LG Twins
LG Twins | |||||
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LG 트윈스 | |||||
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Information | |||||
League | KBO League (1982–present) | ||||
Location | Seoul | ||||
Ballpark | Jamsil Baseball Stadium (1982–present) | ||||
Year established | 1982 | ||||
League championships | 1983,[a] 1990, 1994 | ||||
Korean Series championships | 1990, 1994 | ||||
Former name(s) | MBC Chungryong (1982–1989) | ||||
Colors | Black, maroon and grey | ||||
Retired numbers | 9, 41 | ||||
Ownership | LG Corporation | ||||
Manager | |||||
Website | www | ||||
Uniforms | |||||
LG Twins (Korean: LG 트윈스) is a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea. They are a member of the KBO League. The Twins play their home games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which they share with their rival, the Doosan Bears;[1] the stadium is known as "Two families under one roof."
The LG Twins are one of the most popular baseball teams in Korea.[citation needed] They gained many fans in the 1980s–2000s, most of whom live in Seoul.[citation needed]
History[]
The club was first established in 1982 as MBC Chungyong (translation MBC "Blue Dragons"), owned by the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. For the very first half-season in 1982 the team played at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium; in the fall season of 1982 the team moved to their current home, Jamsil Baseball Stadium. (In 1985, the OB Bears [now the Doosan Bears] began using the same stadium as their home park.)
The Chungyong were initially led by player-manager Baek In-chun, a Korean who had spent 19 seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Incredibly, at age 38, Baek led the league in hitting in 1982, with a record-setting .412 batting average[2] (albeit in only 298 plate appearances). As manager, Baek brought the Japanese "small ball" technique to his team, focusing on sacrifice bunts, stolen bases, and sacrifice flies.[2] Although the team finished above .500 in 1982, Baek was let go by the team after the season.
In 1989, the franchise was acquired by LG Corporation, which renamed the team the LG Twins. The Twins won the Korean Series in 1990—the first year with their new name—under the returned Baek In-chun (now a full-time manager). They again won the KBO championship in 1994. The Korean Series MVP was Kim Yong-soo in both Series. Kim's number, 41, was for many years the only retired number of the team, before Lee Byung-kyu's number 9 was retired on July 9, 2017, in a ceremony that took place both before and after the game against the Hanwha Eagles.
The team was originally established as the MBC Chungyong (translation MBC "Blue Dragons"), owned by the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. On January 18, 1990, LG bought the MBC Chungyong and was officially re-established as the LG Twins on March 15, 1990. That year, LG Twins won their first Korean Series with head coach, Baek In-chun. And they won their second championship in 1994. However, after their last Korean Series appearance in 2002 the team has gone through the dark ages, not making the postseason for 11 years until 2013. In 2013, LG Twins earned the second seed in the regular season and qualified for the playoff series in 16 years. Since the 2013 season, LG has made five postseason appearances (2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020) but has failed to return to the Korean Series. They hold the second-longest streak for a championship drought, 26 years which is still continuing.
MBC Chungyong[]
LG Twins was originally established as the MBC Chyungyong on January 26th, 1982. MBC Chungyong recorded the first win of the KBO league and reached the Korean Series in 1983 finishing second place in the playoffs. In 1989 based on the agreement between labor and management MBC decided to sell the Chungyong baseball team. LG Group bought the ownership of the MBC Chyungyong on January 18, 1990. The team officially changed its name to LG Twins on March 15th, 1990.
LG Twins[]
Lg Twins first head coach was Baek In-chun who was the first and last head coach of the MBC Chungyong. On their first-year rookie catcher Dong-soo Kim and veteran Chan Yup Noh, Sang-Hoon Kim led the team among the hitters. And Yong-soo Kim Sang-him Jung played a remarkable role as pitchers. Based on the effective performance of the team LG Twins finished first place in the regular season and advanced to the Korean Series. In the 1990 Korean Series, LG Twins faced the Samsung Lions. They recorded a sweep win and became champions in the first year of foundation.
Culture[]
Fan events[]
The LG Twins have a unique cheering culture, and their cheering tools change a lot every few years. In addition, the LG Twins were the world's first team to use cheering stick balloons in the 1994 Korean Series. In the past 90s, yellow pickled radish stick balloons and towels such as Kia-tigers were popular, but most of them disappeared after slump. LG Twins was the first team to cheer for the cheering claps of Korea. Unlike most clubs putting the strongest in front, LG's cheering chant is invincible LG, and LG is the only team that attaches other words than LG. Since then, red bar balloons and yellow paper (limited to home games) were mainly cheered until 2013, but now, unlike other teams, which mainly support bar balloons starting with 2014 and Choi Dong-hoon's support, bare hands, yellow towels, sing-alongs, and glossy baseball jacket cheers are popular.
Season-by-season records[]
Season | Stadium | League | Finish | Regular season | Postseason | Awards | ||||||||
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Rank | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win% | BA | HR | ERA | ||||||
MBC Chungyong | ||||||||||||||
Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium | KBO | 3/6 | 3/6 | 40 | 22 | 18 | 0 | .550 | .282 | 65 | 3.51 | Did not qualify | ||
Jamsil Baseball Stadium | 3/6 | 40 | 24 | 16 | 0 | .600 | ||||||||
KBO | 2/6 | 3/6 | 50 | 25 | 24 | 1 | .510 | .256 | 45 | 2.72 | Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (0–1–4) | |||
1/6 | 50 | 30 | 19 | 1 | .612 | |||||||||
KBO | 4/6 | 3/6 | 50 | 27 | 22 | 1 | .551 | .253 | 47 | 3.19 | Did not qualify | |||
3/6 | 50 | 24 | 26 | 0 | .480 | |||||||||
KBO | 5/6 | 5/6 | 55 | 24 | 31 | 0 | .436 | .246 | 37 | 3.24 | Did not qualify | |||
6/6 | 55 | 20 | 34 | 1 | .370 | |||||||||
KBO | 3/7 | 4/7 | 54 | 28 | 22 | 4 | .560 | .265 | 37 | 2.78 | Did not qualify | (ROTY) | ||
3/7 | 54 | 31 | 19 | 4 | .620 | |||||||||
KBO | 5/7 | 5/7 | 54 | 24 | 27 | 3 | .472 | .258 | 36 | 3.36 | Did not qualify | |||
4/7 | 54 | 26 | 24 | 4 | .519 | |||||||||
KBO | 6/7 | 7/7 | 54 | 17 | 35 | 2 | .333 | .260 | 42 | 3.95 | Did not qualify | Lee Yong-chul (ROTY) | ||
6/7 | 54 | 23 | 29 | 2 | .444 | |||||||||
KBO | 6/7 | 6/7 | 120 | 49 | 67 | 4 | .425 | .252 | 42 | 4.28 | Did not qualify | |||
LG Twins | ||||||||||||||
Jamsil Baseball Stadium | KBO | 1/7 | 1/7 | 120 | 71 | 49 | 0 | .592 | .271 | 61 | 3.38 | Won Korean Series vs. Samsung Lions (4–0) | Kim Dong-soo (ROTY) | |
KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 126 | 53 | 72 | 1 | .425 | .244 | 53 | 4.38 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 7/8 | 7/8 | 126 | 53 | 70 | 3 | .433 | .257 | 108 | 4.29 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 4/8 | 4/8 | 126 | 66 | 57 | 3 | .536 | .256 | 74 | 3.07 | Won Semi-playoff vs. OB Bears (2–1) Lost Playoff vs. Samsung Lions (2–3) |
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KBO | 1/8 | 1/8 | 126 | 81 | 45 | 0 | .643 | .282 | 88 | 3.14 | Won Korean Series vs. Pacific Dolphins (4–0) | (ROTY) | ||
KBO | 3/8 | 2/8 | 126 | 74 | 48 | 4 | .603 | .257 | 79 | 3.21 | Lost Playoff vs. Lotte Giants (2–4) | |||
KBO | 7/8 | 7/8 | 126 | 50 | 71 | 5 | .417 | .246 | 98 | 4.11 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 2/8 | 2/8 | 126 | 73 | 51 | 2 | .587 | .267 | 83 | 3.78 | Won Playoff vs. Samsung Lions (3–2) Lost Korean Series vs. Haitai Tigers (1–4) |
Lee Byung-kyu (ROTY) | ||
KBO | 2/8 | 3/8 | 126 | 63 | 62 | 1 | .504 | .267 | 100 | 4.18 | Won Semi-playoff vs. OB Bears (2–0) Won Playoff vs. Samsung Lions (3–1) Lost Korean Series vs. Hyundai Unicorns (2–4) |
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Magic League | 3/8 | 3/4 | 132 | 61 | 70 | 1 | .466 | .281 | 145 | 5.49 | Did not qualify | |||
Magic League | 4/8 | 1/4 | 133 | 67 | 63 | 3 | .515 | .273 | 122 | 4.45 | Lost Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (2–4) | |||
KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 133 | 58 | 67 | 8 | .464 | .276 | 85 | 5.13 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 2/8 | 4/8 | 133 | 66 | 61 | 6 | .520 | .261 | 100 | 3.94 | Won Semi-playoff vs. Hyundai Unicorns (2–0) Won Playoff vs. Kia Tigers (3–2) Lost Korean Series vs. Samsung Lions (2–4) |
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KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 133 | 60 | 71 | 2 | .458 | .249 | 106 | 4.01 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 133 | 59 | 70 | 4 | .457 | .259 | 102 | 4.38 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 126 | 54 | 71 | 1 | .432 | .260 | 105 | 4.90 | Did not qualify | |||
KBO | 8/8 | 8/8 | 126 | 47 | 75 | 4 | .385 | .246 | 81 | 4.22 | Did not qualify | |||
2007 | KBO | 5/8 | 5/8 | 126 | 58 | 62 | 6 | .483 | .268 | 78 | 4.34 | Did not qualify | ||
2008 | KBO | 8/8 | 8/8 | 126 | 46 | 80 | 0 | .365 | .256 | 66 | 4.88 | Did not qualify | ||
2009 | KBO | 8/8 | 8/8 | 133 | 54 | 75 | 4 | .406 | .278 | 129 | 5.42 | Did not qualify | ||
2010 | KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 133 | 57 | 71 | 5 | .445 | .276 | 121 | 5.23 | Did not qualify | ||
2011 | KBO | 6/8 | 6/8 | 133 | 59 | 72 | 2 | .450 | .266 | 94 | 4.15 | Did not qualify | ||
2012 | KBO | 7/8 | 7/8 | 133 | 57 | 72 | 4 | .442 | .261 | 59 | 4.02 | Did not qualify | ||
2013 | KBO | 3/9 | 2/9 | 128 | 74 | 54 | 0 | .578 | .282 | 59 | 3.72 | Lost Playoff vs. Doosan Bears (1–3) | ||
2014 | KBO | 4/9 | 4/9 | 128 | 62 | 64 | 2 | .492 | .279 | 90 | 4.58 | Won Semi-playoff vs. NC Dinos (3–1) Lost Playoff vs. Nexen Heroes (1–3) |
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2015 | KBO | 9/10 | 9/10 | 144 | 64 | 78 | 2 | .451 | .271 | 114 | 4.62 | Did not qualify | ||
2016 | KBO | 4/10 | 4/10 | 144 | 71 | 71 | 2 | .500 | .290 | 118 | 5.10 | Won Wild Card vs. Kia Tigers (1–1)* Won Semi-playoff vs. Nexen Heroes (3–1) Lost Playoff vs. NC Dinos (1–3) |
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2017 | KBO | 6/10 | 6/10 | 144 | 69 | 72 | 3 | .489 | .281 | 110 | 4.32 | Did not qualify | ||
2018 | KBO | 8/10 | 8/10 | 144 | 68 | 75 | 1 | .476 | .293 | 148 | 5.29 | Did not qualify | ||
2019 | KBO | 4/10 | 4/10 | 144 | 79 | 64 | 1 | .476 | .267 | 94 | 3.89 | Won Wild Card vs. NC Dinos (1–0) Lost Semi-playoff vs. Kiwoom Heroes (1–3) |
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2020 | KBO | 4/10 | 144 | 79 | 61 | 4 | .564 | Won Wild Card vs. Kiwoom Heroes (1–0) Lost Semi-playoff vs. Doosan Bears (0–2) |
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Overall record | Games | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win% | |||||||||
Regular Season | 4913 | 2347 | 2455 | 111 | .489 | |||||||||
Postseason | 97 | 46 | 50 | 1 | .479 | |||||||||
Total | 5010 | 2393 | 2505 | 112 | .489 |
Personnel[]
Current lineup[]
LG Twins roster
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Players | Coaches/Other | |||||
Pitchers Starting rotation
Bullpen
Closer
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
updated on 6 January 2018 |
Managers[]
- Baek In-chun (1982)
- (1983)
- (1984–85)
- (2) (1986–87)
- (1988)
- (1989)
- Baek In-chun (2) (1989–91)
- (1992–94)
- (1995–99)
- (2000–01)
- Kim Sung-keun (2002)
- (2) (2003)
- (2004–06)
- Kim Jae-bak (2007–09)
- (2010–11)
- Kim Ki-tae (2012–2014)
- Yang Sang-moon (2014–2017)
- Ryu Joong-il (2018–2020)
- (2021–present)
In popular culture[]
The team features prominently in the tvN drama Reply 1994, where the team's 1994 coach is a main character. The team is referenced under a different name, "Seoul Twins" (Korean: 서울 쌍둥이), due to trademark issues with the LG Corporation.[3]
The LG Twins have a very unique cheering culture, and their cheering tools change a lot every few years. In addition, the LG Twins were the world's first team to use cheering stick balloons in the 1994 Korean Series. In the past 90s, yellow pickled radish stick balloons and towels such as Kia-tigers were popular, but most of them disappeared after slump. LG Twins was the first team to cheer for the cheering claps of Korea. Unlike most clubs putting the strongest in front, LG's cheering chant is invincible LG, and LG is the only team that attaches other words than LG. Since then, red bar balloons and yellow paper (limited to home games) were mainly cheered until 2013, but now, unlike other teams, which mainly support bar balloons starting with 2014 and Choi Dong-hoon's support, bare hands, yellow towels, sing-alongs, and glossy baseball jacket cheers are popular.
References[]
- Notes
- ^ Latter half pennant winner.
- General
- "Complete league history and statistics" (in Korean). Korean Baseball League. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- Specific
- ^ "Sports in Korea Korean Pro Baseball". english.visitkorea.or.kr. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Hyun-kyung, Kang. "Baseball: Korean baseball shifting to Major League style," The Korea Times (March 9, 2017).
- ^ "응답하라 1994, LG트윈스를 왜 서울쌍둥이라 했을까?". Naver. November 19, 2013.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to LG Twins. |
- Official website (in Korean)
- LG Twins on Facebook (in Korean)
- LG Twins's channel on YouTube (in Korean)
- LG Twins on Instagram (in Korean)
- LG Twins
- KBO League teams
- Baseball teams established in 1982
- Sport in Seoul
- LG Sports
- 1982 establishments in South Korea