The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

. 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 Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Seoul. The Heroes mascot is ''Teokdori'' (; Mr. Jaw). In 2014, the

Futures League The Toyota Second XI or Futures League is the Australian national second XI cricket competition. Run by Cricket Australia, it is part of its development program and includes the various state and territory second XI teams, from the 2009–10 s ...

squad changed its name to

Hwaseong Heroes The Kiwoom Heroes () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. They are a member of the KBO League. The Heroes play their home games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Gocheok-dong, a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Seou ...

(), differentiating from the first string. In 2019, Hwaseong Heroes renamed as Goyang Heroes ().

History

The franchise was originally known as the Sammi SuperStars and had subsequent incarnations as the Chungbo Pintos and Pacific Dolphins. The team was renamed the Hyundai Unicorns after being sold to

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate (" chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai A ...

in 1996, and was relocated from

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

Suwon Suwon (, ) is the capital and largest city of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea's most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety". With a popul ...

. The Unicorns won the KBO championship four times (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004). In January 2008, the team was dissolved. After that, Centennial Investments founded a new team called the Woori Heroes. Unlike the other KBO League ballclubs, the Heroes are owned by a collection of individuals headed by Lee Chang-suk (founder), instead of being owned by its naming sponsor. During the 2008 season, Woori Tobacco Company broke the naming sponsor deal, citing that the Heroes has not paid the full founding fee to the KBO yet, forcing the team to trade most of its star players for cash. For the rest of the 2008 season and the 2009 season, the team used only "Heroes" for its name. On 8 February 2010, naming rights were sold to

Nexen Tire Nexen Tire Corporation ( Korean: ) is a tire manufacturer headquartered in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province and Seoul in South Korea. Established in 1942 under the name, Heung-A Tire Company, Nexen Tire Co. has served the industry for the past ...

. On 6 November 2018, naming rights were sold to Kiwoom Securities. The Kiwoom Heroes made it to 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 ...

in their first year, but lost to the

Doosan Bears The Doosan Bears ( ko, 두산 베어스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the KBO League. The Bears have won six Korean Series titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and ...

to finish second.

Season-by-season records

Current roster

Managers

* Lee Kwang-hwan (2008) *

Kim Si-jin Kim Si-jin (Hangul:김시진, Hanja: 金始眞; born March 20, 1958 in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea) is a retired pitcher and a former manager in the Korea Baseball Organization. Playing career Amateur career Upon graduation from ...

(2009–2012) *

Kim Sung-gap 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 f ...

(2012) ''(caretaker)'' * Youm Kyoung-youb (2013–2016) * Jang Jeong-seok (2017–2019) * Son Heuk (2020) * Kim Chang-hyun (2020–2021) ''(caretaker)'' *

Hong Won-ki Hong may refer to: Places * Høng, a town in Denmark * Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China * Hong, Nigeria * Hong River in China and Vietnam * Lake Hong in China Surnames * Hong (Chinese name) * Hong (Korean name) ...

(2021–present)

Notes

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* {{KBO League KBO League teams Baseball teams established in 2008 Sport in Seoul 2008 establishments in South Korea