대학신문방송국

Hanwha Eagles

By Woo Jung-kyu Reporter, Senior of Industrial Engineering

Have you ever watched a Korean baseball game? One of the popular sports leagues in Korea is the Korean baseball league. There are 10 teams and each team has a different hometown. LG Twins, Doosan Bears and Kiwoom Heroes in Seoul, KT Wiz in Suwon, SSG Landers in Incheon, NC Dinos in Changwon, KIA Tigers in Gwangju, Lotte Giants in Busan, Samsung Lions in Daegu, Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon. The following includes the Hanwha Eagles team introduction, which is in the same hometown as HBNU.

1.  History

A Hanwha group launched a founding committee in order to participate in the Korean baseball league on January 15, 1985. The next day, the Hanwha group was allowed to be the 7th team from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). When confirming one of the Korean baseball teams, the Hanwha group started a public contest to name a new team. After a contest with a prize of 700 million approximately 2,500 out of 25,000 applicants. Binggrae Confectionery, a consumer goods manufacturer, was decided as the group to be running the baseball team. ‘Binggrae Eagles’ was decided to be the  7th team name on February 27, 1985. In fact, the Binggrae Eagles was founded as the Korean baseball team under the Hanwha group, but the Hanwha group was not famous at that time. Through this, the reason why the Hanwha group borrowed the name of Binggrae, a food company among the group’s affiliates, made it friendly to the public. The Binggrae Eagles baseball team, based in Daejeon as their hometown, was established and joined in the minor league on March 11, 1985. Furthermore, since 1993, the Hanwha group and Binggrae Confectionery were separated so that the baseball team’s name could be changed to Hanwha Eagles.

2. Emblem

The design of Hanwha Eagles has an intense eagle shape, which gives a powerful image. The team’s symbolic color was changed from orange (1986-1993) to red (1994-2006)  to orange from 2007. As Binggrae Eagles changed to Hanwha Eagles, there were detailed changes including colors from the origin emblem in 1993. Starting from 2007, the current Hanwha Eagles emblem includes orange, dark gray, light gray, white, and black.

3. Mascot  

The Hanwha Eagles mascot is an ‘Eagles Family.’ The Eagles Family has four members, which are called Winey, Viney, Soori, and Hoodi. Soori is the son between Winey and Viney, and Soori was born in 2016, Hoodi was born in 2022. 

4. Uniform

There are 4 uniforms, which are used depending on the time. When the baseball game in Daejeon on weekdays, a uniform with the Eagles symbol on a white background, and when the baseball game in Daejeon on the weekend, a uniform with the Eagles symbol on an orange background. When the baseball game is in another region on weekdays, a uniform with stripes on a gray background and the Eagle’s first letter ‘E’ is engraved on the left chest. When the baseball game is in another region on the weekend, a uniform on a black background and the Eagle’s first letter ‘E’ is engraved on the left chest.

5. Stadium   

Currently, Hanwha Eagles is divided into three stadiums: Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park is the home stadium of Hanwha Eagles, Cheongju Baseball Stadium is the second home stadium, and Seosan Baseball Stadium is the minor stadium. Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park is located in Busa-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon. It is the oldest and has the lowest seating capacity among the home stadiums of the Korea Baseball League. From March 19, 2015, Hanwha Life purchased the right to use the name of the baseball stadium and changed the name from the existing Hanbat Sports Complex baseball stadium to Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park. However, despite the new name, the stadium was so old that it was decided to build a new baseball stadium. Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park will be used only until 2024, and the home stadium will be relocated to Baseball Dream Park from 2025. Baseball Dream Park is located in Busa-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon, which is the same location as the stadium now used. Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park’s seating capacity is 15,000 people, while Baseball Dream Park’s seating capacity is 22,000 people and is built as the first asymmetric ground in Korea to create a dynamic game.

6. Standings

Hanwha Eagles won the Korean baseball league championships in 1999. Looking at the standings over the past 10 years, Hanwha Eagles got 9th in 2013, 9th in 2014,
6th in 2015, 7th in 2016, 8th in 2017, 9th in 2019, 10th in 2020, 10th in 2021, 10th in 2022, 9th in 2023.

7. Player

In the professional league, a retired number is not given another player number to honor the retired player. The retired number is the highest honor to a player as it symbolizes the player. The retired numbers from Hanwha Eagles are No. 35 Jang Jong-hoon, No. 23 Jeong Min-cheol, No. 21 Song Jin-woo, and No. 52 Kim Tae-gyun. A commemorative plaque of the retired number has been installed at the top of the stands on the third base side in Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles stadium. Recently Hanwha Eagles recruited veteran players to reach the top standings. There is a lot of expectation as Ahn Chi-hong, Kim Kang-min,       Lee Jae-won, and Ryu Hyun-jin are joining the Hanwha Eagles. 

8. Cheering

The fan of Hanwha Eagles consists of the entire Chungcheong-do, including
their home town Daejeon. Not only fans composed of greater Seoul, but also when the team goes to away games, a rare moment occurs where fans wearing Hanwha Eagles uniforms fill the away seating. Representative famous cheering songs for Hanwha Eagles include
‘I am happy’ and ‘I love Eagles.’ In addition, each Hanwha Eagles player on the major league roster has a personal cheering song, also the song is played when the players appear in the game so that the fans can cheer.

Hanwha Eagles makes a lot of effort to win Korea baseball league championships. The more we cheer together, the more we can break through the impossible things. If you want to have fun cheering while watching a baseball game, or if you live in Chungcheong-do, how about shouting and cheering for the Hanwha Eagles together?