The Doosan Bears ( ko, 두산 베어스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

. The Bears have won six

Korean Series The Korean Series is the final championship series of the KBO League. It has been held since the KBO League's first season in and is the final series of the post-season play-offs. From to 2013, the winner of the Korean Series went on to play in ...

titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and play their home games at Seoul's

Jamsil Baseball Stadium Jamsil Baseball Stadium () is a baseball stadium located at 25 Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The stadium holds 25,000 people and was built from April 1980 to July 1982. It makes up the Seoul Sports Complex along with the nearby Seoul ...

History

The club was founded in

Daejeon Daejeon () is South Korea's fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of 1.5 million as of 2019. Located in the central-west region of South Korea alongside forested hills and the Geum River, the city is known both for its technology and ...

in as the OB Bears, with the

Oriental Brewery Oriental Brewery or OB (Hangul: 오비맥주) is a South Korean brewery currently owned by AB InBev, and initially founded by Doosan Group. History Established by the Doosan Group in 1952, it was purchased by InBev in 1998. In July 2009, i ...

as their owners. OB Bears were the first team to be founded in the

. In , the team moved to their current home in

. The OB Bears were officially renamed the Doosan Bears in , after Oriental Brewery was sold to

InBev InBev () is a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...

and the

Doosan Group Doosan Group () is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation. In 2009, the corporation was placed in the ''Fortune'' Global 500 index. It is the parent company of Bobcat and Škoda Power. Doosan Group is the oldest running company i ...

assumed ownership. The Bears won the inaugural

in 1982 by defeating the

Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Champ ...

to become the first KBO League champion. Between 2015 and 2021, the Bears appeared in seven consecutive Korean Series championships, winning three of the series in 2015, 2016 and 2019.

Team colours

The main colours of the team are navy and white, with red as the secondary colour. From 1999 to 2009, yellow was used instead as the secondary colour, before the team returned in 2010 to the iconic dark navy and red combination of the original OB Bears.

Mascot

The Doosan Bears mascot is a bear named Cheol Woong (철웅).

Season-by-season records

Team

Current roster

Retired numbers

The Bears have retired numbers 21 and 54. The number 21 is retired in honour of pitcher

Park Chul-soon Park Chul-soon (Hangul: 박철순, Hanja: 朴哲淳; also spelled Cheol Sun Park, Bak Cheol-sun; born March 12, 1956) is a former South Korean pitcher in the KBO League who played for the OB Bears. Park batted and threw right-handed. He was the ...

, who won the

KBO League Most Valuable Player Award The KBO League Most Valuable Player Award is given to the player judged the most valuable player in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock ...

, the Pitching Triple Crown, and the

Korean Series Most Valuable Player Award The Korean Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the Korean Series, which is the final round of the KBO League postseason. The award was first presented in 1982. ...

in 1982. The number 54 is in memory of catcher Kim Young-shin, who committed suicide while still a young player.

Managers

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

Official website
* * {{Doosan Group KBO League teams Baseball teams established in 1982 Sport in Seoul

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

1982 establishments in South Korea