The Hyundai Unicorns ( Korean : 현대 유니콘스 ) were a South Korean professional baseball team based in Suwon . They were a member of the KBO League . The Unicorns won the KBO championship four times (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004).
77-453: The KBO League ( Korean : KBO 리그 ) is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea , contested by 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 successful team, having won 12 of the 43 championships. In comparison with American Major League Baseball , ESPN reports that
154-625: A foreign language ) is also generated by longstanding alliances, military involvement, and diplomacy, such as between South Korea–United States and China–North Korea since the end of World War II and the Korean War . Along with other languages such as Chinese and Arabic , Korean is ranked at the top difficulty level for English speakers by the United States Department of Defense . Modern Korean descends from Middle Korean , which in turn descends from Old Korean , which descends from
231-417: A KBO League record), with a 2.34 ERA. He won a still-league record 30 games, lost 16, and saved an additional six games. He threw 192-2/3 more innings and allowed 155 more hits than the runner-up in those categories. Jang's 30 wins and 6 saves made up more than 69% of the team's 52 wins that year; for his efforts, he was given the 1983 KBO League Golden Glove Award in pitching. The 1985 Superstars team lost
308-484: A Korean influence on Khitan. The hypothesis that Korean could be related to Japanese has had some supporters due to some overlap in vocabulary and similar grammatical features that have been elaborated upon by such researchers as Samuel E. Martin and Roy Andrew Miller . Sergei Starostin (1991) found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese–Korean 100-word Swadesh list . Some linguists concerned with
385-477: A core vowel. The IPA symbol ⟨ ◌͈ ⟩ ( U+0348 ◌͈ COMBINING DOUBLE VERTICAL LINE BELOW ) is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /t͡ɕ͈/, /s͈/ . Its official use in the extensions to the IPA is for "strong" articulation, but is used in the literature for faucalized voice . The Korean consonants also have elements of stiff voice , but it is not yet known how typical this
462-502: A home run. In the KBO, the bat flipping tradition dates to the 1990s. Since the 2015 season, each team plays 144 games in the regular season, an increase from 128 games, along with the introduction of the KT Wiz to the league. Each team plays every other team 16 times. In general, Korean teams play six games a week, with every Monday off. In mid-July of every season, the best players participate in
539-541: A later founder effect diminished the internal variety of both language families. Since the establishment of two independent governments, North–South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation and vocabulary chosen. However, these minor differences can be found in any of the Korean dialects , which are still largely mutually intelligible . The Chinese language , written with Chinese characters and read with Sino-Xenic pronunciations ,
616-570: A league-record 18 games in a row between 31 March and 29 April. The team was sold to Chungbo on 29 June of that year, and between the two 1985 half-seasons, was renamed the Chungbo Pintos. In 1988, the team was sold again to Pacific Chemicals (now Amore Pacific Group ), and renamed as Pacific Dolphins. In 1989 the franchise made the playoffs for the first time, eventually losing to the Haitai Tigers . The 1993 squad at one point lost 15 games in
693-478: A number of associations: Sources: Korean language Korean ( South Korean : 한국어 , Hanguk-eo ; North Korean : 조선어 , Chosŏnŏ ) is the native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the national language of both North Korea and South Korea . Beyond Korea, the language is recognized as a minority language in parts of China , namely Jilin , and specifically Yanbian Prefecture , and Changbai County . It
770-562: A possible relationship.) Hudson & Robbeets (2020) suggested that there are traces of a pre- Nivkh substratum in Korean. According to the hypothesis, ancestral varieties of Nivkh (also known as Amuric ) were once distributed on the Korean Peninsula before the arrival of Koreanic speakers. Korean syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), consisting of an optional onset consonant, glide /j, w, ɰ/ and final coda /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l/ surrounding
847-581: A row, finishing the season 34–82–10, with a winning percentage of .310. In 1994, the team finished second in the KBO, making it all the way to the franchise's first Korean Series , where they were defeated by the LG Twins four games to none. After the 1995 KBO season, due to financial difficulties, the team was sold again, this time to the Hynix Semiconductor branch of the Hyundai Group , and renamed
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#1732854920560924-624: A significant decrease in runs per game and home runs per game. The 2020 season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic , but finally started play in May 2020, with no fans in attendance. In response to the lack of live sports programming due to the pandemic, ESPN and the KBO League entered into an agreement to broadcast six games weekly for the 2020 season. The Opening Day game between the NC Dinos and Samsung Lions
1001-540: A step-ladder playoff system, where each winner then faces the next-highest team, culminating in the Korean Series against the top-ranked team. Any playoff games ending in an official tie are replayed, thereby raising the possibility of a close series containing more than the scheduled five or seven games. The KBO League rules are essentially those of the Major League Baseball (MLB). The designated hitter rule
1078-621: Is also spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin , the Russian island just north of Japan, and by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia . The language has a few extinct relatives which—along with the Jeju language (Jejuan) of Jeju Island and Korean itself—form the compact Koreanic language family . Even so, Jejuan and Korean are not mutually intelligible . The linguistic homeland of Korean
1155-656: Is an agglutinative language . The Korean language is traditionally considered to have nine parts of speech . Modifiers generally precede the modified words, and in the case of verb modifiers, can be serially appended. The sentence structure or basic form of a Korean sentence is subject–object–verb (SOV), but the verb is the only required and immovable element and word order is highly flexible, as in many other agglutinative languages. Question 가게에 gage-e store- LOC 가셨어요? ga-syeo-sseo-yo go- HON . PAST - CONJ - POL 가게에 가셨어요? gage-e ga-syeo-sseo-yo store-LOC go-HON.PAST-CONJ-POL 'Did [you] go to
1232-511: Is closer to a near-open central vowel ( [ɐ] ), though ⟨a⟩ is still used for tradition. Grammatical morphemes may change shape depending on the preceding sounds. Examples include -eun/-neun ( -은/-는 ) and -i/-ga ( -이/-가 ). Sometimes sounds may be inserted instead. Examples include -eul/-reul ( -을/-를 ), -euro/-ro ( -으로/-로 ), -eseo/-seo ( -에서/-서 ), -ideunji/-deunji ( -이든지/-든지 ) and -iya/-ya ( -이야/-야 ). Some verbs may also change shape morphophonemically. Korean
1309-399: Is mainly reserved for specific circumstances such as newspapers, scholarly papers and disambiguation. Today Hanja is largely unused in everyday life but is still important for historical and linguistic studies. The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in both South Korea and North Korea. The English word "Korean" is derived from Goryeo , which is thought to be
1386-399: Is of faucalized consonants. They are produced with a partially constricted glottis and additional subglottal pressure in addition to tense vocal tract walls, laryngeal lowering, or other expansion of the larynx. /s/ is aspirated [sʰ] and becomes an alveolo-palatal [ɕʰ] before [j] or [i] for most speakers (but see North–South differences in the Korean language ). This occurs with
1463-420: Is set at three (no more than two of them being pitchers), increased from two players from 2014. Foreign players can only sign single-season contracts, and they are restricted by a salary cap. Since 2019, the total compensation for a foreign player has been capped at $ 1 million. The foreign hitters on each team are expected to provide power in the middle of the order, while the foreign pitchers are expected to anchor
1540-478: Is suggested to be somewhere in contemporary Manchuria . The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates deeply influences the language, leading to a system of speech levels and honorifics indicative of the formality of any given situation. Modern Korean is written in the Korean script ( 한글 ; Hangeul in South Korea, 조선글 ; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), a system developed during
1617-475: Is universal in KBO. Traditionally, South Korean professional baseball games have a maximum number of extra innings before a game is declared an official tie. The KBO abolished this limit for the 2008 season, but it was reinstated in 2009, with a 12-inning limit imposed during the regular season, and a 15-inning limit for playoff games. The first game was played on March 27, 1982, between the Samsung Lions and
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#17328549205601694-716: Is well attested in Western Old Japanese and Northern Ryukyuan languages , in Eastern Old Japanese it only occurs in compounds, and it is only present in three dialects of the Southern Ryukyuan language group . Also, the doublet wo meaning "hemp" is attested in Western Old Japanese and Southern Ryukyuan languages. It is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term. (See Classification of the Japonic languages or Comparison of Japanese and Korean for further details on
1771-523: The yangban aristocracy, who looked down upon it too easy to learn. However, it gained widespread use among the common class and was widely used to print popular novels which were enjoyed by the common class. Since few people could understand official documents written in classical Chinese, Korean kings sometimes released public notices entirely written in Hangul as early as the 16th century for all Korean classes, including uneducated peasants and slaves. By
1848-627: The Binggrae Eagles , joined the league, replacing the vacancy in Daejeon made by OB's move, and expanding the league to seven teams. From 1986 to 1988, the regular season shrank to a total of 108 games. 1988 saw the Cheongbo Pintos change ownership again, becoming the Pacific Dolphins . In 1989 the KBO eliminated the two half-season pennants, moving to a single season of 120 games. In the 1990s
1925-478: The Hanwha Eagles at Cheongju Baseball Stadium . In the 2016 season , a new national record was set with more than 8 million spectators. There was a big increase of 1 million compared to the previous season. The record was broken again in the 2017 season with over 8.4 million fans at the regular season games. The Bears, Twins, Giants and Tigers all attracted over 1 million fans, and the average game attendance
2002-616: The KBO League Most Valuable Player Award . The Unicorns finished in first place in 2003 and 2004, and won the Korean Series both times, defeating the SK Wyverns and Samsung Lions , respectively. Those teams were led offensively by Shim Jeong-soo and American import Cliff Brumbaugh . In 2003 Shim had a great season, hitting .335 with 53 home runs (second all-time) and 142 RBI, with a then-record OPS of 1.197 (still second all-time). In 2004 Brumbaugh came close to winning
2079-709: The MBC Chungyong at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium , Seoul . Then-president Chun Doo-hwan threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The 1982 charter teams of its first season were: The first Korean Series featured the Bears versus the Lions, with OB winning the championship 4-games-to-1, with a tie. The Haitai Tigers dominated the 1980s, winning the Korean Series five times — in 1983, 1986, and 1987 through 1989. They were led by pitcher Sun Dong-yol and infielders Kim Seong-han and Han Dae-hwa . Other KBO stars whose careers took off in
2156-570: The Proto-Koreanic language , which is generally suggested to have its linguistic homeland somewhere in Manchuria . Whitman (2012) suggests that the proto-Koreans, already present in northern Korea, expanded into the southern part of the Korean Peninsula at around 300 BC and coexisted with the descendants of the Japonic Mumun cultivators (or assimilated them). Both had influence on each other and
2233-728: The San Francisco Giants ' organization in 1968 after having found success in the NPB. Similarly, pitcher Park Chul-soon signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 1980. Neither Ernesto Carlos nor Park Chul-soon, however, made it to the Major Leagues.) Other Korean born players who have had lengthy MLB careers include outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and pitcher Byung-hyun Kim . In 2013, Hanwha Eagles ace Hyun-jin Ryu became
2310-557: The Three Kingdoms of Korea (not the ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula), while " -eo " and " -mal " mean "language" and "speech", respectively. Korean is also simply referred to as guk-eo , literally "national language". This name is based on the same Han characters ( 國語 "nation" + "language") that are also used in Taiwan and Japan to refer to their respective national languages. In North Korea and China ,
2387-473: The 15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary script until the 20th century. The script uses 24 basic letters ( jamo ) and 27 complex letters formed from the basic ones. When first recorded in historical texts, Korean was only a spoken language . Since the turn of the 21st century, aspects of Korean culture have spread to other countries through globalization and cultural exports . As such, interest in Korean language acquisition (as
KBO League - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-814: The 17th century, the yangban had exchanged Hangul letters with slaves, which suggests a high literacy rate of Hangul during the Joseon era. In the context of growing Korean nationalism in the 19th century, the Gabo Reform of 1894 abolished the Confucian examinations and decreed that government documents would be issued in Hangul instead of literary Chinese. Some newspapers were published entirely in Hangul, but other publications used Korean mixed script , with Hanja for Sino-Korean vocabulary and Hangul for other elements. North Korea abolished Hanja in writing in 1949, but continues to teach them in schools. Their usage in South Korea
2541-556: The 1980s were sluggers Chang Jong-hoon and Lee Man-soo . From 1982 to 1988, the regular season was divided into two (a spring season and a fall season), with a first-half pennant winner and a latter-half pennant winner. The two pennant winners then played each other for the Korean Series championship. The 1982 campaign featured an 80-game (in total) season, which expanded to 100 games from 1983 to 1984. Rosters for each team were small (sometimes as few as 14 players), and many players in
2618-700: The 2010s, with the addition of the NC Dinos , located in Changwon , which joined the league in 2013. It is the first team located in Changwon, the city having previously been the second home of the nearby Lotte Giants. The KBO played 128-game seasons in 2013–2014. In 2015, the KT Wiz became the league's tenth franchise. They play their home games in Suwon, which had not had a team since the Hyundai Unicorns' disbandment. Since 2015
2695-536: The Eagles — in their 14th season — won their franchise's first (and only) Korean Series championship, after 14 years in the KBO. Bigger changes were made in 2000 when the Hyundai Unicorns moved from Incheon to Suwon , and a new franchise, the SK Wyverns , took their place in Incheon. The Ssangbangwool Raiders became defunct. The league's two-division structure slightly shifted as well, with SK taking Ssangbangwool's place in
2772-630: The Hyundai Unicorns. Hyundai had previously sponsored the Hyundai Phoenix of the Korea Baseball Association amateur league, and due to the business relationship between the Phoenix and the newly named Unicorns, five players on the Phoenix roster moved to the Unicorns. In 1996, the team hired Kim Jae-bak as manager, who would eventually guide them to four championships. The Unicorns made it to
2849-542: The KBO All-Star Game. The franchises participating are divided into two sets of teams: "Dream All-Stars" (Doosan, KT, Lotte, Samsung, and SSG) and "Nanum All-Stars" (Kia, Hanwha, LG, NC and Kiwoom). The KBO League's season culminates in its championship series, known as the KBO Korean Series . Currently, the top five teams qualify for the post-season based on win–loss records. The lowest-qualifying teams face off in
2926-524: The KBO League Triple Crown with a .343 batting average (tops in the league), 33 home runs (second), and 105 RBI (third). Despite the team's strong record during these years, from 2001 to 2007 the Unicorns faced financial challenges due to the majority owner, Hynix Semiconductor , being in court protection, as well as the team's low attendances. Through these years the Unicorns had to rely on financial assistance from other Hyundai affiliates. At
3003-469: The KBO has played a 144-game season each year, and has added a fifth team to the playoffs, with the introduction of the Wild Card game. In 2015 the league also increased the active roster size of each team, from 26 to 27 (of those, 25 may play in any one game). After a number of seasons of inflated offensive production, the KBO introduced a new " dejuiced " baseball before the 2019 season. The results showed in
3080-464: The KBO level of play "appears to be somewhere between Double-A and Triple-A , on average, though the best players are more likely to be MLB-quality than your typical Double-A league." Historically, the KBO is known for its vocal and exuberant fan base , as well as the widespread practice of bat flips ( ppa-dun ( Korean : 빠던 ), a portmanteau of the "first syllables of the words for 'bat' and 'throw'") by hitters after stroking what they think will be
3157-582: The KBO returned to a single-division format. The Haitai Tigers became the Kia Tigers . From 2000 to 2012, the length of the regular season fluctuated between 126 and 133 games. Despite its string of championships in the early 2000s, the Hyundai Unicorns franchise was disbanded in 2008. It was re-founded as the Woori Heroes and moved to Mok-dong in Seoul. In 2010, the team's naming rights were sold to Nexen Tire and
KBO League - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-751: The Korean Series championship in 1992; the team has not won it since. There was little other change during this period except for a few major sponsors: in 1993 the Binggrae Eagles became the Hanwha Eagles , in 1996 the Pacific Dolphins became the Hyundai Unicorns , and in 1999 the OB Bears became the Doosan Bears . The 1998 Korean Series was won by the Hyundai Unicorns for the franchise's first championship in 16 years of existence. (The team would go on to win
3311-600: The Korean Series in their first year under Kim, but lost again, this time to the Tigers. 1998 was a banner year for the Unicorns, as they finished first in the KBO and finally won the Korean Series, against the LG Twins, four games to two. The Unicorns' Chung Min-tae was one of the top pitchers in the KBO in the period from 1998 to 2003, as he won the KBO League Golden Glove Award three times during that span. Chung led
3388-427: The Lions won the title outright so no Korean Series was played that year. Because of the lack of a postseason in 1985, the next year saw some major changes, with the adoption of a playoff system, in which the top two teams from each half-season played for the right to get to the Korean Series. 1986 also saw the OB Bears moving from Daejeon to share Jamsil Baseball Stadium with MBC Chungyong in Seoul. A new franchise,
3465-461: The Magic Division, and Lotte and Samsung switching divisions. Thus, the 2000 Dream League was composed of Doosan, Haitai, Hyundai, and Samsung; while the 2000 Magic League was composed of Hanwha, LG, Lotte, and SK. Parity ruled the 2000s, with the Unicorns and Lions each winning three titles, and the upstart Wyverns winning two. The hard-luck Doosan Bears appeared in the Korean Series five times in
3542-492: The NPB include Sun Dong-yol , Lim Chang-yong , and Seung-hwan Oh (who led the NPB in saves in both 2014 and 2015). Several Korean players have also successfully transitioned from the KBO to American Major League Baseball , starting in 1994 with pitcher Chan Ho Park . (Prior to Park, the South Korea-born Mexican pitcher Ernesto Carlos [born as Lee Won-Kuk ] was signed to an American minor league contract with
3619-424: The NPB. (He returned to Korea for his final three seasons as a player.) Lee Seung-yuop , who holds the KBO records for career home runs, runs scored, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS, also played eight seasons in the NPB, accumulating an additional 159 home runs and 439 RBI. Other KBO hitters who had some success in the NPB include Kim Tae-kyun and Dae-ho Lee . Korean pitchers who have had an impact in
3696-500: The Tigers were again dominant, winning the championship four times in the decade — 1991, 1993, 1996, and 1997. The Tigers were led by hitting-machine Lee Jong-beom and slugger Lee Ho-joon . Other KBO players who starred in the 1990s were Eagles' pitcher Song Jin-woo , who eventually became the all-time KBO leader in wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched; slugging catcher Park Kyung-oan , the first catcher in KBO history to hit 300 home runs; and stolen base king Jeon Jun-ho . But probably
3773-455: The beginnings of words. /l/ becomes alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels, and [l] or [ɭ] at the end of a syllable or next to another /l/ . A written syllable-final ' ㄹ ', when followed by a vowel or a glide ( i.e. , when the next character starts with ' ㅇ '), migrates to the next syllable and thus becomes [ɾ] . Traditionally, /l/ was disallowed at the beginning of a word. It disappeared before [j] , and otherwise became /n/ . However,
3850-868: The championship in 2000, 2003, and 2004.) In 1999 the season was expanded to 132 games, and the KBO separated into two divisions — the Dream League and the Magic League. The 1999 Dream League consisted of the Doosan Bears, the Lotte Giants, the Haitai Tigers, and the Hyundai Unicorns; the 1999 Magic League consisted of the Hanwha Eagles, the LG Twins, the Samsung Lions, and the Ssangbangwool Raiders. That year
3927-511: The decade but only won it once, in 2001. Stars who emerged in the 2000s include all-time KBO hit king Park Yong-taik , the Giants' first-baseman Dae-ho Lee , and the Eagles' first-baseman Kim Tae-kyun . Other notable players from the era include slugging third-basemen Lee Bum-ho and Choi Jeong , the Bears' designated hitter Hong Sung-heon , and the Twins' long-time outfielder Lee Byung-kyu . In 2001,
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#17328549205604004-471: The exclusive home of the KBO League, marking the end of the league's free online broadcast era in South Korea. In June that same year, free streaming service SOOP acquired the rights to broadcast all KBO games outside of South Korea through the 2026 season. In addition to these ballparks, the Lotte Giants play some games at Ulsan Munsu Baseball Stadium , the Samsung Lions at Pohang Baseball Stadium and
4081-431: The field at the same time.) By 2012, teams were using all their foreign-player allotments on pitchers, and there were no more foreign hitters in the KBO. After this happened again in 2013, the following season the KBO League raised the foreign-player limit to three for each team, but mandated that at least one foreign player had to be a hitter (again, with only two such players on the field at a time). American Tyrone Woods
4158-399: The first Korean dynasty known to Western nations. Korean people in the former USSR refer to themselves as Koryo-saram or Koryo-in (literally, " Koryo/Goryeo persons"), and call the language Koryo-mal' . Some older English sources also use the spelling "Corea" to refer to the nation, and its inflected form for the language, culture and people, "Korea" becoming more popular in
4235-541: The first player from the KBO to join an MLB team through the posting system . Altogether, 28 South Korean players have made it to the MLB as of 2024. In South Korea, most of the games are aired free-to-air on MBC , SBS and KBS2 , and at pay television on KBS N Sports , MBC Sports+ , SBS Sports and SPOTV1/2 . Between 2021 and 2023, SPOTV broadcast selected games in the ASEAN region. In 2024, streaming platform TVING became
4312-764: The helm of one of South Korea's professional baseball clubs when he was signed as manager of the Lotte Giants in 2007. (Royster served as the Giants' manager through the 2010 season.) Over the league's history, more than 200 Americans have played in the KBO; other countries which have produced many current and former KBO players include the Dominican Republic (with more than 80 players), and Venezuela (with more than 20 players). Several KBO players have had successful careers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Baek In-chun played professionally in Japan from 1963 to 1981, compiling 209 home runs, 776 RBI, and 1,831 hits in
4389-479: The inflow of western loanwords changed the trend, and now word-initial /l/ (mostly from English loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either [ɾ] or [l] . All obstruents (plosives, affricates, fricatives) at the end of a word are pronounced with no audible release , [p̚, t̚, k̚] . Plosive sounds /p, t, k/ become nasals [m, n, ŋ] before nasal sounds. Hangul spelling does not reflect these assimilatory pronunciation rules, but rather maintains
4466-408: The issue between Japanese and Korean, including Alexander Vovin, have argued that the indicated similarities are not due to any genetic relationship , but rather to a sprachbund effect and heavy borrowing, especially from Ancient Korean into Western Old Japanese . A good example might be Middle Korean sàm and Japanese asá , meaning " hemp ". This word seems to be a cognate, but although it
4543-618: The language is most often called Joseon-mal , or more formally, Joseon-o . This is taken from the North Korean name for Korea (Joseon), a name retained from the Joseon dynasty until the proclamation of the Korean Empire , which in turn was annexed by the Empire of Japan . In mainland China , following the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term Cháoxiǎnyǔ or
4620-405: The late 1800s. In South Korea the Korean language is referred to by many names including hanguk-eo ("Korean language"), hanguk-mal ("Korean speech") and uri-mal ("our language"); " hanguk " is taken from the name of the Korean Empire ( 대한제국 ; 大韓帝國 ; Daehan Jeguk ). The " han " ( 韓 ) in Hanguk and Daehan Jeguk is derived from Samhan , in reference to
4697-434: The league both pitched and batted. Bang Soo-won of the Haitai Tigers pitched the first no-hitter in Korean professional baseball history, in 1984 against the Sammi Superstars . Mid-season 1985, the Sammi Superstars were sold and became known as the Chungbo Pintos , and the full season expanded to 110 games. Because the Samsung Lions won both half-season pennants (with a still single-season record .706 winning percentage),
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#17328549205604774-429: The league in victories in three separate years — 1999, 2000, and 2003 — topping 20 victories in 1999. In 2000, the team relocated from Incheon to Suwon . That year, the Unicorns finished first in the Dream League division, and again won the Korean Series, defeating Doosan Bears four games to three. In 2000, catcher Park Kyung-oan had arguably the best season of his career, hitting .282 with 40 home runs, and winning
4851-496: The longest career of any foreign player in KBO history, a record later eclipsed by hitter Jay Davis and pitcher Dustin Nippert . Davis played seven seasons for Hanwha (1999–2002, 2004–2006), compiling a .313 batting average, 167 home runs, and 591 RBI during that span. Foreign pitchers with extended careers in the KBO include Dustin Nippert , who compiled a win–loss record of 102–51 and 1,082 strikeouts in eight seasons (a foreign player record); and Danny Rios , who in six seasons
4928-414: The most notable hitters to emerge from the 1990s were the Lions' Lee Seung-yuop and Yang Joon-hyuk , who between them now hold most of the KBO's career offensive records. In 1990, MBC Chungyong became the LG Twins and an eighth franchise was added, the Ssangbangwool Raiders , who represented the North Jeolla Province region. From 1991 to 1998, the season increased to 126 games. The Lotte Giants won
5005-535: The original six teams in the Korea Baseball Organization . Owned by Sammi Steel Co., Ltd., the team was called the Sammi Superstars, and was based in Incheon . The 1983 team featured one of the most remarkable pitching seasons in modern history. Japanese import Hiroaki Fukushi , dubbed "Jang Myeong-bu" in the KBO League, pitched in 60 of the team's 100 games, completing a record 36 of them, with five shutouts. He threw 427-1/3 innings, facing 1,712 batters, allowing 388 hits, walking 106, and striking out 220 (at that point
5082-411: The population was illiterate. In the 15th century King Sejong the Great personally developed an alphabetic featural writing system , known today as Hangul , to promote literacy among the common people. Introduced in the document Hunminjeongeum , it was called eonmun ('colloquial script') and quickly spread nationwide to increase literacy in Korea. The Korean alphabet was denounced by
5159-562: The short form Cháoyǔ has normally been used to refer to the standard language of North Korea and Yanbian , whereas Hánguóyǔ or the short form Hányǔ is used to refer to the standard language of South Korea. Korean is a member of the Koreanic family along with the Jeju language . Some linguists have included it in the Altaic family, but the core Altaic proposal itself has lost most of its prior support. The Khitan language has several vocabulary items similar to Korean that are not found in other Mongolian or Tungusic languages, suggesting
5236-466: The starting rotation. As with foreign players in the NPB, many of the most celebrated foreign players came to Korea after not finding success in the Major Leagues . The KBO first began allowing foreign players in 1998, when each team was allowed to sign up to two imports. Traditionally, teams chose one hitter and one pitcher, although there were exceptions. (In 2001 and 2002, KBO teams were allowed three foreign-born players, but only two of them could be on
5313-400: The store?' Response 예/네. ye/ne AFF Chungbo Pintos The Unicorns were dissolved after the 2007 season. Hyundai Unicorns' players and staff were signed in a takeover deal and became the Heroes Baseball Club . The Unicorns and the Heroes have no historical links, although the new team consisted mostly of former Unicorns players. The franchise was founded in 1982 as one of
5390-495: The team was renamed the Nexen Heroes until the end of the 2018 season, when its naming rights were sold to Kiwoom Securities . The Samsung Lions were a powerful team in the 2010s, winning the championship four times during six straight appearances in the Korean Series (from 2010 to 2015). The Doosan Bears were also a powerhouse, appearing in the Korean Series six times in the decade (including five straight appearances from 2015 to 2019), winning it three times. Expansion resumed in
5467-441: The tense fricative and all the affricates as well. At the end of a syllable, /s/ changes to /t/ (example: beoseot ( 버섯 ) 'mushroom'). /h/ may become a bilabial [ɸ] before [o] or [u] , a palatal [ç] before [j] or [i] , a velar [x] before [ɯ] , a voiced [ɦ] between voiced sounds, and a [h] elsewhere. /p, t, t͡ɕ, k/ become voiced [b, d, d͡ʑ, ɡ] between voiced sounds. /m, n/ frequently denasalize at
5544-464: The underlying, partly historical morphology . Given this, it is sometimes hard to tell which actual phonemes are present in a certain word. The traditional prohibition of word-initial /ɾ/ became a morphological rule called "initial law" ( 두음법칙 ) in the pronunciation standards of South Korea, which pertains to Sino-Korean vocabulary. Such words retain their word-initial /ɾ/ in the pronunciation standards of North Korea. For example, ^NOTE ㅏ
5621-408: Was 90–59 with 807 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.01, which is the lowest career ERA of any foreign pitcher in the KBO. Josh Lindblom pitched in the KBO for five seasons, compiling a 63–34 record and 750 strikeouts. Rios was given the 2008 KBO League Most Valuable Player Award , Nippert was KBO MVP in 2016, and Lindblom won the award in 2019. American Jerry Royster was the first-ever non-Korean to take
5698-555: Was above 11,600 fans. This increase in popularity has been accompanied by the building of larger and more modern ballparks to further enhance the fan experience and their expenditures during games, such as Gwangju-Kia Champions Field (2014), Gocheok Sky Dome (2016), Daegu Samsung Lions Park (2016), and Changwon NC Park (2019). The KBO League has a big number of female fans; the 2024 season data has shown that approximately 54% of ticket holders were female, and most of them were in their 20s. KBO League players and coaches have formed
5775-464: Was broadcast as the first game under the agreement that night. Karl Ravech , Jason Benetti , Boog Sciambi , Eduardo Perez , and Jessica Mendoza , along with various guests, broadcast the game remotely via Internet from their homes. The deal was for the 2020 season only and was not renewed for 2021. As with Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the KBO league places a cap on the number of foreign players allowed on club rosters. The foreign player limit
5852-487: Was first introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC, and remained the medium of formal writing and government until the late 19th century. Korean scholars adapted Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja ) to write their own language, creating scripts known as idu , hyangchal , gugyeol , and gakpil. These systems were cumbersome, due to the fundamental disparities between the Korean and Chinese languages, and accessible only to those educated in classical Chinese. Most of
5929-664: Was the first notable import. Debuting with the Doosan Bears in 1998, Woods was the first foreign player to hit a home run (as well as the first to be ejected from a game by an umpire). In his first year Woods set a then-KBO record with 42 homers and won the MVP award (becoming the first foreign player to win the award). In five years in Korea, Woods hit 174 homers, drove in 510 runs, and batted .294. (He later found additional success in Nippon Professional Baseball .) Woods left Korea with
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