The Hyundai Unicorns Baseball Club was a South Koreanprofessional baseball team, a member of the KBO League. The Unicorns won the KBO championship four times, with only the Kia Tigers, Samsung Lions, and Doosan Bears having a better record of championship victories. 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.
History
Sammi Superstars
The franchise was founded in 1982 as one of 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, 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.
Chungbo Pintos
The 1985 Superstars team lost a league-record 18 games in a row between March 31 and April 29. The team was sold to Chungbo on June 29 of that year, and between the two 1985 half-seasons, was renamed the Chungbo Pintos.
Taepyoungyang (Pacific) Dolphins
In 1988, the team was sold again, and renamed the Taepyoungyang Dolphins. In 1989 the franchise made the playoffs for the first time, eventually losing to Haitai. The 1993 squad at one point lost 15 games in 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.
Hyundai Unicorns
After the KBO season, due to financial difficulties, the team was sold again, this time to the Hyundai Group, and renamed the Hyundai Unicorns. Hyundai moved the team before the season to Suwon. Hyundai had previously sponsored the Hyundai Phoenix, of the Korea Baseball Associationamateur 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. That year, 1996, the team hired Kim Jae-bak as manager, who would eventually guide them to four championships. The Unicorns made it to the Korean Series their first year under Kim, but lost again, this time to Haitai. 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. In 2000, the team relocated to Suwon, finished first in the Dream League division, and again won the Korean Series, defeating Doosan 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 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 SK and Samsung, respectively. Those teams were led offensively by Shim Jeong-soo and American import Cliff Brumbaugh. In 2003 Shim had a monster season, hitting.335 with 53 home runs and 142 RBI, with a then-record OPS of 1.197. In 2004 Brumbaugh came close to winning the KBO League Triple Crown with a.343 batting average, 33 home runs, and 105 RBI. The team was dissolved in January 2008. After that, Centennial Investments signed Hyundai Unicorns' players and staff in a takeover deal, and founded the Heroes Baseball Club.
