By John Burton
In early May, ESPN, the American sports broadcaster, started showing six Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) games a week for sport-starved fans in the U.S. who had been denied the opportunity of watching local baseball games due to COVID-19.
Suddenly, Americans are rooting for the current winning streak of the NC Dinos, even though few could locate the team's home of Changwon on a map. They are also discovering the sibling rivalry of the Doosan Bears and the LG Twins who share the same stadium in Seoul.
The live KBO broadcasts normally start in the pre-dawn hours U.S. time but are repeated in the afternoon to allow U.S. baseball fans to get their daily fix.
The ESPN baseball commentators are based at their homes in the U.S. and watch the games remotely on a televised feed from Korea. The intimate broadcast set-up also creates the feeling for viewers of sitting in the stands and overhearing the conversation of knowledgeable fans as they keep one eye on the game.
It is this conversation that accompanies the games that provides lessons for American fans not only about the quirks of Korean baseball ― the current rules mandating that the KBO games be played simultaneously and ending a game at 12 innings even if there is a tie ― but about Korea itself.
The ESPN commentators discuss whether they should be referring to the Korean players by Korean name order (surname first) or the American one (surname last).
One of the commentators, Eduardo Perez, who played for the then Hanshin Tigers in 2001 in the midst of a Major Baseball League (MLB) career in the U.S., likes to tell stories about his time in Korea.
Current and former American players with the KBO and their wives are invited on the broadcast to discuss their life in Korea, which overwhelmingly gets positive reviews. One player reminiscences about going to the food stalls, or "pojangmacha," in the Jamsil parking lot after a game and meeting fans.
It serves as a reminder of the personal ties between the KBO and MLB, with about 30 U.S. players in the KBO each year and several Korean baseball stars having made their way to the MLB. And the KBO is no longer seen as a dumping ground for has-been American players. Look at the career of pitcher Josh Lindblom, the 2019 KBO's most valuable player, who has split his decade-long professional baseball career between U.S. and Korean teams and is now with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Although the KBO games are not considered of the same caliber as MLB games or even those of Japan's Nippon League, they exude a certain charm for American viewers from the energetic cheerleaders to the emotion of the Korean players.
"I've always said that MLB is like opera and KBO is like rock-and-roll," explains Kerry Maher, who is famous in Korea as the Lotte Giants' "superfan," about the passionate appeal of Korean baseball.
The stadium stands may be empty of fans, but the fact that the KBO games are being held at all is mentioned by the ESPN commentators as being the successful result of Korea containing the pandemic, an unsubtle reminder to American viewers that they can't watch MLB games because of their government's botched response to the virus outbreak.
How long the KBO games will retain the interest of an American audience will largely depend whether the MLB owners and players can reach a deal on staging a shortened baseball season later this summer. Any deal will partly depend on whether the MLB can adopt even some of the elaborate COVID-19 test protocols that KBO players must undergo.
Another factor that has benefitted the KBO is Korea's relatively small size. Players usually travel by bus, instead of by air as in the U.S., which reduces the chances of exposure to virus infections.
The pandemic has left American baseball teams struggling financially. Perhaps another lesson they can learn from Korea is allowing the teams to adopt the names of corporate sponsors, which would help raise funds. After all, many U.S. baseball stadiums already bear the name of corporate sponsors. The New York Mets, for example, play at Citi Field, named after the American banking group.
One ESPN commentator said he had decided to adopt the LG Twins as his team because he recently got good after-sales service for his LG refrigerator. With sales of Seattle-based Amazon boosted by the pandemic, will the day soon come when the Seattle Mariners will be known as the Amazon Mariners?
John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.
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Suddenly, Americans are rooting for the current winning streak of the NC Dinos, even though few could locate the team's home of Changwon on a map. They are also discovering the sibling rivalry of the Doosan Bears and the LG Twins who share the same stadium in Seoul.
The live KBO broadcasts normally start in the pre-dawn hours U.S. time but are repeated in the afternoon to allow U.S. baseball fans to get their daily fix.
The ESPN baseball commentators are based at their homes in the U.S. and watch the games remotely on a televised feed from Korea. The intimate broadcast set-up also creates the feeling for viewers of sitting in the stands and overhearing the conversation of knowledgeable fans as they keep one eye on the game.
It is this conversation that accompanies the games that provides lessons for American fans not only about the quirks of Korean baseball ― the current rules mandating that the KBO games be played simultaneously and ending a game at 12 innings even if there is a tie ― but about Korea itself.
The ESPN commentators discuss whether they should be referring to the Korean players by Korean name order (surname first) or the American one (surname last).
One of the commentators, Eduardo Perez, who played for the then Hanshin Tigers in 2001 in the midst of a Major Baseball League (MLB) career in the U.S., likes to tell stories about his time in Korea.
Current and former American players with the KBO and their wives are invited on the broadcast to discuss their life in Korea, which overwhelmingly gets positive reviews. One player reminiscences about going to the food stalls, or "pojangmacha," in the Jamsil parking lot after a game and meeting fans.
It serves as a reminder of the personal ties between the KBO and MLB, with about 30 U.S. players in the KBO each year and several Korean baseball stars having made their way to the MLB. And the KBO is no longer seen as a dumping ground for has-been American players. Look at the career of pitcher Josh Lindblom, the 2019 KBO's most valuable player, who has split his decade-long professional baseball career between U.S. and Korean teams and is now with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Although the KBO games are not considered of the same caliber as MLB games or even those of Japan's Nippon League, they exude a certain charm for American viewers from the energetic cheerleaders to the emotion of the Korean players.
"I've always said that MLB is like opera and KBO is like rock-and-roll," explains Kerry Maher, who is famous in Korea as the Lotte Giants' "superfan," about the passionate appeal of Korean baseball.
The stadium stands may be empty of fans, but the fact that the KBO games are being held at all is mentioned by the ESPN commentators as being the successful result of Korea containing the pandemic, an unsubtle reminder to American viewers that they can't watch MLB games because of their government's botched response to the virus outbreak.
How long the KBO games will retain the interest of an American audience will largely depend whether the MLB owners and players can reach a deal on staging a shortened baseball season later this summer. Any deal will partly depend on whether the MLB can adopt even some of the elaborate COVID-19 test protocols that KBO players must undergo.
Another factor that has benefitted the KBO is Korea's relatively small size. Players usually travel by bus, instead of by air as in the U.S., which reduces the chances of exposure to virus infections.
The pandemic has left American baseball teams struggling financially. Perhaps another lesson they can learn from Korea is allowing the teams to adopt the names of corporate sponsors, which would help raise funds. After all, many U.S. baseball stadiums already bear the name of corporate sponsors. The New York Mets, for example, play at Citi Field, named after the American banking group.
One ESPN commentator said he had decided to adopt the LG Twins as his team because he recently got good after-sales service for his LG refrigerator. With sales of Seattle-based Amazon boosted by the pandemic, will the day soon come when the Seattle Mariners will be known as the Amazon Mariners?
John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.
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