Kim Byeong Hyeon (1979)

Other Name: 김병현 金炳賢 Kim Byeong Hyun Kim Byung Hyeon Kim Byung Hyun

Age: 45

Birthday: February, 15, 1979

Nationality: South Korea

Height: 178 CM

Zodiac sign: Aquarius

Kim Byung Hyun is a former South Korean baseball player. He graduated from Gwangju Jeil High School and was later enrolled in the Law program at Sungkyunkwan University but dropped out. He is one of the rare Asian baseball players who began his career in the United States. He was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1999 as an International Amateur Free Agent and became a relief pitcher for the team right away.

In 2001, he was part of the team who won the World Series for Arizona after beating the New York Yankees in 7 games. The next year, he was selected to play in the All-Star Game and had 36 saves during the season. In 2003, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox, spending 2 seasons with the team and was part of the team who won the World Series in 2004. The following year, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies, and after a solid season as a reliever and starter, he signed for one more year.

In 2006, he represented South Korea in the World Baseball Classic and helped his team earn victories against Taiwan, Japan and the U.S. before finishing in 3rd place in the tournament but he was injured at the end of the competition. In 2007, he was traded three times in one season, moving from Colorado to the Florida Marlins (now Miami Marlins), then to Arizona and back again to the Marlins. In the next few seasons, he could not secure a spot in a main roster and, in 2011, went to Japan after he signed a one-year deal with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

He then moved to South Korea and played in his home country for the first time in his career, spending two seasons with the Nexen Heroes (now Kihoon Heroes) and two more with the Kia Tigers before announcing his retirement in 2015. In 2018, he decided to try again and played one season for the Melbourne Aces of the Australian Baseball League before definitely retiring at the age of 39.

He now features frequently in many South Korean variety shows as he is a regular in baseball-related shows, and he even made his acting debut with a cameo in "The Penthouse: War in Life".

(Source: Korean = NamuWiki)