Kia Tigers

Kia Tigers () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 and based in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Until 2001, they were known as the Haitai Tigers. The Tigers are a members of the KBO League and are the most successful team in Korean baseball, having won the national Korean Series championship 11 times with a perfect 11–0 record. Their home stadium is Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju. After the success of the 1980s and 1990s, the fortunes of the team began to turn, resulting in them finishing bottom of the league for the first time in 2005, and again in 2007. In 2009, however, Kia Tigers won the 2009 KBO season and 2009 Korean Series. History Haitai Tigers was the third professional baseball team to be created in South Korea, after the OB Bears and MBC Chungyong. They were founded on January 30, 1982, with 14 players. Kim Dong-yeob, the first manager of the team, was fired after just one month, and Jo Chang-soo took over his position and led the team to a record of 38–42. Due to the lack of position players, many players in the league both pitched and batted. Kim Seong-han, for instance, had a record of ten wins and led the league in RBIs with 69 the first year.