Korean Baseball Organization
The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) of South Korea is the country's professional baseball league and was founded with six teams in 1982 and currently has eight. The teams are named after the companies or conglomerates which they belong to, but are sometimes called by their respective home cities.
The first game was played on March 27, 1982 between Samsung Lions and MBC Blue Dragons (LG Twins) in Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul. Then-President Chun Doo-hwan threw the first pitch .
To date, founder members the Kia Tigers (formerly, Haitai Tigers) have won 9 of the 22 national championships.
Most team players are Korean, but each team has some foreigners, including Americans, Dominicans and Cubans.
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[edit] Current teams
- Doosan Bears - Seoul
- Hanhwa Eagles - Daejeon
- Hyundai Unicorns - Suwon
- Kia Tigers - Gwangju
- Lotte Giants - Busan
- LG Twins - Seoul
- Samsung Lions - Daegu
- SK Wyverns - Inchon
[edit] National team
South Korea also participated in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic. The Korea national baseball team had a record of 6-1, but did not advance to the finals. They lost in the semifinals to the future champions, the Japan national baseball team. First baseman Seung-Yeop Lee led the tournament with 5 home runs and 10 runs batted in.
[edit] MLB Players
This is an alphabetical list of baseball players from South Korea who have played in Major League Baseball between 1994 and 2006.
- Cha Seung Baek
- Jung Keun Bong
- Jin Ho Cho
- Hee Seop Choi
- Shin-Soo Choo
- Byung-Hyun Kim
- Sun-Woo Kim
- Dae-Sung Koo
- Sang-Hoon Lee
- Chan Ho Park
- Jae Kuk Ryu
- Jae Weong Seo
