Ballgame #2

Several years back I read a thread on a baseball message board where the members were talking about going to baseball games alone. Ever since then, I wondered what it would be like. Since I didn't have to go to work yesterday, I decided that the time was right for me to try it.

If you recall, last time I went I took three of my students with me. This time I didn't have to keep an eye on any kids, so I was able to do whatever I wanted. Quite frankly, it was freeing. I was able to take in the entire experience and pay close attention to the game. I also got a good seat because I arrived at the ballpark an hour before game time. I was in the seats above the home dugout, which is where all the cheers are led from. It was fun being part of a big, mad mass of KIA Tiger rooters.

I think the baseball experience in Korea is reminiscent of the early days of MLB. The fans are really into the game, and they even sing songs and do special cheers for every starter (though they do seem to have some generic cheers that can be appropriated for more obscure players). Many of the cheer songs use the melodies to other songs, such as "Smoke on the Water," "Mamma Mia," "Pretty Woman," "Saturday Night" (at least I think that's what it was. The Bay City Rollers classic has a very popular melody) and "La Bamba." Their second baseman's cheer is even done over the main synth riff to Jang Yoon-Jeong's "사랑아," which I recognized instantly.

Here's a video so you can get a feel for it yourself:

If you have a sharp ear you might catch my comments, including an imitation of the umpire from Ken Griffey Junior Presents Major League Baseball: "Foul!" The Tigers' first baseman was actually a former Cub, Choe Hui-Seop (as I prefer to romanize it), better known as Hee Seop Choi to America. You can see him get an RBI groundout in the above video (he's #23).

Both starting pitchers were actually American. The Tigers' starter was Anthony Lerew, formerly of the Braves and Royals, while the Lotte Giants' starter was a former San Francisco Giant, Ryan Sadowski. Neither one was particularly good, though the same could be said for pretty much any pitcher in yesterday's game.

Check out the final scoreboard:

Perhaps it's difficult to read, but the Giants scored 11 runs on 16 hits, one error and 7 walks. The Tigers scored 7 runs on 11 hits, one error and 16 walks. Besides poor run prevention, the thing that killed the Tigers was stranded baserunners. How do you get on base 25 times and only score 7 runs?

Some memorable moments? There were several in this slugfest:

Tigers' starting right fielder Shin Jong-Gil misplaying the first batter of the game's drive into a leadoff triple. He would be removed after striking out in his first at-bat.

Choe Hui-Seop getting casually tagged out by the catcher when trying to score from second on a bases-loaded single.

Back-to-back homers from Giants Bak Jong-Yoon and Gang Min-Ho.

Two middle-aged men sitting near me starting chants when a certain Giant player came up to bat (I'm not sure if I was hearing them correctly, as my understanding and comprehension of Korean is obviously limited, but I believe these chants were insulting in nature), eventually stopping when another man came over and hit them with one of his Thunderstix. It was all in good fun, but it seemed like things were getting nasty when the Giant player got hit with a pitch during their chant.

A Tiger batter coming up with the bases loaded and hitting a long drive to the right field corner that just barely landed foul. Everyone around me was cheering as if it had been fair, but I was confused, because it looked foul to me the second it hit the ground. I was wondering if my eyes had deceived me until everyone settled down and realized it had been called foul.

Every time it seemed like the Tigers were getting close, the Giants would open up the gap again. During the seventh and eight innings, a lot of people left. Being a true baseball fan though, I stuck it out to the end, along with many other diehards, and we were nearly rewarded.

As you can see by the line score above, the Tigers lost by four, but they scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs they actually had the bases loaded, meaning a home run would tie it. The Tigers sent up pinch-hitter Jeong Sang-Gyo, who hit a deep warning-track drive that looked like it was going to go for a few seconds before landing in the left-fielder's glove. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

Earlier today I watched highlights of the game on TV. I kept going "yeah, I remember that," except I was seeing it from a different angle. I have to say that watching baseball on TV is much different than watching it live. On TV everything seems to happen so quickly, but at the ballpark every time the bat makes contact with the ball is a moment of tension. Will it fall for a hit? Will it get through the infield? You just don't know. It's more exciting that way.

Even though my team lost, it was one of the best days at the ballpark I've ever had. It was fun to have a baseball outing all to myself. Maybe if I get the chance I'll do it again sometime.

My Day as Ron Santo

This Saturday I did a little traveling, and I also got to live out some athletic fantasies as well. All in all, it was one of the most eventful days I've had in Korea. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning...

A few weeks ago I talked to this guy at church who told me he and some of his friends get together about once a month to play baseball in the city where he used to work. I told him I'd never been much of an athlete, and that my last several experiences playing sports had been bad, so I'd quit trying to pretend I belonged on a field. He in turn told me that their games were friendly and informal, and that no one cared if you weren't good. Second base was a beer cooler, and the ball was a tennis ball, so it was far from meeting any sort of official regulations. I told him if that was the case, then I'd be willing to announce my unretirement from all athletic endeavors.

Last week I talked to him again, and he told me that they were planning to play this weekend, so I told him I was in. I went for coffee with another friend of mine after church that same day, and he'd been asking me to play catch with him for some time. I went out and bought an inexpensive mitt so we could play catch, and it worked out well, because I was able to use it for the game on Saturday.

I had to wake up early on Saturday so that we could catch an 8:30 bus. It was my first trip to the bus terminal since I first arrived in town. I had no idea the terminal was right by a big shopping mart I frequently visit. Shows you how much I get around this city.

It turned out that my friends (the guy and his wife) had some friends whose young son was in the hospital, and we were going to have to make a detour to visit him first. I was cool with that, because after all, some things are more important than baseball. The boy is apparently doing better since he's been in the hospital, but his situation is still unpredictable. I hope the little guy gets back to full health. He seemed like a nice kid.

We thought we would miss the beginning of the game due to the detour we took, but fortunately, we didn't. After we got off the bus we ran into some other people who were on their way to the game, and about nine of us walked up the mountain together to the field, where they hadn't begun playing yet.

This field was actually a sand lot soccer field next to a school, and it had tons of wide open space for us to play on. As my friend told me, the ball was a tennis ball, and second base was a beer cooler. We had more than nine players per side, and the pitcher was actually a member of the batting team (who would let someone else pitch when his turn in the order came up).

You want to talk about a loose game? I'll give you loose. Some of the conditions we played under were as follows:

• Most of the people there were drinking, so their alertness and coordination weren't at 100%.
• Several of the players were girls or foreigners from non-baseball-playing countries, and they had only a basic knowledge of the rules.
• Running from second base was optional, and hence, there was no force at third. Yes, it was patently ridiculous.
• We frequently forgot the batting order, so for simplicity's sake we'd just decide who was batting right then and there.
• On many plays there was no catcher (because there were concrete steps right behind home plate to serve as a backstop, and the catchers would frequently take breaks), so runs would score because there was no one covering home.
• Breaks between side changes often lasted 10 minutes or so (which was kind of frustrating for a gamer like me, but I was a good sport about it, because it was only semi-competitive).
• A few players on each side wouldn't have gloves when their team was fielding.
• There were no pitches called for balls (since there was no umpire), so you couldn't draw a walk. You either hit the ball or struck out. A pitch could only be called a strike if you swung and missed.
• A ball hit off the school wall was an automatic homer.
• The ball had to be hit past the pitcher or it was basically counted the same as a foul ball. Of course, since the pitcher would be a member of the batting team, he wouldn't actually field his position.

Yes, this game would've made an umpire cry. How did I do? Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly, as I was one of the few not consuming alcohol), I played pretty well on both sides of the ball. My memories might be boring to those who weren't there or don't care about baseball, but doggone it, I had a great time, and I want to brag just a little.

Hitting:

I got several hits, and being a switch-hitter, I batted whichever way I felt like at the time. It was actually cool to realize I was one of the few people there who could bat reasonably well from both sides. Being a natural righty, I have a smoother swing from that side, but I was able to do OK lefty. I'm pretty sure my official batting record would've been 3-for-5, with one time reaching base on an error (there were tons of errors in this game, more on that later). For that error I actually made it to second on a dropped infield popup and later scored. I think the out I made was a flyout.

I batted lefty the first two times up, and I got singles both times. The second was actually a weak roller down the first base line that I beat out, but I was willing to get on base any way I could. The third time up I batted righty and hit a line drive through the infield for a single. Unfortunately, I was the only member of my team to reach base that inning.

While I would've liked to get some extra-base hits, I didn't embarrass myself, so I'm happy. After the game ended we all hung around the field for a while. Some of the guys had an informal soccer match, and some of us other guys took batting practice. I practiced hitting from both sides, and I drilled them a lot farther than I did in the game. Perhaps next time I'll send 'em deeper.

Fielding:

Honestly, I had more fun fielding than I did batting. I wasn't needed at catcher, as there were plenty of girls who were more suited for it, and I didn't want to play the outfield due to the fact that I've always found it boring. The truth was, I'd always wanted to be...a third baseman! I told them that in tribute to Ron Santo I wanted to play the hot corner (though I was wearing my Expos cap, so perhaps I was more like Tim Wallach).

As I came to find out, third base is one of the most important positions on the field under the rules we use. Most of the players batted righty, and double plays were practically unheard of, so the second baseman (or more accurately, the people playing in the vicinity of the second base cooler) didn't carry a heavy defensive burden. All the first baseman had to do usually was catch throws from the right side of the infield.

I should get it out of the way that I made more errors than I could count, but errors were so frequent in this game that it was no big deal. The other fielders made errors just as frequently as I did, so no one was pointing the finger at me. Tennis balls are actually pretty hard to field properly. A regular hardball is heavy, so you can feel it hitting your glove and grip it just the right way. The tennis ball, on the other hand, is so light that you can't always be sure it's in your glove. There was one play where I could've sworn I'd fielded the ball cleanly, but when I went to throw it I found my glove empty.

The first batter of the game hit the ball right through my legs, but I shook it off and kept playing. I believe it was later in the inning when another grounder came my way, and I threw out the runner at first base. I remembered what my father told me about focusing on the throw, not the runner, and I can honestly say it helped me not to botch the play. There was also a runner rounding third that I threw out at home on a relay from the outfield, which was pretty exciting. Some people called it the play of the game, though in a regular game it would've been pretty routine.

I also caught several pop-ups, including one where I had to go into foul territory to make it. Seemingly inconsequential, perhaps, but given how many pop-ups were dropped in this game, it made me useful. I made an unassisted double play too, because there was a girl on third who didn't understand the rule about tagging up, so I caught a pop-up and stepped on third to end the inning.

That "no-force-at-third" rule was another reason I had to be on my toes. I was in the middle of several controversies because the rule was so bizarre as to be alien to the average baseball thinker. When there were two men who'd stopped at third, I assumed that because running from second was optional, and you could have as many people on second as you wanted, that the same rule applied to third. Nope, it turned out they were messing with me. Since I'd assumed they were both safe, I didn't bother to tag either one, so when one of them broke for home (and no one was covering the plate,) there was nothing I could do but let him score.

On another play there was a girl who reached third safely, though they weren't sure if I'd tagged her before she reached the base (I'm nearly certain she was safe). Not paying attention though, she stepped off the bag when I still had the ball and I tagged her out. We settled it through rock-paper-scissors, which I won. It's nice to know I was credited with a putout for throwing paper.

My fielding went down the drain in the second half, probably because I was getting tired and my muscles were starting to ache, but like I said, everyone else was just as bad. Our team took a two-run lead in the top half of what we declared would be the last inning, but we blew it. We actually had the lead with two outs but were unable to hold it. There was a point in the inning where I caught the ball and tagged a guy, but he successfully knocked it out of my glove, which allowed him to score. It just wasn't our day, but hey, we all had fun.

The original plan was to take the bus home that evening, but my friends convinced me to spend the night, as one of their friends allowed them to crash at his apartment. We bought toothbrushes at a nearby convenience store for our dental needs. I didn't have a change of clothes though, so it didn't feel very nice to wear the same dirty clothes two days in a row. At least I was able to shower and change once I got back the next morning, right before heading out to church. Man, was I tired though. After church I spent the remainder of Sunday resting.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I hope I'll be able to do it again.