Hanwha Eagles

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Hanwha Eagles
한화 이글스
Hanwha Eagles.svg Hanwha Eagles cap logo.svg
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
LeagueKBO League (1986–present)
LocationDaejeon, South Korea
Ballpark
Year established1985; 37 years ago (1985)
League championships1989, 1992
Korean Series championships1999
Former name(s)
  • Binggrae Eagles (1986–1993)
ColorsOrange, black and grey
     
Retired numbers21, 23, 35
OwnershipHanwha
ManagerCarlos Subero
Websitewww.hanwhaeagles.co.kr

The Hanwha Eagles (Korean: 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejon. They are a member of the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium. The Eagles have won the Korean Series once, in 1999, and the league pennant twice. As of 2020, 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" ( 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 (a.k.a. Akio Matsubara and Hiroaki Fukushi) went 1-18 with a 4.98 ERA for the 1986 team. (The team went 31-76 overall in 1986, and Jang retired after the season.)

The Eagles made it to the Korean Series three times in their first seven years of existence (in 1988, 1989, 1991, and 1992), losing each time.

The club changed its name to "Hanwha Eagles" after Binggrae's separation from Hanwha conglomerate in 1993. Hanwha, the owner of the club, is one of the largest business conglomerates, or chaebol, in South Korea.

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, 2048 strikeouts, and 3003 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), and is second all-time in the KBO League in wins and fourth in career strikeouts. Jung 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 11 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 June 7, 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), .[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, , and [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 June 14, 2020, the Eagles escaped a 19th-straight defeat after a long struggle: Hanwha won a suspended game against Doosan thanks to 's walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.[11]

On November 27, 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
KBO 7/7 7/7 54 12 42 0 .222 .236 46 3.67 Did not qualify  
6/7 54 19 34 1 .358
KBO 6/7 6/7 54 24 28 2 .463 .274 48 3.78 Did not qualify (ROTY)
6/7 54 23 29 2 .444
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
KBO 2/7 1/7 120 71 46 3 .604 .276 97 3.50 Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (1–4)  
KBO 4/7 3/7 120 68 50 2 .575 .270 112 3.41 Lost Semi-playoff vs. Samsung Lions (0–2)  
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)
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)
KBO 5/8 126 61 61 4 .500 .238 81 3.46 Did not qualify  
Hanwha Eagles
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)		  
KBO 6/8 126 55 71 0 .437 .249 96 4.04 Did not qualify  
KBO 4/8 126 70 55 1 .560 .245 90 3.79 Lost Semi-playoff vs. Hyundai Unicorns (0–2) Koo Dae-sung (MVP)
KBO 6/8 126 51 73 2 .413 .253 102 4.06 Did not qualify  
KBO 7/8 126 55 66 5 .455 .250 123 4.26 Did not qualify  
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)		  
KBO Magic League 7/8 3/4 133 50 78 5 .391 .276 180 5.24 Did not qualify  
KBO 4/8 133 61 68 4 .473 .275 148 4.85 Lost Semi-playoff vs. Doosan Bears (0–2) Kim Tae-kyun (ROTY)
KBO 7/8 133 59 69 5 .461 .256 170 4.79 Did not qualify  
KBO 5/8 133 63 65 5 .492 .254 121 4.38 Did not qualify  
KBO 7/8 133 53 74 6 .417 .268 140 5.24 Did not qualify  
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)		  
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 4.82 Did not qualify  
2020 KBO 10/10 144 46 95 3 .326 Did not qualify  
Overall record Games Wins Losses Draws Win% Hanwha Eagles.svg
Regular Season 4525 2083 2357 85 .470
Postseason 78 32 45 1 .417
Total 4603 2115 2402 86 .469

Personnel[]

Current lineup[]

Managers[]

Retired numbers[]

The Eagles have three retired numbers on their roster, more than any other team in the league. Those are for the slugger Jang Jong-hoon (35), and the pitchers Jung Min-cheul (23) and Song Jin-woo (21).

KBO Retired Hanwha 35.svg
Chang
Jong-hoon
SS, 1B, DH
Retired since September 16, 2005 		KBO Retired Hanwha 23.svg
Jung
Min-cheul
P
Retired since September 11, 2009 		KBO Retired Hanwha 21.svg
Song
Jin-woo
P
Retired since September 23, 2009

References[]

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 (November 14, 2018).
  2. ^ "Korean baseball’s old-timers rack up the records," JoongAng Daily. Accessed on 2009-1-4.
  3. ^ koreabaseball.com Song Jin-Woo player page Accessed on 2009-1-4.
  4. ^ KANG YOO-RIM. "Doosan’s Yoo Hee-kwan joins list of lefty legends," Korea JoongAng Daily (Sept. 22, 2019).
  5. ^ Viquez, Marc. "Getting to Know Korean Baseball Teams, Uniforms, and Logos," Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.net (June 19, 2020).
  6. ^ Kim, Seyoung-hoon. "Hanwha advances to Postseason, Solved 11 Years Old," OhMyStar (Sept. 29, 2018).
  7. ^ Yonhap. "KBO's Hanwha Eagles name interim manager during 14-game slide," The Korea Herald (Jun 8, 2020).
  8. ^ Last-place KBO club demotes 10 players to minors," Yonhap News Agency (June 09, 2020).
  9. ^ "KBO's Hanwha Eagles suffer 15th straight loss," Yonhap News Agency (June 09, 2020).
  10. ^ Yonhap. "Hanwha Eagles lose 18th straight to tie all-time KBO record," The Korea Herald (Jun 12, 2020).
  11. ^ Moo, Lee-seok. "Hanwha Eagles 18 consecutive losses after two days of competition," eDaily (June 14, 2020).
  12. ^ "Ex-MLB coach Carlos Subero named new manager for KBO's Eagles". Yonhap News Agency. November 22, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2020.

External links[]

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