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NEXEN TIRE has signed an agreement with Major League Baseball's LA Dodgers, Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves for an official partnership. This partnership will enable NEXEN TIRE to expose its brand through an outdoor billboard placed on the rolling board behind the catcher in the home ballpark of LA Dodgers and Scoreboard Tri-Panel of Detroit tigers throughout the 2013 season.

NEXEN TIRE now supports two baseball teams, the Nexen Heroes in Korea and the LA Dodgers in the United States. NEXEN TIRE has something in common with both these teams. They were not in top position at first, but all three have continued to evolve and expand through constant efforts and challenge. Let us listen to some stories about NEXEN TIRE, the LA Dodgers, Nexen Heroes and the Korean players who have particularly stood out in the Major League from Hwang Ikjin, Marketing team manager at NEXEN TIRE.

In November 1997, Korea faced a grim economic crisis that left it no option but to seek bailout from the IMF. People lost their jobs, and the homeless mooched about the streets; the banks were in dire straits. In this time of tumult and crisis, Park Chan-ho, the first Korean Major League baseball player, gave people hope and a reason to cheer.
He made remarkable achievement of 14 wins in 1997, 15 wins in 1998, 13 wins in 1999, 18 wins in 2000 and 25 wins in 2001: that's 5 straight 10+ win seasons around the time of the IMF bailout to Korea.

With many Korean baseball fans watching the game at Dodger Stadium on TV, Ryu Hyun-jin pitched a complete 3-0 shutout win against the LA Angels. With this 6th victory, he marked the highest winning rate among all MLB rookie pitchers and received a lot of praise from both the Korea and American media.

On my trip to Cleveland, I watched a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners with American co-worker. I knew Ichiro, a Japanese player in the Seattle Mariners who is famous among Korean baseball fans, so I felt quite familiar with this particular Major League game. Meanwhile, I found an Asian name, Choo, on the list of the Cleveland Indians team, and discovered to my astonishment he was a Korean only after the game.

On that day, Choo hit a solo home run against Seattle Mariners ace Flex Hernandez and Cleveland Indians won a famous 1-0 victory. Fireworks at the end of the game seemed like a cannon salute for an obscure Korean player named Choo, who just went up to the Major League from the Minor League with a batting average of lower than 2.0.

Nexen Heroes was ranked the lowest in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, but maintains the unchallenged no.1 position in the Korean baseball league this season. Though consisting of many players waivered from other teams, the Heroes were able to reach the top based on its solid team power.

Baseball has become a symbol of hope and happiness to Koreans now, just as it did throughout the difficult times of the financial crisis.

NEXEN TIRE was small 10 years ago, but now reproduces the success story of Korean pitchers in the Major League Baseball in Korea's tire industry. It is no doubt that NEXEN TIRE will continue to raise its name as the Nexen Heroes maintains the first place.

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