LG Twins

History

The club was established in 1982 as MBC Chungyong, owned by the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. In the first part of the 1982 season, the team played at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium; in the second part of the season, they moved to their current home, Jamsil Baseball Stadium.

The Chungyong were initially led by player-manager Baek In-chun, who had spent 19 seasons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Aged 38, Baek led the league in hitting in 1982, with a record-setting .412 batting average. As manager, Baek brought the Japanese "small ball" technique to his team, focusing on sacrifice bunts, stolen bases, and sacrifice flies. Although the team finished above .500 in 1982, Baek was dismissed by the team after the season.

In , the franchise was acquired by the LG Corporation, which renamed the team the LG Twins. The following year, the Twins won their first Korean Series title with Baek In-chun as their manager. In 1994, they won their second championship. The Korean Series MVP was Kim Yong-soo in both Series, and his jersey number 41 was later retired. However, after their Korean Series appearance in 2002, the team experienced an unsuccessful streak and did not make the postseason for eleven years. They earned the second seed in the regular season in 2013, qualifying and competing in the playoffs until ultimately being eliminated by the Doosan Bears. Between 2014 and 2022, the Twins made six postseason appearances, but failed to return to the Korean Series. In 2023, they reached their first Korean Series since 2002 by virtue of winning the regular season title. In the finals, the Twins, led by captain and Korean Series MVP Oh Ji-hwan, defeated the KT Wiz 4–1 in five games, ending the club's 29-year championship drought.

Season-by-season records

Team

Current roster

Managers

• Baek In-chun (1982)
• Kim Dong-yeop (1983)
• Eo Woo-hong (1984–1985)
• Kim Dong-yeob (1986–1987)
• Yu Baek-man (1988)
• Bae Seong-seo (1989)
• Baek In-chun (1989–1991)
• Lee Kwang-hwan (1992–1994)
• Cheon Bo-seong (1995–1999)
• Lee Gwang-eun (2000–2001)
• Kim Sung-keun (2002)
• Lee Kwang-hwan (2003)
• Lee Sun-cheol (2004–2006)
• Kim Jae-bak (2007–2009)
• (2010–2011)
• Kim Ki-tae (2012–2014)
• Yang Sang-moon (2014–2017)
• Ryu Joong-il (2018–2020)
• Ryu Ji-hyun (2021–2022)
• Youm Kyoung-youb (2022–present)

In popular culture

The team featured prominently in the tvN drama Reply 1994, where the team's 1994 head coach is a main character. In the drama, the team is referenced under a different name, "Seoul Twins" (), due to trademark issues with the LG Corporation.

In 2023, TVING released the original documentary Our Game: LG Twins, directed by Lee Hyun-hee, covering behind-the-scenes stories inside and outside the stadium. It received praise for its unique documentary and became the best original documentary in TVING's history in terms of paid subscriptions.

References

;General

• {{cite web |access-date=8 September 2017 ;Specific

References

1. (22 June 2020). "LG Twins unable to get over Doosan Bears hump in KBO".
2. Hyun-kyung, Kang. [https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sports/2017/03/662_225360.html "Baseball: Korean baseball shifting to Major League style,"] ''The Korea Times'' (9 March 2017).
3. (13 November 2023). "LG Twins overcome KT Wiz in five, win their first Korean Series in 29 years".
4. (13 November 2023). "(LEAD) LG Twins capture 1st Korean Series title in 29 years".
5. (6 November 2022). "LG Twins hire new manager Youm Kyoung-youb". [[Yonhap News Agency]].
6. link. Kim. Chae-yeon. (April 4, 2023)