The NC Dinos ( ko, NC 다이노스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in

Changwon Changwon () is the capital city of Gyeongsangnam-do, on the southeast coast of South Korea. With a population of 1.07 million , Changwon is South Korea's ninth-most populous city. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south ...

. 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 ...

. Since 2019, their home stadium is

Changwon NC Park Changwon NC Park is a baseball stadium in Changwon, South Korea. The stadium replaced the nearby Masan Baseball Stadium as the home of KBO League, KBO club NC Dinos. The stadium was designed by architecture firm Populous (company), Populous and ...

. NC Dinos are owned by video game developer NCSoft Corporation.

History

On 1 July 2010, the cities of Changwon, Masan and Jinhae were integrated into one city,

. As a result of the integration, Changwon became the eleventh largest city in South Korea. Afterward, Changwon drove forward the project, which attracted a baseball team in the city. On 22 December 2010, video game company NCSoft submitted a plan that it wanted to found a baseball team that would be later admitted to the

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League ( ko, KBO 리그) and KBO ...

as a member franchise. Changwon hereby became the first city having a baseball team among all the non-metropolitan cities in South Korea. In the 2012 season, NC Dinos competed in the unaffiliated Freedom Division of the

Korea Baseball Futures League KBO Futures League () or Korea Baseball Futures League is South Korea's second level of baseball, below the KBO League. It serves as a farm league with the purpose to develop professional players on-demand to play in the KBO League. The league ...

. On 8 May 2012, the Korea Baseball Organization officially approved NC Dinos' admission to the

for the 2013 season. On 11 April 2013, the NC Dinos won their first game in the club's history against the

LG Twins LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is ...

. As a new team in 2013, the Dinos were allowed three foreign players on their roster (as opposed to the usual two). In 2014, that limit was raised to four (while all non-expansion teams were limited to three)."KBO clubs snatch up new foreign players following rule change,"
Yonhap News Agency (16 December 2013). The 2014 Dinos signed pitchers Charlie Shirek,

Eric Hacker Eric Lynn Hacker (born March 26, 1983) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. Hacker stands and weighs . He throws right-handed but is a switch hitter. He has also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pitt ...

Thad Weber Thad George Weber (born September 28, 1984) is a former American professional baseball pitcher and current major league scout. He had appeared in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays as well ...

, and outfielder

Eric Thames Eric Allyn Thames ( ; born November 10, 1986) is an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee B ...

. In November 2020, the Dinos won their first

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 ...

championship, four games to two games over the

Doosan Bears The Doosan Bears ( ko, 두산 베어스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul. Founded in 1982, they are a member of the KBO League. The Bears have won six Korean Series titles (1982, 1995, 2001, 2015, 2016, and 2019) and ...

. This followed the team's first regular season championship, in which the Dinos finished the 2020 regular season in first place for the first time in the team's history.

Season-by-season records

Team

Current roster

Managers

* Kim Kyung-moon (2012–2018) * You Young-jun (2018) ''(caretaker)'' *

Lee Dong-wook Lee Dong-wook (; born November 6, 1981 ) is a South Korean actor, host, model and entertainer. He is best known for his leading roles in the Korean drama, television dramas ''My Girl (2005 TV series), My Girl'' (2005), ''Scent of a Woman (TV ser ...

(2019–2022) * Kang In-kwon (2022–present)

Mascot

The NC Dinos have two mascots. Sseri is a green

Brontosaurus ''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ' ...

that wears a necklace and has affectionately been nicknamed "Swole Daddy" by

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...

. The Dinos' other mascot, Dandi, is a blue

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* * {{NCsoft KBO League teams Sport in Changwon Sports teams in South Gyeongsang Province Baseball teams established in 2011 2011 establishments in South Korea NCSoft