Today on the show we’re taking a long flight with the Hanwha Eagles baseball team. I’ve been very interested in seeing them because they opened a new stadium this season. Dread Rok talked a bit about its flaws in the season preview episode. Before I do a post-game episode there, I’ll talk about the history of the team along with a few of their most famous players. I’m also hoping to try their stadium food because of course I’d try the stadium food this is me we’re talking about here.
Baseball bat sound,
Hanwha is one of the older teams in the league. Started in 86 under the name Binggrae which was Hanwha candy company at the time, it had to overcome a lot of issues just to get on the field. Namu Wiki, if you trust it’s translation, mentions that the OB Bears used to play in Daejeon before moving to Seoul in 1984, which led to bids from companies in Chungcheong region to the league for a new team. Back in those days, Daejeon was still part of Chungnam province and the voters of the region really wanted a baseball team, of course how much of that was *whisper*pushed by the military*end whisper* the people’s desire is a bit iffy because Hanwha didn’t push it too hard. Eventually Hanwha got the bid by promising to build the league headquarters in Seoul. Ah, gotta love the glad-handing deals of the 80s, especially if you were a cocaine cowboy in Miami. Anyway, they went with Binggrae because the parent company is a military explosives firm and thusly not well-known. For those of us not familiar with chaebols or Keiretsus, let’s use an American example. Imagine if Pringles was owned by Lockheed-Martin and LM bought the Rangers so they became the Pringles Rangers. Yeah that’s another thing to pay attention to, in that the main sponsor puts their name, not the city, which makes it hard for the foreign fan to know where a game is without checking the papers. Imagine if the Pringles Rangers were playing the Oracle Giants in Oracle Park, where would you guess they were playing? Anyway, Binggrae took the field in the Hanbat Sports Complex stadium on April 1st, 1986. Their first season was terrible and they ended in last place, 38 games out of 1st. But they made improvements by adding players from the legendary Daegu farm system and signing Son Jin-ho in 1989. They won the league a few times and went to the Korean series 4 times and lost, making them the Buffalo Bills of Korea sports. In 1994 the name changed to Hanwha Eagles. Oh before we talk about their modern history, one more thing about Binggrae. When the team held an opening ceremony, the players and mascots were driven down the road in army jeeps. Yall gotta see the picture of these stern military guys in uniform while players wearing garlands wave to the crowds. The juxtaposition is both a hilarious contrast while being a clear sign of the military dictatorship times.
baseball sound.
Anyway, the name change must’ve taken some luck from them because they went to crap almost immediately and missed the Korean Series until 1999 when they won their first championship against Lotte. They had some good players on that team, including the legendary pitcher Son Jin Woo. This was their last victory in the championship series. They later returned in 2006 but lost in 6 games to Samsung lions. So see, Buffalo, there’s still hope for you! And that’s it for the highlights! See you again!
Transition music
Famous players, famous players. Hmmm…. To date, the Eagles have retired 4 numbers. Son Jin Woo aka Korea’s Greg Maddox at number 21 which was fairly obvious. I mean he pitched 20 seasons for them and 5 Korean series. Next is number 23 Jeong Mincheol, another great pitcher whose famous pitch is the '108 Torment Curve' a slow curve that he’d pitch after a fastball. Today he’s a baseball commentator on MBC Sports plus. Next up is number 35 Jonghoon Jang, another great player from the Binggrae days. He was the first player to hit 40 home runs in a season. Nowadays he’s a college baseball coach and a hitting coach for the National team. And finally there’s infielder number 52 Kim Tae Gyun. He’s got several top 10 records for hitting. He also holds the record for the most nicknames at 1, 238. My personal favorite is Kim RBI but he’s known to hate Koja Kim. I might make a poll on Spotify for the best nicknames. Who will be the next one to get their number retired? Ryu Hyun Jin is up there on the list. He played there for 7 years before joining the MLB in 2013, then returning to Korea last year. He’s been alright this year but he was injured on June 5th so we’ll see if he can recover from it and stay the same. As far as foreign players go, Yasiel Puig played for them a few years ago. The team even had a foreign manager from Venezuela during most of COVID, but he was bad and has the lowest winning percentage of any manager in their history. And finally, old fans will remember Jay Davis from Chicago as he was on both Korean series teams.
transition
Now let’s talk about their new stadium! Does it measure it to the others? Or is it a big let-down? I went to the game last night to see what was up with it. My first impression is that it dwarfs the old stadium. Inside, it looks very segmented, as if there were clear lines between sections. One thing I heard before is that there’s an infinity pool on the 4th floor behind 3rd base and yes it is there but no I didn’t see anyone swimming in it. The NamuWiki site said it was open but I didn’t see any specific tickets. As hot as it’s been lately, I’d rather have been in the pool with my headset or some way to watch the game. My seats were alright though a big problem came up with seeing the ball in left field. The seats are rotated to face home plate and they are not raised much so I couldn’t see down the line after 3rd base. It seems DreadRoks’ complaint about the viewing angles remains accurate. There were some interesting food stands and a bar & restaurant called Innings 1985 run by Aramark, the famous college cafeteria company. I never thought they would branch out to foreign baseball stadiums, or be allowed to export on grounds of national embarrassment *joke sting*. I guess Hanwha really needed the money. They have the most western food, along with relatively equivalent prices like 17 thousand or $14 for 3 tacos and some fries. Yup, Hanwha has become a big league team, complete with big league prices. Next time I go to a Hanwha game, I’ll check out the Innings place just to say I did. One good thing I’ll say about my seat is that it was easy to see the cheerleaders *cheering sound* Oh yeah you know it! I’ll post a few pictures on the site. But overall, it was a little nice yet far from perfect. I’d say it’s nicer than Munhak in Incheon but it doesn’t have the charm of Sajik or the good consistent views of everywhere else. As far as the game goes, things got a bit rough when Moon got hit in the head by the Tigers first basemen during a close play. Wisdom got a hidden ball trick kind of scheme going and got an inattentive runner out at 3rd to end the 5th. Nail pitched well but the bullpen blew his lead on walks in the 9th and a base hit to end the game 3 to 2. Glad I left way earlier, otherwise the Kia fans might’ve yelled at me for swearing too much over the blown game.
Worst person in the sports world
The Nap award goes to…Liam Gallagher of the band Oasis. On the 1st, Liam Gallagher posted a message on his social media that had the term "Chingchong." in it. When people saw the phrase they complained and he said he didn’t care. Eventually he deleted the post and made a public apology. When players make racist remarks the league punishes them. Naturally you can’t expect the same standards from the music industry. And guess which country his band’s going to later this year!
The Radon award goes to…. FC Seoul for trading away legend Ki Seung Yueng to Pohang. There was no celebration or discussion with the fan groups, a pattern that FC Seoul frequently shows to its best players towards the end of a season. According to reports in the Joongang Daily, Ki was going to retire at the end of this season anyway. And right after the trade, guess who FC Seoul played? POHANG! The Seoul Ultra fans moved from the home goal to the seats behind the bench and let the bench have it, then blocked the team bus after the game for an hour and got the manager to promise a team meeting. At the meeting last week, the team leaders apologized to the fans and promised to improve communication and how they handle the end of their best players' tenure. Which means they’ll screw this up again next year. Hell they almost goofed with trading Willyan this week.
A second Radon award goes to…NC Dinos for their extension of the deadline for the city of Changwon’s response to their demands. According to reports in the Joongang Daily, the Dinos are also negotiating with other cities. You know they’re playing their negotiations against Changwon. Maybe they’ll ask for free massages next? I’m at the point where I was on the Dinos side but now I’m feeling they just need to end the suspense. Quit wasting our time here!
Finally the Plutonium award goes to…the former ballplayer sentenced to prison for phishing fraud! According to reports in the Joongang Daily, a former ballplayer in his 20s was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison for participating in a 190 million won phishing scam. Apparently he was running the cash exchange portion of the scam and sucked in other people. There was some consideration from the court with the concept he was forced into the scam, somehow. What, did he leave his phone number in a bathroom and said “call me if you’ve got a scam to run?” *joke sting. Random baseball player, you are today’s! WORST PERSON! IN THE SPORTS WORLD!!!!
Game of the week!
We’ve got East Asian Football Federation championship matches this week in the Suwon and Yongin areas, until Wednesday. I’m going to cover the matches I watched on Thursday or Friday’s episode so if you can’t make it, you’ll get a deeper dive from me. There’s only 1 K League game this weekend and it’s a squash match between Ulsan and Daegu. The K2 games are a bit weak as well, but the Bucheon vs Gimpo game has potential, especially with Bucheon’s rise in the standings. In baseball, Friday and Saturday are the 2 all-star games, so the season returns on the 17th. They brought back the chamwei yellow jerseys and they make my eyes hurt so I’m not going to watch the game. What a twist, I’m telling fans NOT to watch a game for once *joke sting*.
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean sports, like I certainly did. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because our show has hints and tips to make their lives easier. Those hapless souls…(2 second pause). If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to James! A shoutout to our listeners in Johannesburg South Africa! We seem to be popular in South Africa these days! Maybe I should consider a road episode there? Next episode will be next week in which we’ll talk about EAFF championships going on right now! Until next time, Korean sports fans!
(AI voice or other) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast drink at Noblesse Obliged, the most stylish hotel bar in Yongsan! Delight as the pretentious waiter tells you what you will be drinking, regardless of whether you want it or not! Be amazed as the bartender tries to spin the bottle and drops it every time! Laugh as the naughty ajeosshi customers hit on your mom and fail because their English is too bad!
Notes
https://mykbostats.com/teams/4-Hanwha-Eagles
Liam Gallagher apologizes for offensive 'Ching Chong' remark before Korea visit - CHOSUNBIZ
As fans rage over Ki Sung-yueng's unceremonious transfer, FC Seoul organizes meeting
NC Dinos extend deadline for home city to meet demands amid relocation threat
