Hanwha Eagles

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 2023, the Eagles have played in the postseason 13 times, being the runner-up in the Korean Series five times.

Hanwha Eagles
한화 이글스
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
League	KBO League (1986–present)
Location	Daejeon
Ballpark	Hanwha Life Eagles Park (1986–present) Cheongju Baseball Stadium (1986–present)
Established	1985; 39 years ago (1985)
League championships	1989, 1992
Korean Series championships	1999
Former name(s)	Binggrae Eagles (1986–1993)
Colors	Orange, black and grey
Retired numbers	21, 23, 35, 52
Ownership	Hanwha
Manager	Choi Won-ho
Website	www.hanwhaeagles.co.kr

History

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

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

Personnel

Current lineup

Managers

• Bae Seong-seo (1986–1987)
• Kim Yeong-duk (1988–1992)
• Kang Byeong-cheol (1993–1998)
• Lee Hui-su (1998–2000)
• Lee Kwang-hwan (2001–2002)
• Yu Seung-an (2003–2004)
• Kim In-sik (2005–2009)
• Han Dae-hwa (2010–2012)
• Han Yong-duk (2012) (caretaker)
• Kim Eung-ryong (2013–2014)
• Kim Sung-keun (2015–2017)
• Lee Sang-gun (2017) (caretaker)
• Han Yong-duk (2018–2020)
• Choi Won-ho (2020) (caretaker)
• Carlos Subero (2020–2023)
• Choi Won-ho (2023–present)^[13]

Retired numbers

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

General

• (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.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hanwha Eagles.

• Official website (in Korean)