I had the chance to experience Korean Baseball when one of my kid's (Jane) father took me to a Korean Pro Baseball game this past Saturday. I knew baseball was big here but I wasn't expecting what I saw. The stadium was sold out for the match between the Doosan Bears and Lotte Giants (teams are named after corporate sponsors instead of after the city they're based in). So an impressive 30,000 people turned out for a measly regular season game, one of 133 games in the season. The visiting Giants are apparently the Yankees of Korea in that they have the most fans who make a strong presence in all their away games. What was really fascinating is that fans buy tickets on the side of the stadium with their team's dugout, so that the stadium was split exactly in half, with one side having only Giants fans and the other side Bears fans.
Team's are allowed to have a maximum of two foreign players on the team, and this day's starting pitchers both happened to be Americans. Typically these are guys who can't hack it in the MLB anymore. The fans were awesome to watch and listen to. Whichever team is up to bat sees its fans get on their feet and proceed to chant and bang their thunder sticks together in perfect unison, while the other side of the stadium goes quiet, except for the occasional nice defensive play. They have a number of different chants and songs including a different one for each player when they come up to bat. Their is a stage in the middle of the crowd with cheerleaders that lead everyone in the movements and chants, and EVERYBODY takes part in it. Every person in the stadium seems to hang on and react to every single play, it was incredible. Even the kids were seriously focused on the game. One of the player's intro music for whenever he came to bat was "Shots" by LMFAO and the entire crowd would scream out "EVERYBOOODY" along with the song haha (this is Korea remember). It was all so much more thrilling than American baseball, where fans for the most part passively watch the game transpire (barring the occasional "wave" which is idiotic anyway). It was like soccer crowds but in baseball, and it made for the funnest ball game I've ever attended. I'm going to find going to American baseball games boring now I think.
Team's are allowed to have a maximum of two foreign players on the team, and this day's starting pitchers both happened to be Americans. Typically these are guys who can't hack it in the MLB anymore. The fans were awesome to watch and listen to. Whichever team is up to bat sees its fans get on their feet and proceed to chant and bang their thunder sticks together in perfect unison, while the other side of the stadium goes quiet, except for the occasional nice defensive play. They have a number of different chants and songs including a different one for each player when they come up to bat. Their is a stage in the middle of the crowd with cheerleaders that lead everyone in the movements and chants, and EVERYBODY takes part in it. Every person in the stadium seems to hang on and react to every single play, it was incredible. Even the kids were seriously focused on the game. One of the player's intro music for whenever he came to bat was "Shots" by LMFAO and the entire crowd would scream out "EVERYBOOODY" along with the song haha (this is Korea remember). It was all so much more thrilling than American baseball, where fans for the most part passively watch the game transpire (barring the occasional "wave" which is idiotic anyway). It was like soccer crowds but in baseball, and it made for the funnest ball game I've ever attended. I'm going to find going to American baseball games boring now I think.
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