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Published: August 5th 2007
Dropping Bombs
You ever dropped a bomb on the banks of the Han River? I have.It was only a matter of time before I played baseball in Korea. It doesn't matter if I hadn't even seen a baseball field in Korea for the first six months. I was determined to not only find one, but to suit up and get a game in (be it sandlot, amateur, or professional). It ended up being amateur. Here's the story.
The Chance Encounter
It's just another average night in Korea. I'm walking home from dinner with my brother and a Korean girl we had just recently befriended. We're in Sunae plaza where we live and I notice a gentleman across the way wearing a baseball uniform. Without hesitation I head towards the man in the uniform to ask him about playing baseball in Korea. As I'm walking I ask our Korean friend if she will come and translate if necessary. We approach the man who is with another younger guy (in street clothes) about my age. I ask the man if he plays baseball and he responds "yes." I ask if it's a professional or amateur team. The younger guy responds "amateur, very amateur." The girl jumps in and explains (in Korean) that I want to play
My bro is Number 2
My bro keeps me company in the outfield. Only the second time we've ever played baseball on the same team. The last time was 10 years ago. baseball somewhere and asks if they have any information on how I can play baseball. The man in the uniform takes one look at me (white guy, presumably American which equals potential American baseball player) and enthusiastically nods his head and points to himself. "He can play with us. What position?" I tell them that I am a pitcher and centerfielder and they get even more excited at the possibility of acquiring a new American pitcher for their team. It's really funny how they seem to have the stereotype that any American guy can play baseball better than they can simply on the fact that the guy is from America. It's completely stereotypical, but I'll explain later why I didn't break the stereotype either.
The younger guy (Eu-tae, my future teammate) whips out his cell phone and calls another guy on the team who is Korean American and speaks fluent English. I speak on the phone (with Christian) and exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses while gaining a little more information about the team and league. And like that, I'm a uniform away from being the newest member of the Bundang Weapons. (ha haa... yes... the Weapons!).
The
My Catcher and Me
This guy's hobbies include riding motorcycles to baseball games, tossing out runners trying to steal 2nd, and generally caring about nothing. Culture Factor
Here's why I wasn't able to break the stereotype that any American is going to be a better baseball player than most Koreans. It's partly because I'm good at baseball, but ultimately I believe the difference in baseball ability is a result of a difference in culture.
There's a reason why baseball is considered America's pastime and why Korea would probably have to claim Starcraft as their pastime. America is huge. Korea is tiny by comparison. America has plenty of land with which to build diamond shaped baseball fields only suitable for baseball (and softball). One of my favorite parts of flying above America is looking out the airplane window and picking out all of the baseball fields. They are the easiest thing to spot because of their unique shape. Well their unique shape makes them less practical as utility sports fields. Thus, if you have lots of people, and a little land (like Korea) then you need to be as efficient as possible in choosing how to use that land. Well, a square shaped field is much more practical than a diamond shaped baseball field. Almost every other team sport requires a generally square-shaped field.
Bundang Weapons Pregame
Pregame activities include 90% of the team smoking cigarettes, plastering on sun block, and being led in stretches by Geun-il (the guy in the cut-off shirt). Thus, in Korea, they simply don't have the room to build the necessary number of baseball fields to satisfy the desire of the population to play the sport.
The lack of fields reduces the number of Koreans that are able to play baseball as children. In contrast, the plethora of land and baseball fields in America allow practically any American child who wants to play baseball the opportunity. Thus, the average American is much more likely to have experience playing baseball, whereas the average Korean does not have this opportunity. This does not mean that the average Korean doesn't have the desire to play. On the contrary, I believe that there are tons of Korean men who wish to play baseball.
The League Situation
Our team, the Bundang Weapons, participates in three leagues: Rookie, Single, and Double League. Here's the interesting part. The difference among the leagues is the number of players that have played baseball in high school or higher. Rookie is zero, Single is one, and Double is two. That means, in the highest league (Double League) you can only play two players in the game that have played high school ball. This means that
Eu Tae is the Man
This is one of the guys I first met and probably the coolest. Hilarious dude who speaks English fairly well. everybody else on the field has never played baseball or last played in middle school! Can you believe that? There are no little leagues in Korea! Children only play baseball for their school team, and this means that very few children actually play baseball in Korea. This, however, does not mean that few Koreans want to play baseball. It simply means that when they graduate and get jobs, they have enough money to create, join, organize, set-up, and play baseball in a league of their own. There are apparently many amateur baseball leagues all around Seoul, with 10-20 teams each and 15-20 players on each team. Basically there are thousands of Korean men who want to play baseball but never got the chance to play as children. So they make up for it when they're older by forming or joining amateur baseball leagues.
The competition
Though the competition would be considered sub-par from an American perspective, I must say that the players in our leagues are surprisingly good hitters and fairly fundamentally sound considering the fact that 95% of them received no formal coaching or training. I am very impressed with the level of competition considering that at the most, 2 players on each team have played high school ball. The position that is most weakened by the lack of formal coaching is the pitching position, hence the excited reaction to my response that I was an experienced pitcher. However, after a light bullpen my first game, the coach of our team reluctantly determined that I was too good as a pitcher to be a starter. Ultimately, it is the honorable thing to do because most of these guys didn't even play in middle school, and I played in college.
So, I am only allowed to pitch one inning each game because the coach says that it wouldn't be fair to let me pitch more. This may seem a bit exaggerated, but the last game I pitched I struck out 4 guys in one inning despite there being 3 outs in an inning. (The first guy stuck out swinging at a fastball that was apparently too fast for him and the catcher to handle. If the batter swings at the third strike and the catcher misses the ball, the batter is allowed to run to first before the catcher either tags him out or throws him out. He made it safely to first base, so I had to strike out the next 3 guys to get out of the inning instead of the next two.)
I realize that it just wouldn't be fun for the other team to face a trained pitcher. See, in Korea it's not quite as much about competition and winning as it is about having fun. Every single person on the field, in the dugouts and watching the games is out there for the pure joy of it. This is the aspect of Korean amateur baseball that I cherish the most. And thus, I accept the fact that I will roam centerfield for the majority of the game leaving my pitching abilities for the last inning to be displayed more for entertainment purposes for both teams than for competitive purposes. This I accept, and this I enjoy because if there's one thing baseball is supposed to be it's fun. And I must say, I am having fun playing baseball in Korea.
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Nana Banana
non-member comment
What fun!
I'm thrilled you are both on the field again playing baseball. Owen and I enjoyed baseball in Japan in 1950. It was in it's early days! Love and Miss you....NB