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Former coach Baek In-cheon, the only Korean professional baseball team to hit .400 in the season, closed his eyes. He was 83.

Former head coach Baek was moved from his residence in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, to a nearby hospital at around 6 a.m. on the 14th to find blood pressure and pulse after CPR, but he continued to be in critical condition and died at 6:41 a.m. on the 15th at Dankook University Hospital in Cheonan. Former head coach Baek suffered several cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage, but he has been fighting the disease with all his might.

The deceased is considered a legend of Korean baseball. Born in September 1942 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, the deceased started playing baseball in his first year of Seongdong Middle School after his entire family defected to South Korea and settled in Seoul after liberation. Having made his name as a genius hitter since his high school days and played for the Nonghyup Baseball Team on the business stage, he entered the Japanese professional baseball league in 1962.

For 19 years, including becoming the Pacific League's batting king (batting average of 0.319) in 1975, the deceased has been active on the Japanese stage with a total of 1969 games and a batting average of 0.278 1,831 hits, 209 homers and 212 steals. Having been discriminated against and despised for being a Korean in Japan, he returned home in 1982 when the Korean professional baseball league was launched.

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The deceased, who served as the first manager and player of MBC's Cheongryong, left an immortal record of a season batting average of 0.412 (103 hits in 250 at-bats in 72 games) in his first year of professional baseball. In the 45-year history of Korean professional baseball, the deceased is the only one with a season batting average of around 400. The deceased, who became the batting king in Korea after Japan, ended his 22-year active career with the Sammi Superstars in 1984.

The deceased continued his leadership career by coaching LG Twins (1990-91), Samsung Lions (1996-97) and Lotte Giants (2002-03). In 1990, he led the then-founding LG Twins to their first Korean Series championship, and when he was a manager of Samsung, he taught Lee Seung-yeop how to play one-legged and made a name for himself as a teacher who led the home run king of professional baseball.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) has decided to hold the funeral of the deceased at KBO Stadium. Former coach Baek became the second baseball player to play the KBO field after former KBO president Lee Yong-il, who died in September 2025.