-
It
was about a hundred years ago that baseball was first introduced
to Korea, in 1905 baseball was introduced by an American missionary.
But it wasn't until 1982 that the Korean Baseball Organization was
formed.
-
The
KBO was formed on December 11, 1981, with a foundation of six teams
- Samsung, Lotte, MBC, OB, Haitai and Sammi. The teams' names are
not names of places like in the U.S. Their names are names of the
corporations who sponsor the teams. On March 27, 1982 the first
professional baseball game in Korea was played with former president
Doo-hwan Jeon throwing out the first pitch before a soldout crowd
at Seoul's Dongdamum Stadium.
-
The
game was between Samsung and MBC and Samsung's Man-soo Lee had the
honour of hitting the first home run of the KBO. Other season records
include OB pitcher Chul-soon Park winning a world record 22 games
in a row and MBC's In-chun Baik hitting .412.
-
In
1986, the play-off system was implemented with the 2nd and 3rd ranked
teams playing a best of five series, of which the winning team plays
in the best of seven Korean Series. The Haitai Tigers were in their
heydays and demolished the Samsung Lions in the '86 Korean Series.
After Game 3, Samsung fans set fire to the Haitai team bus after
the Lions lost the 3rd game. Also, OB and MBC shared Chamsil Stadium
as their home stadium and Lotte moved into 30,000-seat Sajik Stadium.
-
In
1987, the KBO's first commissioner, Jong-Chul Seo, retired and the
Chungbo Pintos were sold to Pacific Group and were renamed the Taepyungyang
(Pacific) Dolphins.
-
The
post-season playoff system was redesigned in 1989 with the semi
play-off system which involved teams playing in phases from the
4th ranked team.
-
1990
saw changes in the teams with MBC being sold to the Lucky-Goldstar
group and being called the LG Twins, and the establishment of the
Ssangbangwool Raiders. Finally, expansion was complete and to this
day, eight teams remain. In their first year, the Twins won the
Korean Series. Also in this year, the Korean and Japanese professional
baseball leagues signed an agreement to hold the Super Game every
four years in Japan. The Super Game was an exhibition series between
Korean and Japanese baseball players.
-
In
'91, Binggrae Eagles slugger Jong-hoon Chang set a new record with
41 home runs.
-
1993
was the year when the parent company of the Eagles changed their
name to Hanhwa and that is why the Hanhwa Eagles are what they are
called today. Chan-Ho Park stirred controversy by signing with MLB's
Los Angeles Dodgers for $1.2 million US before his draft eligible
year in Korea. Park was a sophomore pitcher at Hanyang University.
-
In
Lausanne, Switzerland (1996), it was decided that professional ball
players may participate in the Olympics. 1996 also marked the year
that Hyundai Unicorns' Jae-hong Park became the first player ever
to hit the 30-30 club with 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.
-
In
1997, the KBO allowed foreign players to play in South Korea and
the first foreign player draft is held in St. Petersburg, Flordia.
A total of 36 players were drafted. The Tigers also win their ninth
championship and record their 1000th franchise win.
-
In
'98, Tyrone Woods eclipses the home run mark with his 42nd home
run of the season and is also named the MVP. Woods would go on to
become the longest serving foreign player before signing with the
Yokohama Bay Stars of the Japanese leagues to begin the 2003 season.
Dae-chul Jung resigns as commissioner, citing personal reasons for
the decision and Yong-oh Park, former owner of the OB Bears and
president of the Doosan group, is nominated the 13th commissioner
in league history.
-
In
1999, the league was divided into two leagues, Dream and Magix through
public consultation. The two league system was in place for two
years, but there were only eight teams and since having two leagues
made no difference, it was changed back to the single league system
in year 2001. At the end of the '99 season, a free agent system
was implemented which allowed players with more than 10 years of
experience to negotiate freely with any club.
-
2001:
Doosan Bears' Woods becomes the only player to win an MVP award
at All-Star Game, Korean Series and in the playoffs. A posting system
is also established so that when a Korean professional baseball
player wishes to play in the U.S., they can be posted to the 30
Major League teams with the highest bidding team being able to negotiate
a contract.
-
Korean
baseball is improving as they picked up their first medal in baseball
at the 2000 Sydney Olympics with a bronze, beating out Japan. Korea
has seen many players jump to the Major Leagues in the U.S. with
the likes of Chan Ho Park of the Texas Rangers, Hee Seop Choi of
the Chicago Cubs, Byung Hyun Kim of the Arizona Diamondbacks and
with many more to come.
