The Hanwha Eagles () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

that competes in the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark. They 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 ...

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

Founded in 1985 as the Binggrae Eagles (

Binggrae Binggrae Co., Ltd. (), is a South Korean multinational food and beverage corporation that manufactures ice cream, milk products, and snacks. Binggrae was founded in 1967 by Hong Soon-ji as Daeil Corporation (). The B in the Binggrae Logo is mode ...

was the then-trademark of

Hanwha Hanwha Group () is a large business conglomerate (chaebol) in South Korea. Founded in 1952 as Korea Explosives Co. (), the group has grown into a large multi-profile business conglomerate, with diversified holdings stretching from explosivesthei ...

's confectionery branch), they debuted in 1986 as the seventh franchise of the league. Japanese-born pitcher

Jang Myeong-bu Akio Matsubara, known as Hiroaki Fukushi and Jang Myeong-bu (Hangul: 장명부, December 27, 1950 – April 13, 2005), was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who played Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan and KBO League baseball in South ...

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 Song Jin-woo (; born February 16, 1966) is a South Korean retired left-handed pitcher. Song played in the KBO League for 21 seasons between and with the Hanwha Eagles. He currently holds several pitching records for the KBO, including his 21 ...

and

Jung Min-cheul Jung Min-cheul (; born March 28, 1972) is a South Korean former professional baseball pitcher and coach, who is currently the General Manager of the Hanwha Eagles. He played 16 seasons in the KBO League for the Binggrae/Hanwha Eagles, and two ...

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 means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, and 3,003

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

. 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, an ...

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 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 ...

, 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 (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. 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. 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 — 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.

Logos and uniforms

Season-by-season records

Personnel

Current lineup

Managers

Bae Seong-seo BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

(1986–1987) * Kim Yeong-duk (1988–1992) * Kang Byeong-cheol (1993–1998) *

Lee Hui-su Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

(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 Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

(2017) ''(caretaker)'' * Han Yong-duk (2018–2020) * Choi Won-ho (2020) ''(caretaker)'' * Carlos Subero (2020–2023) * Choi Won-ho (2023–2024) * Kim Kyung-moon (2024–present)

Retired numbers

The Eagles have four

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 the number formerly worn on their uniform out of circulation. Once a number is retir ...

s on their roster. Those are for the infielders

(35) and Kim Tae-kyun (52), and the pitchers

(23) and

(21).

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

Official website
{{Hanwha KBO League teams Baseball teams established in 1985 1985 establishments in South Korea Sports clubs and teams in Daejeon Hanwha