Sport Baseball

South Korean baseball players indicted for match-fixing

Written by Ben Blaschke

Two South Korean baseball players have been indicted for manipulating games for gambling purposes.

In what looms as a huge blow for the sport, prosecutors in the city of Changwon laid charges against NC Dinos pitcher Lee Tae Yang and Moon Woo-ram – an outfielder with South Korea’s military baseball team.

Lee is accused of receiving ₩20 million (US$17,500) from a broker for deliberately allowing first-innings walks and runs in two games last season while Moon allegedly received ₩10 million for hooking Lee up with the broker.

Lee and the broker apparently made arrangements to cheat in four games of which Lee made good on his promises on two occasions. He gave up five runs in four innings against KIA Tigers on 29 May and two runs in three innings against Lotte Giants on 6 August 2015.

Lee has been left off the Dinos roster since 28 June this year. Ironically, the 23-year-old starred for the side last year, helping the side to the playoffs with a 10-5 record in games he started. He also helped South Korea win the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s inaugural Premier 12 tournament in Japan and Taiwan last November.

Both players face lifetime bans if found guilty, which would also prevent them from playing in the USA, Japan or Taiwan.