Kim Kyung-moon, manager of the Doosan Bears in South Korea’s top baseball league, resigned from his post, taking responsibility for the team’s poor season so far.

The Korea Baseball Organization club said bench coach Kim Kwang-soo will serve as the interim manager for the remainder of the season.

Kim Kyung-moon, the first among eight KBO managers to step down this season, said through a statement that he believed his decision was the best for the team.

“My resignation at this point should help bring players together even more closely,” Kim said. “I think it’d be best for them to try to make adjustments to the new situation and play hard the rest of the way.”

Kim, who was in the final year of his contract, had been the league’s longest-tenured manager, having been with the Seoul-based Bears since 2004. He had guided them to the playoffs in all but one season during his time, and the Bears finished runner-up in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Four of eight teams make the playoffs in the KBO.

Kim had also led Korea to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But the perennial contender is ranked seventh so far in 2011, with 23 wins, 32 losses and two draws. After a decent start in April, the Bears suffered through the KBO’s worst record in May, losing 17 out of 25 games. 

(Yonhap News)