Hanwha Eagles

Hanwha Eagles
한화 이글스
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
LeagueKBO League (1986–present)
LocationDaejeon
Ballpark
Established1985; 39 years ago (1985)
League championships1989, 1992
Korean Series championships1999
Former name(s)
  • Binggrae Eagles (1986–1993)
ColorsOrange, black and grey
     
Retired numbers21, 23, 35, 52
OwnershipHanwha
ManagerKim Kyung-moon
Websitewww.hanwhaeagles.co.kr

The Hanwha Eagles (Korean: 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon. They are a member of the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Hanwha Life Eagles Park. The Eagles have won the Korean Series once, in 1999, and the league pennant twice. As of 2024, the Eagles have played in the postseason 13 times, being the runner-up in the Korean Series five times.

History

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Founded in 1985 as the Binggrae Eagles (Binggrae was the then-trademark of Hanwha's confectionery branch),[1] they debuted in 1986 as the seventh franchise of the league. Japanese-born pitcher Jang Myeong-bu went 1–18 with a 4.98 ERA in the 1986 season. The team went 31–76 overall in 1986, and Jang retired after the season.

The Eagles made it to the Korean Series four times in their first seven years of existence (in 1988, 1989, 1991, and 1992), losing each time. In 1993, the club changed its name to Hanwha Eagles after Binggrae's separation from Hanwha conglomerate.

Pitchers Song Jin-woo and Jung Min-cheul were the team's one-two punch through the 1990s and much of the 2000s. Song played for the team for 21 seasons, between 1989 and 2009. He currently holds several KBO pitching records, including his 210 wins, 2,048 strikeouts, and 3,003 innings pitched.[2][3] He is the only pitcher in KBO League history to win 200 games, and the only one to strike out 2,000 or more batters. Jung, for his part, played 16 seasons for the Eagles (1992–1999 and 2002–2009). He won at least ten games for the team for eight straight seasons, from 1992 through 1999.[4]

The club was renowned for its slugging percentage from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, nicknamed the "Dynamite Bats" in reference to explosive products under one of Hanwha's main business lines. The 1999 championship team was led by American imports Dan Rohrmeier and Jay Davis, as well as Koreans Song Ji-man and Chang Jong-hoon, and had a slugging percentage of .487, the highest team total in KBO League history.[5]

The Eagles made it back to the Korean Series in 2006, again falling short. The Eagles did not make the KBO playoffs for eleven years, from 2008 through 2017, despite going through five managers during that time, including the KBO's two winningest managers, Kim Eung-ryong (2013–2014) and Kim Sung-keun (2015–2017).

Han Yong-duk was hired as Eagles' manager in 2018 (he had been a caretaker manager for the team in 2012), and in his first full season he succeeded in bringing the team to the postseason for the first time since 2007.[6] On 7 June 2020, however, Han resigned as manager after a 14th straight loss, and was replaced by the team's minor league manager (and former television announcer), Choi Won-ho.[7] The team also revamped its roster, sending ten players to the minor-league KBO Futures League team — including veterans An Young-myung, Jang Si-hwan, Lee Tae-yang, Song Kwang-min, and Lee Sung-yul[8] — and bringing up nine players to the KBO League team.[9] After tying the record for the KBO's longest losing streak at 18,[10] on 14 June 2020, the Eagles escaped a 19th-straight defeat after a long struggle: Hanwha won a suspended game against Doosan Bears thanks to Roh Tae-hyung's walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.[11]

On 27 November 2020, Carlos Subero was announced as the Eagles' new manager.[12]

Season-by-season records

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Season League Finish Regular season Post season Awards
Rank Games Wins Losses Draws Win% BA HR ERA
Binggrae Eagles
1986 KBO 7/7 7/7 54 12 42 0 .222 .236 46 3.67 Did not qualify  
6/7 54 19 34 1 .358
1987 KBO 6/7 6/7 54 24 28 2 .463 .274 48 3.78 Did not qualify Lee Jong-hoon (ROTY)
5/7 54 23 29 2 .444
1988 KBO 2/7 2/7 54 34 20 0 .630 .266 73 3.72 Won playoff vs. Samsung Lions (3–0)
Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (2–4)		  
3/7 54 28 25 1 .528
1989 KBO 2/7 1/7 120 71 46 3 .604 .276 97 3.50 Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (1–4)  
1990 KBO 4/7 3/7 120 68 50 2 .575 .270 112 3.41 Lost semi-playoff vs. Samsung Lions (0–2)  
1991 KBO 2/8 126 72 49 5 .591 .274 136 3.35 Won playoff vs. Samsung Lions (3–1)
Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (0–4)		 Chang Jong-hoon (MVP)
1992 KBO 2/8 1/8 126 81 43 2 .651 .267 146 3.68 Lost Korean Series vs. Lotte Giants (1–4) Chang Jong-hoon (MVP)
1993 KBO 5/8 126 61 61 4 .500 .238 81 3.46 Did not qualify  
Hanwha Eagles
1994 KBO 3/8 126 65 59 2 .524 .247 68 3.52 Won semi-playoff vs. Haitai Tigers (2–0)
Lost playoff vs. Taepyongyang Dolphins (0–3)		  
1995 KBO 6/8 126 55 71 0 .437 .249 96 4.04 Did not qualify  
1996 KBO 4/8 3/8 126 70 55 1 .560 .245 90 3.79 Lost semi-playoff vs. Hyundai Unicorns (0–2) Koo Dae-sung (MVP)
1997 KBO 7/8 126 51 73 2 .413 .253 102 4.06 Did not qualify  
1998 KBO 7/8 126 55 66 5 .455 .250 123 4.26 Did not qualify  
1999 KBO Magic League 1/8 2/4 132 72 58 2 .554 .283 197 4.88 Won playoff vs. Doosan Bears (4–0)
Won Korean Series vs. Lotte Giants (4–1)		  
2000 KBO Magic League 7/8 3/4 133 50 78 5 .391 .276 180 5.24 Did not qualify  
2001 KBO 4/8 133 61 68 4 .473 .275 148 4.85 Lost semi-playoff vs. Doosan Bears (0–2) Kim Tae-kyun (ROTY)
2002 KBO 7/8 133 59 69 5 .461 .256 170 4.79 Did not qualify  
2003 KBO 5/8 133 63 65 5 .492 .254 121 4.38 Did not qualify  
2004 KBO 7/8 133 53 74 6 .417 .268 140 5.24 Did not qualify  
2005 KBO 4/8 126 64 61 1 .512 .270 159 4.41 Won semi-playoff vs. SK Wyverns (3–2)
Lost playoff vs. Doosan Bears (0–3)		  
2006 KBO 2/8 3/8 126 67 57 2 .540 .253 110 3.37 Won semi-playoff vs. Kia Tigers (2–1)
Won playoff vs. Hyundai Unicorns (3–1)
Lost Korean Series vs. Samsung Lions (1–1–4)		 Ryu Hyun-jin (ROTY)
Ryu Hyun-jin (MVP)
2007 KBO 3/8 126 67 57 2 .540 .254 104 3.54 Won semi-playoff vs. Samsung Lions (2–1)
Lost playoff vs. Doosan Bears (0–3)		  
2008 KBO 5/8 126 64 62 0 .508 .254 120 4.43 Did not qualify  
2009 KBO 8/8 133 46 84 3 .354 .269 164 5.71 Did not qualify  
2010 KBO 8/8 133 49 82 2 .374 .244 104 5.43 Did not qualify  
2011 KBO 6/8 133 59 72 2 .450 .255 93 5.11 Did not qualify  
2012 KBO 8/8 133 53 77 3 .408 .249 71 4.55 Did not qualify  
2013 KBO 9/9 128 42 85 1 .331 .259 47 5.31 Did not qualify  
2014 KBO 9/9 128 49 77 2 .389 .283 104 6.35 Did not qualify  
2015 KBO 6/10 144 68 76 0 .472 .271 130 5.11 Did not qualify  
2016 KBO 7/10 144 66 75 3 .468 .289 142 5.76 Did not qualify  
2017 KBO 8/10 144 61 81 2 .430 .287 150 5.28 Did not qualify  
2018 KBO 3/10 144 77 67 0 .535 .275 151 4.93 Lost semi-playoff vs. Nexen Heroes (1–3)  
2019 KBO 9/10 144 58 86 0 .403 .256 88 4.80 Did not qualify  
2020 KBO 10/10 144 46 95 3 .326 .245 79 5.28 Did not qualify  
2021 KBO 10/10 144 49 83 12 .371 .237 80 4.65 Did not qualify  
2022 KBO 10/10 144 46 96 2 .324 .245 88 4.83 Did not qualify  
2023 KBO 9/10 144 58 80 6 .420 .241 100 4.38 Did not qualify  
2024 KBO 8/10 144 66 76 2 .465 .270 127 4.98 Did not qualify  

Personnel

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Current lineup

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Managers

[edit]

Retired numbers

[edit]

The Eagles have four retired numbers on their roster. Those are for the infielders Chang Jong-hoon (35) and Kim Tae-kyun (52), and the pitchers Jung Min-cheul (23) and Song Jin-woo (21).

References

[edit]
General
  • "Complete league history and statistics" (in Korean). Korean Baseball League. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
Specific
  1. ^ Bulley, Jim. "A brief history of KBO franchise names," Korea JoongAng Daily (14 November 2018).
  2. ^ "Korean baseball’s old-timers rack up the records," JoongAng Daily. Accessed on 4 January 2009.
  3. ^ koreabaseball.com Song Jin-Woo player page Accessed on 4 January 2009.
  4. ^ KANG YOO-RIM. "Doosan’s Yoo Hee-kwan joins list of lefty legends," Korea JoongAng Daily (22 September 2019).
  5. ^ Viquez, Marc. "Getting to Know Korean Baseball Teams, Uniforms, and Logos," Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.net (19 June 2020).
  6. ^ Kim, Seyoung-hoon. "Hanwha advances to Postseason, Solved 11 Years Old," OhMyStar (29 September 2018).
  7. ^ Yonhap. "KBO's Hanwha Eagles name interim manager during 14-game slide," The Korea Herald (8 June 2020).
  8. ^ Last-place KBO club demotes 10 players to minors," Yonhap News Agency (9 June 2020).
  9. ^ "KBO's Hanwha Eagles suffer 15th straight loss," Yonhap News Agency (9 June 2020).
  10. ^ Yonhap. "Hanwha Eagles lose 18th straight to tie all-time KBO record," The Korea Herald (12 June 2020).
  11. ^ Moo, Lee-seok. "Hanwha Eagles 18 consecutive losses after two days of competition," eDaily (14 June 2020).
  12. ^ "Ex-MLB coach Carlos Subero named new manager for KBO's Eagles". Yonhap News Agency. 22 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Hanwha Eagles fire manager Carlos Subero, promote minor league skipper Choi Won-ho". Yonhap News Agency. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  14. ^ "KBO club Eagles hire Olympic gold medal-winning skipper Kim Kyung-moon as new manager". The Korea Herald. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
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