The Hanwha Eagles ( ko, 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in

Daejeon Daejeon () is South Korea's fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of 1.5 million as of 2019. Located in the central-west region of South Korea alongside forested hills and the Geum River, the city is known both for its technology an ...

. They are a member of the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

. The Eagles' home ballpark is

Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium The Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium, also known as the Hanwha Life Eagles Park due to sponsorship reasons, is a baseball park in Daejeon, South Korea. The stadium is located in the vicinity of Daejeon Station. Located in Daejeon Hanbat Sports Comp ...

. The Eagles have won the

Korean Series The Korean Series is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play in ...

once, in 1999, and the league pennant twice. As of 2022, the Eagles have played in the

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

13 times, being the runner-up in the Korean Series five times.

History

Founded in 1985 as the Binggrae Eagles ( Binggrae was the then-trademark of Hanwha's confectionery branch), 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

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 and . He currently holds several KBO pitching records, including his 210 wins, 2,048

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is den ...

s, and 3,003

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning ...

. 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. The club was renowned for its

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

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 Daniel Rohrmeier (born September 27, 1965) is a former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners in , and in the Korea Baseball Organization from to for the Hanwha Eagles and LG Twins. Rohr ...

and

Jay Davis Jay Davis (born October 3, 1970, in Chicago, Illinois) is a former professional baseball player. He played seven seasons as an outfielder with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. Davis had the longest career of a foreign playe ...

, as well as Koreans Song Ji-man and

Chang Jong-hoon Chang Jong-hoon (born April 10, 1968) is a retired former infielder in the KBO League. He spent his entire 20-year career with Binggrae/Hanwha Eagles. He is currently a coach with the team. Chang was a two-time KBO MVP, and led the league in h ...

, and had a slugging percentage of .487, the highest team total in KBO League history. 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 Kim Eung-Ryong (born September 15, 1941, in Pyongwon, South Pyongan, Korea) is a Korean baseball manager. He is the winningest manager in the history of Korean professional baseball, having won ten Korean Series championships throughout his c ...

(2013–2014) and

Kim Sung-keun Kim Sung-keun (Hangul: 김성근, Hanja: 金星根) (born December 13, 1942, in Kyoto, Japan) is a retired South Korean left-handed baseball pitcher and KBO League manager. Over the course of his managerial career, Kim managed seven different ...

(2015–2017).

Han Yong-duk Han Yong-duk (born June 2, 1965) is a South Korean former professional baseball player and former manager of the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League. Han was signed to a three-year contract in October 2017 to become Eagle's 11th manager. On June 7, ...

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. 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 Choi may refer to: * Choi (Korean surname), a Korean surname * Choi, Macau Cantonese transliteration of the Chinese surname Cui (崔) and Xu (徐) * Choi, Cantonese romanisation of Cai (surname) (蔡), a Chinese surname * CHOI-FM, a radio station ...

. The team also revamped its roster, sending ten players to the minor-league

KBO Futures League KBO Futures League () or Korea Baseball Futures League is South Korea's second level of baseball, below the KBO League. It serves as a farm league with the purpose to develop professional players on-demand to play in the KBO League. The league ...

team — including veterans

An Young-myung An Young-myung (Hangul: 안영명, Hanja: 安永命; born November 19, 1984) is a South Korean right-handed starting pitcher who plays for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League. External links Career statistics and player informationfrom Korea ...

Jang Si-hwan Jang Si-hwan (born November 1, 1987) is a South Korean professional baseball pitcher for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League. He has also played for the Hyundai Unicorns, the Nexen Heroes, and the Lotte Giants. On November 21, 2019, he and Ki ...

, Lee Tae-yang,

Song Kwang-min A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

, and Lee Sung-yul — and bringing up nine players to the KBO League team. After tying the record for the KBO's longest losing streak at 18, 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. On 27 November 2020, Carlos Subero was announced as the Eagles' new manager.

Season-by-season records

Personnel

Current lineup

Managers

* Bae Seong-seo (1986–1987) *

Kim Yeong-duk Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese fo ...

(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 Han Dae-hwa (Hangul: 한대화, Hanja: 韓大化; born July 8, 1960 in Daejeon, South Korea) is a former South Korean third baseman and the former manager of the Hanwha Eagles in the Korea Baseball Organization. Han played 17 years in the KBO L ...

(2010–2012) *

(2012) ''(caretaker)'' *

(2013–2014) *

(2015–2017) * Lee Sang-gun (2017) ''(caretaker)'' *

(2018–2020) *

(2020) ''(caretaker)'' * Carlos Subero (2020–present)

Retired numbers

The Eagles have three

retired number Retiring the number of an athlete is an honor a team bestows upon a player, usually after the player has left the team, retires from the sport, or dies, by taking his or her former number out of circulation. Once a number is retired, no future pla ...

s on their roster. Those are for the slugger

(35), and the pitchers Jung Min-cheul (23) and Song Jin-woo (21).

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

Official website
{{Hanwha KBO League teams Baseball teams established in 1985 1985 establishments in South Korea Sport in Daejeon Hanwha