Take Me Out to the Ball Game

            On Sunday afternoon, July 17^th, we all went to a long awaited baseball game in the neighboring town of Busan. Busan is the second largest city in Korea and home to the Lotte Giants, one of eight Korean baseball teams. Lotte is the name of a Korean shopping store much like Target in America and the other teams are also corporate names such as Kia, LG, and Samsung. The Lotte Giants were playing the LG Twins of Seoul.

            Before getting to the stadium Ashley (Ed’s daughter who was also visiting), Courtney, Ed, and I drove to Changsoo Lee’s house in another section of Busan. Traffic was lighter than normal so we took the elevator to the 23^rd floor and surprised him and his family at their front door. After a quick tour of his apartment we were back on the ground and walking to the subway. The Subway was about 800m from his house and another 800m after getting off at the stadium. It was very hot outside so the air conditioned subway was a great way to relax before the game.

Waiting for the next train

One of the four major subway lines

Massachubatts!

            Outside the stadium there were almost a hundred vendors selling food and drinks to bring inside. The food ranged from fried chicken to sushi to pizza. The drinks were the typical assortment of water, beer, or soju. W 10,000 later I had my ticket in hand and was walking into the stadium. For a $10 ticket I was convinced I’d be at the top of the bleacher seats but we were right off third base about 20 rows up. Walking up to our seats there were people selling newspapers that had nothing to do with baseball for only a few pennies. The fans tear the papers and make little cheerleading pom-poms with them.

Outside the stadium

Unju (Min Gu's friend from college) and her newspaper pom-pom

            The Samsung employees went off to purchase the group some beer and drinks and they came back with quite the surprise. For themselves they bought fried chicken and for us Westerners we were given pigs feet. The bones were removed and the feet were sliced into ¼” thick rings, skin and all. They were pretty tasty but very fatty. Some Hite beer was passed around and it was game time.

Pigs Feet

I gave Jongil a $1 tip for handling the food and drinks all game. It was the first USD he'd ever seen.

            Along first baseline there were cheerleaders for the Lotte Giants that sang and danced all game. Behind us on third baseline there was the LG cheering section and they had some drums and whistles to show their support. It took some time to get used to the soccer-game style, drumming chants and the random whistles. The stadium was smaller than an MLB stadium and reminded me of a AAA stadium with seats in the outfield. Along the stands there were tall, thick nets so the only way a fan could catch a ball is if it went at least 30 feet high before going out of bounds. The nets obstructed the view of the game and also took some getting used to. The seats didn’t face the infield; they were perpendicular to the foul line, so in order to see the batter a good 30 degree neck turn was in order.


Home Plate



The scoreboard

             The fans for both teams really get into the game. Not a single home run was hit all game but if a blind person were watching the game they’d think the score was in the hundreds. Foul balls, pop-fly’s, and grounders all got the same level of attention as an MLB grand slam. When the game was in the later innings and it was time to call in a relief pitcher, the Lotte Giants drove him from the bullpen to the pitchers mound in a Mini Cooper. I thought it was a special 7^th inning stretch gimmick, never did I expect it to be driving the pitcher to the field. At this point the Samsung crew left to get us “popcorn” and returned with dried squid. They showed us how to eat it and it was like seafood jerky only ten times chewier than any beef jerky in America. After three strips of squid my jaw was too tired to keep chewing.  To help clean up after the game they hand out a ton of plastic bags that are the home teams color. The fans blow them up and wear them as hats for the last few innings. Think of it as a korean rally cap.

Excited for my popcorn



My jaw was feeling it on this piece of squid



The relief pitcher and his Mini Cooper

Rally hats

The gang



The gang with our rally caps

     The Giants ended up losing but just getting to see a Korean baseball game made it worthwhile. After the game we took the Subway back up to Chang Soo Lee’s apartment and all conversed over some Korean fried chicken and adult beverages. Sunburned and tired from the baseball experience I slept like a baby that night.

Courtney and I in Masan, the town next to Changwon, the day before