong Geon-hee suffered injuries right before the opening, forcing the team to start the season with Plan B yet again. Furthermore, underwhelming performances from the foreign trio, injuries to Lee Yu-chan, and prolonged slumps from key players such as Kim Jae-hwan, Kang Seung-ho, and Yang Seok-hwan compounded the issues, leading to them languishing in 9th place.
In an interview during the spring training, manager Lee Seung-yup stated, 'I have no personal goals. I will work with the players to help Doosan regain its former glory. I inevitably think about achieving higher results every year and will strive to win even once more,' and noted, 'I'm not even considering re-signing. I just hope that our Doosan can become a team that receives a lot of applause and support this year.' However, Doosan did not regain its glory, and manager Lee Seung-yup also failed to re-sign.
Manager Lee Seung-yup, who took the helm of Doosan without any leadership experience, has stepped onto the autumn stage for two consecutive years. He recorded a total of 346 games with 171 wins, 7 draws, and 168 losses (win rate .504) and exceeded a win rate of 50%, but he faced a series of misfortunes with various variables and adverse events occurring one after another. Being his first experience in a professional managerial role, he lacked the ability to cope with these challenges. Although he continuously sought answers to problems based on his active career experiences and advice from coaches, he ultimately could not transform Doosan into a prestigious team amid the harsh reality.
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