I've Made It to My Annual Ballgame

In 2009 I attended a White Sox game, in 2010 I attended a Cubs game, and in 2011 I attended a KIA Tigers game. I'd been wanting to go for a while now, but every weekend the Tigers were out of town, and my schedule doesn't allow me to go on weekdays. This Saturday they finally had a home date, so I jumped at the chance to go.

My original plan was to take a cab and go by myself, but since I didn't know anything about the stadium, I decided to ask someone who might know: Mrs. Kim's son. He's a baseball fan, so I figured he'd been to a few games in his day. He told me plenty of things about the stadium, like how much tickets cost, how early to arrive, good places to sit and all that. I appreciated his advice.

I figured that would be all there was to it, but something even better happened: he asked if he and one of his classmates could go with me. I figured "sure, why not?" It was a win-win. They got to do something on Saturday, and I got to to have some companions who could also serve as experienced guides for my first Korean ballgame. Mrs. Kim's younger son heard we were going, so I invited him to join us, giving us the full four that would make up our party.

In Korea, each team has a sponsor, though they do represent actual cities. Gwangju's team is the KIA Tigers. Their opponent was the SK Wyverns from Incheon, who've appeared in the last four Korea Series (winning three times, their only loss coming to KIA in 2009). Needless to say, it was a pretty big matchup. In case you were wondering, a "wyvern" is a dragon-like creature.

We arrived at Mudeung Stadium at about 4:30, half an hour before game time. There are actually two stadiums in the complex, one for baseball and one for soccer. We had to walk past the soccer stadium to get to the baseball stadium. We didn't spend much time standing in line before we got our tickets, and they didn't cost an arm and a leg either. 8,000 Won covered my ticket (about $8 in American money).

We ran into an unexpected delay when we went to the wrong entrance and had to navigate through a crowd of people to get to the other side, where our seats were. I remarked aloud, to no one who would understand, that it felt like something out of Spinal Tap. It wasn't a huge deal to walk to the other side, as the ballpark was smaller than most MLB parks.

We ended up in our outfield seats (not quite bleachers, but similar freedom to sit wherever) less than five minutes before the game began. This ballpark, as I said above, was much smaller than an MLB ballpark. It felt sort of like a minor league game because of the setting.

I'm certainly not complaining about the smaller venue size, as we got to be closer to the action than we would be at an MLB game. The outfield seats aren't elevated nearly as far above the field level, so I could read the left fielder's name on his uniform.

There's a lot of chanting from the crowd, often incorporating the name of the player at bat. They don't chant as much for the pitcher. Thundersticks are a big part of the stadium culture, as the accompanying noise figures into many chants (though some of us participated with clapping instead).

There wasn't much drama to this game. The Tigers scored all their runs in the first two innings, and it was more than enough for them to win, especially when they had their ace pitcher, Yoon Seok-Min, on the hill. The first inning featured two two-run homers (neither of which, unfortunately, landed in our area). In the second inning it was clear that the SK pitcher didn't have his best control, as he walked the first four batters before being pulled. KIA managed to score three runs in the inning for a 7-0 lead.

From then on it was smooth sailing. Yoon Seok-Min kept them in check most of the way (I believe he even struck out the side in the third inning). While the aforementioned fan involvement is famous in Korea, there was a bit of a lull in the middle innings. It made me feel a little less guilty about my own country's relative lack of enthusiasm that even these passionate Korean fans sat back and relaxed at points in the game.

The time between innings seemed to be significantly less than the two and a half minutes we get in the U.S. Despite that, they still managed to squeeze in several between-inning diversions, like the Kiss Cam, a beer-drinking contest, and a foot race with four people in car costumes (KIA cars, of course). They played music between innings too, but the only Western song I recognized was "Back in Black" by AC/DC.

Since the game started in the evening, the lights had to come on after the sun set.

I tried to get a video of the final out with my camera, but for some reason they just couldn't nail it down while I was filming, so I gave up. I did get a shot of the final scoreboard, though:

As you can see, those walks killed the Wyverns. Seven runs on six hits is pretty ridiculous. It's nice to see our guys (yep, the KIA Tigers are already "our guys" to me) being patient at the plate. Also note that the game ended at 7:45 after a 5:00 start time. Despite all the offense in this game, it moved at a reasonable pace that kept people from dozing off. As much as I hate it when people call our game "boring," I can understand it to a degree when the games drag on forever. A balance of fast-paced excitement and tension between pitches is baseball at its finest, and I definitely got that from this game.

After the game the boys wanted to get some autographs from the players, which unfortunately didn't happen. We did, however, get to see the Wyverns walk out to their buses in full uniform a few minutes after the game ended. I guess they must not have locker rooms inside the stadium.

The security guards shooed everyone away before any KIA players came out, so we all walked toward the exit of the complex. As we were walking, the two buses pulled out, right through the crowd. It was surreal to me to realize that last year's Korean Series Champions were in a large vehicle that I could reach out and touch if I wanted to. I'm not sure how often fans are allowed this close to team buses in America, though I have read stories about fans pelting the opposing team's bus with garbage back in the 1950's.

All in all, it was a great way to spend a Saturday. Would I do it again? Without a doubt. I haven't watched many games since I've been in Korea, but this experience of bonding with the team in a live setting may be the catalyst for me to start getting into and enjoying the Korean game the way I do with MLB.