Catcher Kang Min-ho Becomes First in KBO History with 2600 Career Games… and Reaches 2300 Hits the Same Day

Samsung catcher Kang Min-ho became the first player in KBO history to appear in 2600 career games, in the October 1 game against Hanwha in Daegu. In the same game, he also recorded his 2300th career hit, the 7th player in history to do so.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Three-Line Summary

Kang Min-ho became the first player in the KBO regular season to reach 2600 career games, in the October 1, 2026 game against Hanwha in Daegu.
In the same game he went 1 for 4 to reach 2300 career hits, the 7th player in history to do so, and Samsung won.
Kang, who is 41, earns a salary of 300 million won this year, and the maximum totals of his four FA contracts add up to 21.1 billion won.

2600. That is the number of career KBO regular-season games Kang Min-ho reached by playing in the October 1 game against Hanwha in Daegu. He is the first player in league history to reach this number. According to Sports Chosun, he played 1495 games for Lotte and 1105 for Samsung. Twenty-two years after his first appearance in September 2004, the 41-year-old catcher became the first in the league to reach the 2600-game mark.

Kang Min-ho Reaches 2600 Games and 2300 Hits at the Same Time in October 1 Game Against Hanwha

Another milestone was set the same day. SPOTV NEWS reported that Kang added a hit in this game to become the 7th player in history to reach 2300 career hits. His line that day was 1 hit in 4 at-bats with 1 strikeout. That line is consistent with STN News reporting and with the KBO's individual record for that date. The lone hit he got that day was his 2300th.

The game ended in a Samsung win. In his post-game comments on October 1, Samsung manager Park Jin-man said, "And Lee Jae-hyun's decisive two-run homer allowed us to win." Sports Chosun reported the remark on the 2nd. One point is worth noting. The 2600 games is a total count of appearances regardless of position. It is not a count of only the games in which he played catcher.

Kang Min-ho's Career Games Ranking: 141 Games Ahead of No. 2 Choi Jeong in Lookup Values

Top 5 in KBO Regular-Season Career Games (lookup values as of 2026.10.02; not a confirmed standings table as of the same point in time)

Rank	Player	Team	Career Games	Difference from Kang Min-ho (games)
1	Kang Min-ho	Samsung	2600	—
2	Choi Jeong	SSG	2459	141
3	Choi Hyeong-woo	Samsung	2442~2443 (counts conflict)	Not confirmed
4	Kim Hyun-soo	KT	2357	243
5	Park Yong-taik	Former LG (retired)	2237	363

In lookup values obtained by cross-checking the KBO's player records against the Yaguna-ra standings table (as of 2026.10.02), No. 2 Choi Jeong (SSG) has played 2459 games. The arithmetic difference from Kang Min-ho's lookup value is 141 games, which is not a value confirmed as the latest gap at the same point in time. For Choi Hyeong-woo, the two counts differ by 1 game, so the gap has not been confirmed. Kang passed Park Yong-taik's 2237 games, the previous record, on March 28, 2024. He reached 2500 games in the April 1 game against Doosan this year, and it took exactly six months to add the next 100 games.

Kang Min-ho, Age 41: The Career of a Catcher in His 23rd Year Since Debut

Kang Min-ho was born on August 18, 1985, which makes him 41 as of the date of the milestone. He debuted with Lotte in 2004 and moved to Samsung as a free agent after the 2017 season. His regular-season appearances for Samsung began in 2018. The club's profile lists his joining year as 2017 because it is based on the contract date. He has won the Golden Glove at catcher 7 times in his career, and last September he became the first KBO catcher to hit 350 career home runs. He also appeared in 127 games in the 2025 season.

Kang Min-ho's Salary Is 300 Million Won; Cumulative Maximum of 4 FA Contracts Is 21.1 Billion Won

His salary this year is 300 million won. Yonhap News Agency reported Samsung's announcement: the two-year contract signed on December 28, 2025 consists of a signing bonus of 1 billion won, a salary of 300 million won, and annual incentives of 200 million won, for a maximum of 2 billion won. It was the first 4th FA contract in KBO history. Adding up the totals of the four contracts gives a maximum of 21.1 billion won. Comparing the four-year contracts, the amount fell 55% from 8 billion won to 3.6 billion won. Even as his pay has shrunk, his run of appearances has not stopped.

Kang Min-ho's 4 FA Contracts (club-announced totals, based on multiple media reports)

Timing	Club	Length	Maximum Total
After the 2013 season	Lotte	4 years	7.5 billion won
After the 2017 season	Samsung	4 years	8 billion won
Before the 2022 season	Samsung	4 years	3.6 billion won
2025.12.28	Samsung	2 years	2 billion won

Some figures are not yet confirmed. The contract runs through the 2027 season, and the annual 200 million won incentive is conditional, so the maximum total is not necessarily the amount actually received. The gap with Choi Hyeong-woo may be due to differences in when the KBO pages were updated, but the cause has not been confirmed. The latest figures for career home runs and RBIs are not included in this article because the KBO's tally cutoff time is not shown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. When and in which game did Kang Min-ho reach 2600 games?

It was the Samsung-Hanwha regular-season game held in Daegu on October 1, 2026. The total combines the 1495 games he played for Lotte and the 1105 games he played for Samsung.

Q. How old is Kang Min-ho?

He was born on August 18, 1985, and was 41 as of October 1, 2026, when he reached 2600 games.

Q. Is Kang Min-ho's 2600 the number of games he played as a catcher?

No. It is the total appearance record, counting every game he played regardless of position. It is not a figure that counts only his appearances as a defensive catcher.

Q. What is Kang Min-ho's salary?

His salary for the 2026 season is 300 million won. The maximum total of the two-year FA contract signed in December 2025, including the signing bonus and incentives, is 2 billion won.

Related Official Sites

KBO: Kang Min-ho Career Records — Check official year-by-year records for games, hits and home runs
Samsung Lions: Kang Min-ho Official Player Profile — The club's official profile and salary listing
KBO Official Website — League schedules, standings and records overall
Samsung Lions Official Website — Club news and game schedules

Lead image · Archive photo · Not an on-site photo of the game in this article · Photo composite · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Neoalpha), CC0 · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Trainholic), CC BY-SA 3.0