A Rising Rookie of K-culture: Baseball

The pendemic sweeping the entire globe has had all ongoing sports league to a halt regardless of indoor or outdoor. Major leagues of each sport such as EPL, NHL, and NBA were not exceptions and faced disconnection from their fans as well as tremendous economical loss. Each league is looking for an appropriate period to restard its season to avoid closing it devoid of a champion. They have at least several options to consider and finish seasons in whatever way. However, there are some sports who have nothing but to waste a whole year in the worst scenario: including, baseball.

 

Major League Baseball(MLB) has been the center of baseball attracting the finest players from all over the world. In 2019, the 28.5%(251) players were listed on the starting roaster of 30 MLB teams from 20 different countries. Even if the league manages to begin the season in summer, it is quite apparent that the ratio of foreign-born players would decrease sharply due to restrictions on movenemtn and visa issues. Ryu Hyun Jin, who won National League ERA leader title in the last season, is also one of imported players from overseas. Although recently having moved a team from LA Dodgers to Toronto Bluejays to prove his competence in American League, he encountered a situation to lose an opportunity to stand on Toronto pitching mound since Canada has halted all visa issues for foreigners. If some key players have to remain outside of the field due to restrictions, the championship would be hardly credited for its original value in this season. 

 

While the birthplace got flustered in discussing future plans, Korean Baseball Organization(KBO) announced an audacious statement that Korea would be the second country to start the baseball league, following Chinese Professional Baseball League(CPBL) in Taiwan. The first game was scheduled to take place on May 05, and 144 games would be squeezed into 7 months without All-star game and suspended Tokyo Olympic break. Although the current pendemic did not allow Korean baseball fans to be present in the stadiums, they looked froward to fill up their barren life confined in housed with baseball games. Koreans were not the only people preparing for the upcoming league, but American baseball audience became busy to look for information regarding Korean baseball. Rumors swirling that ESPN might air KBO games turned out to be no longer rumors. 

ESPN color commentators invited KBO reporter Yoo Jae-ho from Yeonhap News Agency in calling live Samsung Lion and Kia Tigers game. 

KBO has created a unique style of baseball culture and incorporated aspects that did not exist in the original. One of them is widely known as 'bat-flip'. ESPN baseball reporter Dan Mullen described an act of hitters throwing their bats after hits as a form of art on which American baseball fans went wild. In contrast to relatively slow average ball speed of pitchers, aggressiveness of  both pitchers and hitters not afraid of being hit and strike out respectively contributed to fast game progress and excitement, which has been filed as a decade long problem of MLB losing popularity compared to other leagues. In addition, a cheering culture that every player has his own cheering song, including imports, came as a shock to Americans. It looks apparent that KBO has instilled freshness into American baseball life and amused desperate fans so far with its exclusive characters.

 

Alongside with rising KBO league as another BTS in viral K-culture sydrome, news, stories, and personal opinions revolving around diverse aspects of KBO as well as baseball culture in Korea in terms of a fan will be posted in this category. 

 

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ESPN brings Korean baseball as 'savior' for US baseball fans. The Korea Times, 2020 May 20,  www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sports/2020/05/662_289466.html#.XtW6ypi_O_U.link

ESPN brings Korean baseball as 'savior' for US baseball fans

ESPN deal is a good opportunity for Korean Baseball. The Korea Times, 2020 May 05,

www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sports/2020/05/662_289006.html#.XtW7T2kYkBE.link

'ESPN deal is a good opportunity for Korean baseball'

Dan Mullen. How to become a KBO die-hard: What I learned in my first two weeks. ESPN, 2020 May 16,

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29179582/how-become-kbo-diehard-learned-my-first-two-weeks

How to become a KBO die-hard: What I learned in my first two weeks