It is difficult – check that – it is damn difficult to provide a written description of what it’s like to attend a Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) game.
As a westerner, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever witnessed before. Not the baseball, mind you, but all the other hoopla that’s simultaneously occurring.
The baseball is just fine. It’s not Major League caliber, probably not even Triple A, but it’s a game that’s recognizable: pitchers pitch, hitters hit, fielders field … you get the drill. It’s what’s occurring in the stands that make it such a unique experience.
Each side has a cheer team. The cheer team (at least for the pair of games I saw) is comprised of one man, four women, a DJ, and two drummers that are on a platform down either the leftfield or rightfield line near where the outfield grass begins. When their team is batting, it is non-stop activity by the cheer squad. The man is the unquestioned leader with a microphone he leads the crowd in cheers, chants, songs, while the women work through choreographed movements that are, in many cases, mimicked by the fans who are fully into it. The drummers do their thing to the music played by the DJ. It is not uncommon for teams to have 50 or more songs in their repertoire. It’s all quite disorienting to we westerners, but it seems to be just what the doctor ordered for the KBO faithful.
From left, the Doosan cheer leader with microphone in hand; the Doosan cheerleaders on the video board; and the LG cheer team (note the whistle in the leader’s mouth) during our second game.
When your team moves to defense, the cheering on your side ends and the other side begins. Meaning there is a constant K-Pop party – or something akin to it – occurring during all nine innings.
Unsurprisingly, both games were sold out in this intra-Seoul battle between the host Doosan Bears and the visiting LG Twins who actually share Jamsil Baseball Stadium as their home field.
The Tickets
Much as it is damn hard to adequately describe attending a KBO game, it’s nearly as hard to score tickets to get in the gates.
First, many of the ticket are allocated to club members (ala European soccer, I’m told). Then, when tickets hit the market, it’s only eight days prior to game day and you need a Korean ID to purchase them. Therefore, for most of us westerners, there’s a need to engage in the secondary resale market. (Note: Tread lightly, as with all hot commodities there is fraud.) Many games that don’t feature natural rivals or teams with large followings will sell tickets the day of the game, but if you’re traveling halfway around the world as we did, it’s not a great idea to pack uncertainty in your carry-on.
My buddy Maury has a few Korean friends and they were able to work with some known and reputable secondary sellers and secured us eight tickets for the Tuesday afternoon game. I discovered a fella on MyKBO.net’s Facebook page who likes to help foreigners secure tickets. Talk about a Nervous Nellie, I was, communicating via Messenger with someone I’d never met (and still haven’t) who lives several thousand miles away, and asked me to PayPal him $185 for five tickets to Wednesday night’s game. It took me about 24 hours in Korea, interacting with some of the most kind, generous, and genuine people that I’ve ever met, that I began feeling more confident in a return on the $185 sent into the void.
The Food
You can get a hot dog at Jamsil (and a hamburger for that matter), but you may not want to. There’s a plethora of Korean favorites to be sampled and, really, if you’re a guest it seems only polite to try the local fare. Our group was, perhaps, a bit gluttonous in our stay during the first game. We sampled a good number of the offerings:
Clockwise from upper left, two dumpling offerings; the eomuk guk; a Frank Burger; a hot dog; a fried chicken serving; a Tteobokki serving; the tteobokki cooking; Tim demonstrating how to eat the sundae, first by dipping into the tteobokki sauce.
- Eomuk Guk (Fish Cakes on a Stick) – Eomuk is Korean for fishcake; guk is Korean for soup. Voila, fishcake soup. It’s fish and starch processed (I’d equate it to American bologna), then skewered, and served in a broth
- Sundae (Korean Blood Sausage) – Sundae is commonly prepared by stewing cow or pig intestines and stuffed with various other ingredients (such as Tofu, rice, spices, and even bean sprouts). It’s not uncommon to dip the Sundae in the Tteobokki sauce
- Dumplings – Pretty self-explanatory. The ones served at Jamsil featured kimchi or minced seafood and seasonings
- Tteobokki (Spicy Rice Cakes) – Tteobokki are stir-friend rice cakes served in a spicy gochujang-based sauce
- Korean Fried Chicken – Similar to dumplings, this is pretty straight forward. At the stadium, the pieces were were boneless (think chicken nuggets) and stir-fried and served sauced with a variety of temperature levels. I’d compare it to General Tso’s chicken
- Hamburgers from Frank Burger – As you’d expect. Served as “a set” with fries and Pepsi (no Coke, Pepsi for you Saturday Night Live fans;-). The logo, if not the burger, bears a striking resemblance to that of Shake Shack.
- Hotdog – Jamsil’s were served with frizzled and fried onions
There were other offerings, of course. A variety of ice cream treats, Domino’s pizza, and KFC to name a few. It was also common for fans to bring food into Jamsil. We saw dozens of food delivery drivers and their ubiquitous scooters outside the stadium as we entered delivering boxes of food to fans as they prepared to enter the game.
The coup de grace, however, was something called the All-in-One. It featured a beverage in a large cup with a plastic helmet around the top that included your favorite fried food (chicken or shrimp and fries). I chose shrimp and, for stadium-fried tempura, it was pretty darn tasty.
Noticeably absent (at least to my eyes) were North American staples such as peanuts, popcorn, and – of course – Cracker Jack.
The Games
Fortuitously, we had seats on both sides of Jamsil for our KBO experience. Sadly, we didn’t see a winner either time☹
Clockwise from left, the view behind homeplate at Jamsil Baseball Stadium; the view at the top of the firstbase stands; the view from our seats down the leftfied line; the LG cheerteam pumps up the crowd.
For Tuesday’s game we were on the Doosan Bears’ side, right below of the cheer team, and we witnessed the LG Twins win 5-2. The big excitement (though not in a good way) was when Twins’ star first baseman Austin Dean collided with a Bears base runner going for a ground ball and got knocked pretty good. A doctor – in white coat! – came running from the dugout to assist. He was removed from the game and he didn’t play on Wednesday night either.
For Wednesday’s game, we were on the Twins’ side above the cheer section so we were able to have the full effect of the insanity of it all. The host Bears bounced back for a 5-1 victory.
Foreign Players
Each team in the KBO is allowed up to three foreign players, no more than two of which may be pitchers. The foreign-born players on the Bears and Twins were:
Doosan’s
- Jake Cave, Outfielder – Cave spent the previous seven seasons in the MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, and Colorado Rockies. In the Majors he was a .236 lifetime hitter with a .692 OPS (On-base Percentage plus Slugging Percentage). Thus far with Doosan he’s hitting .319 with an .808 OPS.
- Cole Irvin, Lefthanded Starting Pitcher – Irvin spent the previous six seasons in the MLB for the Phillies, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, and Twins. In the Majors he posted a 28-40 record with a 4.54 ERA over 134 career appearances. Thus far with Doosan he’s 5-3 with a 4.04 ERA.
- Zach Logue, Lefthanded Starting Pitcher – Logue spent parts of the previous three season in the MLB for the Athletics, Detroit Tigers, and Los Angeles Dodgers. In the Majors he was 3-8 with a 7.20 ERA over 19 career appearances. Thus far with Doosan he’s 2-3 with a 3.29 ERA.
LG‘s
- Austin Dean, Firstbaseman – Dean played parts of five seasons in MLB from 2018-22 for the Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants. In the Majors, he was a lifetime .228 hitter with a .676 OPS. During his two-plus seasons with LG, Dean’s a career .315 hitter with a .937 OPS.
- Elieser Hernandez, Righthanded Starting Pitcher – Hernandez spent the previous six seasons with three teams, the Marlins, Dodgers, and Brewers. In the Majors, he posted a 10-22 record with a 5.10 ERA in 99 appearances. In two seasons with LG, Hernandez is 5-4 with a 4.50 ERA.
- Coen Wynne, Righthanded Pitcher – Wynne is an Australian with no North American professional experience. He played college baseball at Grand Canyon University and has pitched professionally for Sydney in the Australian Baseball League. He’s 1-0 with a 5.73 ERA in two games with LG.
Meeting Jee-ho Yoo
As I was plotting out possible contests to spectate as part of the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project, seeing a Japanese professional baseball game was a natural what with the Sho-time, but I recollected an episode of Conversations with Sports Fans I’d had with Sports Reference’s Andrew Chong, a Philadelphia-area resident with Korean ancestry who is a fan of Korean baseball. He discussed the entertainment of it and mentioned Jee-ho Yoo, an English-language sportswriter for Yonhap News. Jee-ho ultimately was a guest and after speaking with him the KBO deal was sealed. If I’m flying to Japan, what’s a couple more hours for another baseball game, I figured?
And then, as a happy bonus, Jee-ho was able to attend the Wednesday night game and we were met on the concourse and kibitzed and I sort of marveled at my life, good fortune, and how incredibly small this world is. There I was, a retiree from suburban Detroit who happened to hear a podcast featuring Andrew which led to me having him on my podcast and he tipped me off to follow Jee-ho on social media which led to him guesting on my show and – bam! – five months later we’re chatting each other up on the concourse of Jamsil Baseball Stadium on a gorgeous Seoul May evening.
Incredibly, Jee-ho and I might meet again, in February in Milan, Italy, of all places, at the Winter Olympics. He says there’s a better than 50% chance he’ll be there covering Short Track Speedskating (a sport South Koreans have long dominated) which I happen to already have tickets for one of the day’s I’m attending.
How cool would that be?
