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Lee Yong-Kyu (이용규) of the Kia Tigers with Choi Jae-Hoon (최재훈) of the Doosan Bears catching
Sadaharu Oh may have been the first professional baseball player to implement a leg kick into his swing. It is a rare sight in MLB these days. Maybe Hunter Pence does one? Any others? In any event, the leg kick is fairly common to see in Korean and Japanese professional leagues.
KIA Tigers Korean cheerleaders
I previously posted the head, male cheerleader for the KIA Tigers. Today I bring you the four female cheerleaders. This seems to be the standard for all of the pro baseball teams in Korea–1 male who does the talking and 4 females who do the dancing.
KIA Tigers cheerleaders
Currently in Korean professional baseball it is standard practice to have four female cheerleaders and one male head cheerleader who has a whistle, microphone, and who does all the talking. While professional Japanese baseball teams have cheerleaders too, they are usually positioned in the outfield seats, and their voices aren’t running through speakers. In Gwangju the cheerleaders are basically on the dugout with a rack of speakers behind them so it can be really loud. Even though I didn’t understand a word he said, I will be able to remember his voice forever.
The V11 on his uniform is for “Victory 11” as the Tigers have won the Korean baseball championship a country-best ten times. I thought this was a KIA Tigers thing, but when I went to the Lotte Giants game in Busan, their head cheerleader had a V3 on his uniform. It looked pretty pathetic to wear such a thing when your competition is sporting a V with a much higher number.
Henry Sosa of the KIA Tigers
It feels like I’m stabbing my best friend in the back by saying this, but watching professional baseball in Korea (한국프로야구) is second to none. The players may not be as good as those found in Japan or as those playing in MLB, but watching a game with the crazy fans in Korea is a fantastic experience. Perhaps it is in part because I am in Gwangju and the fans for the local KIA Tigers are the craziest. For instance, when I watch a KIA Tigers away game on TV, the fans for the visiting KIA Tigers team are louder than those for the home team. When do you see that in the USA or even Japan?
Today’s photo is of Henry Sosa, formerly of the Houston Astros, who is one of two foreign players on the Tigers. Korea, like Japan, limits its foreign players to two per team. Unlike Japan, most, if not all, of the foreigners in Korea are pitchers. I have yet to see a single position player. Sometimes the starting pitching in a Korean Professional Baseball game will be foreigner against foreigner. Why? I don’t know. The Japan leader board for hitting is filled with foreigners, year after year. Josh Whitesell, Dae-ho Lee, Wily Mo Pena, Jose Ortiz, Casey McGehee, Alex Cabrera, and others have put up big numbers in Japan in recent years, but for some reason Korea seems to sign only pitchers. Maybe they feel like pitching is the area they need the most help?
Gwangju’s new baseball stadium
Let me introduce you to my bike while in Gwangju. This is Squeaky. I call my bike Squeaky because it squeaks, a lot. Squeaky isn’t a comfortable bike to ride. Nor does it do well on even mild inclines. But I’m still glad to have Squeaky as it allows me the opportunity to see much more of Gwangju than I otherwise would.
The big stadium behind the river is still under construction. It is scheduled to open for the next baseball season in 2014. They haven’t named it yet. At the KIA Tigers game I went to fans were given stickers to place on the name of the stadium they preferred. Since I can’t read or understand Korean, I’m not sure what name I voted for, but I was thanked for voting.
Crazy Kia Tigers fans
I have spent the past couple nights enjoying Korean Professional Baseball in Gwangju. The KIA Tigers are sort of the Oakland A’s of Korean baseball. They are a small market team, in an old stadium, who find ways to win. In fact, they have won more championships than any other Korean baseball team (ten). The fans are absolutely nuts. Literally, some of them are not quite right in the head. Not being able to speak Korean, I purchased a random ticket which happened to be right in the middle of the craziest of the bunch. Perhaps the ticket lady thought she was punishing me for not speaking or understanding Korean, but I had a blast (even if I did suffer some permanent hearing loss). The guy who sat behind me majored in English so he gave me a good history lesson on the Tigers and also on each of the lunatics before they came up to try to talk to me.
The KIA Tigers get a new stadium next year. You can see it being built behind left field in today’s photo.