Cheering, singing, and chicken? Korean baseball culture 101!

Picture I took at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium for the LG Twins Game in Seoul, South Korea

안녕하세요 여러분 (Annyeonghaseyo Yeoreobun)! Hello everyone! 

It was so great to introduce myself and Korea and to hear a little about all of you last week! I really enjoyed reading all of your comments and I wanted to thank you for all your interesting questions and ideas. Last week I got quite a few comments talking about sports and what kind of sports people in Korea like, so I thought it would be fun to make a post about Korea's favorite sport: baseball. Special shout out to Giovanni who mentioned that their favorite sport is baseball! It's my favorite sport too and that is largely because of Korea. What is all of your favorite sports?

Me! At a Kia Tigers baseball game in Gwangju, South Korea.
I am holding this teams noise makers. They are super
super important for doing the cheers!

Although Korea has many different sports such as soccer, swimming, and tennis; no sport in Korea has as many fans or is quite as exciting as baseball. I think in the United States, football or maybe basketball tends to be the most popular while baseball (although still popular) doesn't have as many fans usually. Do you know any American professional baseball teams? Which team is your favorite? If not, what sports team in general is your favorite? For basketball, I like the Portland Trailblazers!

Korea was first introduced to baseball in 1905 by American missionaries but it wasn't until the 1980s  that Korea created professional teams. These days there are 10 different professional teams throughout Korea, who play matches almost everyday from March to October. My favorite team is the Gwangju, Kia Tigers because they were the first team I ever saw a game for when I studied in Gwangju, South Korea in 2018.

The rules of baseball in Korea are not any different than America, but to be honest that is not really why Korean baseball is so popular. When I asked my Korean friends why they thought it was so popular, they said it was because of the "분위기" (boon-wee-gee) or "atmosphere".  Meaning, the energy and tone that is felt when attending the game. In Korea you never just watch a baseball game, it is a full-out experience. Everyone is screaming, and singing, and dancing to special songs that were made just for each specific team. It is a little hard to simply explain so I invite you all to watch the following short clip to see what I mean!

(Fans of the LG Twins at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium Cheering)

What do you all think? Pretty exciting right? At Korean baseball games every baseball player gets their own song and the cheer master (guy on the stage with the microphone) helps to lead. In addition to the songs and cheers, the noise makers  (like the yellow ones in the picture of me) are used to do little dances with. Although the songs are really fun, unless you know Korean it can be a little hard to follow along sometimes. However, if you try your best you are bound to have a great time. One cheer that is used for every player is the word 화이팅 (hwa-ee-ting). 화이팅 is the Korean pronunciation for the word "fighting" and is used to mean "you can do it!". It is one of the most popular words in Korean and is used anytime you want to help cheer someone on (not just baseball). For example, if my friend has a test tomorrow I can tell her "fighting" to encourage her to do her best. It is a super useful word. 

Aside from cheering, the other most important part of a Korean baseball game is the food! I know many of you had questions and comments about food so you'll be happy to know that Korean baseball food is some of the tastiest! I think in America, people usually eat hotdogs at baseball games, but the most common Korean baseball food is fried chicken. Some of my Korean friends say that a baseball game is incomplete without some fried chicken. It is so popular actually that you can buy it at little stands all over the outside AND inside of the baseball stadium. You can even order fried chicken to your seat with an app on your phone! It is super tasty and honestly one of my favorite parts about going to baseball games in Korea. 

Korean fried chicken!

Anyhow, I think this post is getting a little long but I hope you all learned a bit about Korean baseball culture from my post! Do you want to attend a Korean baseball game? If you've been to an American baseball game how do you find the Korean ones to be similar or different? I'd love to know what you think in the comments below. Lastly, I'm thinking about making a post on Korean food next week. Do you know any Korean food? What is your favorite food in America? Of course you don't need to answer all of these questions and if you have any comments or questions about Korean baseball, me, or anything else please do let me know! Oh! If you can also make sure to put your name in the comments that will really help me when I reply to them later this week. 

See you all next week! 안녕 (ann-nyeong)! Goodbye!