Seoul

On Never Having Thor Around When You Need Him

Jamsil Baseball Stadium, 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Lotte Giants vs. Doosan Bears
Jamsil Stadium
Korea Professional Baseball
Seoul, South Korea
5:00 PM


Outside of the Game:
After going to bed early the night previous, I was up bright and early to find that the weather reports had not changed at all in the interim, and it looked like tonight was going to be wash-out as well. This left a bit of a quandary. If I got in the game tonight at Jamsil, I could use Sunday as a make-up to go back to Incheon. But if the game didn't get played (and 100% chance of rain for the entire day didn't make that seem likely), I'd have to go to the Bears game Sunday night and see if they played a make-up game on Monday. Who would have thought there'd be this much rain at the start of the rainy season, am I right?

I went out to get some breakfast an access the weather situation. (It turned out to be very rainy.) After booking a DMZ tour for Sunday morning, I got all my rain gear together and decided to see if the Jongmyo Shrine was open today, as Saturday was a free walk-around day without tours.

It turns out the shrine was open, and it also answered the mystery of why there were the stone walkways in the middle of everything at the historical sites: when the dirt paths turn into muddy molasses, you walk on them easily (though not on the middle one, which is reserved for the spirits). Who would have thought? Despite the weather, the temple complex was a relaxing experience, with the only complication being handling the camera in extreme rain conditions. It is, however, important to expand your skill sets.

Jongmyo Shrine

Despite my best poncho situation, I was still relatively soaked by the end of the experience, so I went back to the hotel to take a shower to warm up and change into my dwindling supply of clean, dry clothes. I had decided to go check out an antiques market, some tech marketplaces, and a fake Disneyland near Jamsil, in case the game was still going to be played if the weather magically let up somehow.

My first stop was an antiques marketplace. It was a series of buildings that had a near-infinite amount of tiny stores in them, all run by one or two people, either specializing in one type of product (books, pottery, etc), or a general range of old things for sale. The only factor that saved me from spending all of the money was that everyone I talked to only accepted cash, and a search for a nearby international cash machine proved to be a fruitless endeavor. It may not have been good for the vendors, but it saved me a lot of cash, and I managed to only spend most of the cash I had on me on various antiques.

My next stop was the Techno Mart, which was just a ten or so story store that sold everything you could want electronics-wise. The first few floors start off disappointingly with clothes and a food court, and from there on up, it is all geek, baby. Each floor was dedicated to a particular set of electronics, such as domestic personal electronics, cameras, PCs, game systems, etc. On the very top floor was a movie theater, just because. Walking around was a dizzying exercise in technical excess. Every possible variation and option was there. If you wanted that special PS2 controller that they only made in India for two years, you could buy one. Want a German after-market lens for a five year-old Canon camera? Ayup.

Doing my best not to buy anything, especially after my earlier spree, I eventually wandered out into the afternoon to get my subway to fake Disneyland when it became apparent that it was no longer raining. It took a minute or two to register in my brain. And then when it did, I realized I needed to get my butt to the stadium to see if they were going to play the game. Because if I got in the game that night, it should be clear sailing for my rain make-up the next night, thus wrapping up the baseball.

I had already been to Jamsil as the first stop on the trip to see the other home team for Jamsil, the SK Twins. This evening's contest would be to see the other team, the Doosan Bears. Since I had already been there before, I did not need as much lead-time before the game, as the obsessive-compulsive photography had already been completed.

Since I had exercised unusual foresight in selecting my rain activities, I was actually able to get to the game with plenty of time to spare, and enough time to do some baseball shopping before the start of the game. Getting a ticket was not nearly the scrum it had been the first time, and I got my seat on the first base side with a minimum amount of fuss, bother, and pantomime.


The Stadium and Fans:

Home plate to center field, Jamsil Stadium

As mentioned, I had visited Jamsil as the first stop on the Korean baseball tour, so everything was at least familiar to me. The only thing I was really taking notice of was what they did to swap between home teams. The stadium had side-by-side team stores for both teams on the outside of the stadium, so nothing changed there. For the most part, the tickets were printed up with the Bears on them and not the Twins, and all the various hanging signage in the park was switched over to the Bears instead of the Twins (Bears players, Bears team name, etc).

Happy fans

Given the rainy weather during the day, it wasn't too surprising that the stadium wasn't full. The visiting Lotte Giants still had a sizeable presence at the game, even though Busan is about as far as you can get from Seoul and still be in the country. However, there were a group of guys sitting behind me that took the proverbial cake.

There were four guys sitting in the row right above the stairs decked out in Bear's regalia that periodically got up and danced in unison while trying to look as nonplussed as possible. To be fair, if they didn't pull it off, they'd look like idiots, but damned if they didn't sell it. I actually started to enjoy them more than the official MC and the cheerleaders. I have to imagine they are well-known by the fan base. This doesn't seem like something they did just that night on the spur of the moment.

Pure awesome

The official activities for the night included the Kiss Cam, and there was yet another beer-drinking contest. This time, it was who could finish the beer fastest through a straw. They had a home and visiting fan do this, but the big joke for the evening was that both of the contestants were Caucasian. (The Bears fan won, for the curious.) The home and away fans sadly both got together for some more wave activity, repeating the regular, slow, and fast wave I saw earlier in the trip.

It is funny because they're honkies.

The home team victory was celebrated with a standard hero interview after the game. One of the honorees was the starting Caucasian pitcher, who had to come out with an interpreter. They broadcast his answers before the translation, so it was the only part of any of those interviews that I understood at all.


At the Game with Oogie:

Say hello to my little friend

Let's just cut to the chase here: I got a foul ball. After however many games in however many stadiums, I actually got a foul ball. Despite very close calls in Cincinnati and Lakewood, the simple souvenir had eluded me for all these years, so it only seems fair that once I do get one, it should be in the most improbable manner possible.

I got relatively good seats right down the first base line, solidly in the home cheering section. Perhaps because of the weather, all the seats around me weren't filled in at the start of the game. The foul ball netting in Jamsil, as in most Asian parks, runs pretty high along the baselines. There was a lefty at the plate, who clearly got around very early on some manner of breaking ball, because his hit managed to just clear the netting, and then backspin dove it down directly at my left leg, where it caromed rather painfully off my left calf before I could even blink.

It was all instinct at that point, as I managed to clamp by foot down on it as everyone within five rows started to make a dive for it. I calmly picked it up while everyone started starting at the white boy who apparently didn't realize what a big deal getting a foul ball was. I believe I was clinically in shock for a good five minutes.

Eventually, all of the seats around me were filled by late-coming fans. A teenage couple was eventually sitting to my left, and the boyfriend seemed very eager when a couple more pop flies came into our general direction. I did not have the vocabulary or the heart to tell him that if he had gotten here at the start of the game that the shot that went off my leg would have literally bounced off his chest.

That's why you show up on time, kid.


The Game:

First pitch, Giants vs. Bears

There was a lot of scoring in what was a relatively quick game. And all that scoring was in tight bunches, and then fields of nothing. In fact, the pattern for the game was scoring only in even innings.

For example, the first inning had one hit in the bottom of the inning and nothing else for either side. The second inning was apparently a scoring frame. The Giants started it off with a single, before a fly-out to short. The next batter up hit that foul ball that I got. (Did I mention that I got a foul ball?) He then singled to right before a walk loaded the bases. The next batter had an infield single to drive in a run, but a bizarre mess-up on a suicide squeeze and a strikeout ended it 1-0 Giants.

Not to let that stand, the Bears managed to pull-off two, two-out walks in a row, followed by a hit-by-pitch to load up the bases. A long single to right cleared the bases before a strikeout ended it 3-1 Bears at the end of two. The Giants managed to get a leadoff single to third with a sacrifice bunt and a fielder's choice, but another fly-out ended the inning. The Bears went in order in their half, and the Giants followed them by going in order in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the inning, the Bears nearly had something. A single was sacrificed over to second and stole third, and then a walk made it first and third with one out. But the runner at third tried to score on a fly -out to right but got doubled up at home to end the inning. Both sides went in order in the fifth, and Giants only had a single in the top of the sixth (that was erased on a double play grounder). The Bears, however, had some business to do in the bottom of the sixth. A one-out walk was followed by three straight singles that brought home two more runs, making the score 5-1 at the end of six.

Both sides went in order in the seventh, and the Giants had a two-out double that went nowhere in the eighth that was the only runner for either side in that inning. And then, with their last at-bat in the top of the ninth, the Giants went in order, given the Bears a 5-1 win and a complete game by their pitcher, the only one I saw in Korea.


The Scorecard:

Giants vs. Bears, 06/30/12. Bears win, 5-1.

There were a couple of odd ones in this game, as well. In the second inning, there was a run-of-the-mill 2-5-2-6-2 caught stealing when a suicide squeeze or hit-and-run did not go off as intended. There was another outfield assist in the fourth in a F9-2 double play. There were also some mild statistical anomalies in this one, with the Bears keeping a great run-hit ratio, getting three runs on one hit in the second and ending up with 5 runs on only six hits.

But most importantly, I had to come up with a notation for getting a foul ball. I put it in red in the notes section, and it was hit by the same player who got stuck in the insane rundown described above.

Did I mention that I got a foul ball?


The Accommodations:
I was at the Sutton Hotel again, and extraordinarily excited not having to move again. Going to the traditional guest house the next was going to be a short trip, and after a few days of not doing that every day, I wasn't dreading the experience as much as I has towards the middle of the trip.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2012 Korea

Seoul

On Revisiting the Capitol

Mokdong Baseball Stadium, 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Doosan Bears vs. Nexen Heroes
Mokdong Baseball Stadium
Korea Professional Baseball
Seoul, South Korea
6:30 PM


Outside of the Game:
Sometimes, I really do hate myself. I mean, really. At what point did a 7 AM train back to Seoul seemed like a good idea? For some reason, I had picked all early trains for the trip, most likely to make sure I'm getting where I'm going, but these early mornings for the first week and a half were really starting to add up. The good news, such as it is, was that this would be my last early morning train before the flight home. I was planning to be in Seoul for the rest of the trip, and outside of switching hotels once to go to the traditional inn after I was done with the baseball games, there would be no more of this madness.

My 5:45 AM wake-up call was greeted warmly and with great charity, and I started the process again of dumping all my remaining crap into my bags to get to the train station across town. I got two steps out the front door of the hotel before a taxi asked me if I wanted a ride, and, as I dragged my cement-on-a-stick bag and contemplated all the stairs I was yet to encounter, the answer quickly became, yes--yes, I do want a ride.

Busan Station, early

I zoned out in the back of the cab for the majority of the trip, paying the nice man at the station and dragging myself into the morning again. By taking a cab, I had enough time to grab some breakfast. The Loteria upstairs was opened, and I figured, why not? I groggily ordered a chicken sandwich and sat down to eat. Something was vaguely bothering me, prompting some internal discussion.

"What kind of chicken sandwich was this?"
"I think it was the 'hot chicken sandwich,' now that you mention it."
"'Hot.' Hmm. That's probably not a great idea, is it? Hey, what's that smell?"
"Oh, that? I believe it is our immortal soul being burned away by the purging fires of Hell, why do ask?"
"No reason. Hey, where's the water?"

After my breakfast, I got onto the train to Seoul and finished up my scorecard from the night before and tried to catch up on this thing, while a salaryman (or the Korean counterpart thereof) next to me furiously worked on some hand-made analog spreadsheet.

Dumped back in Seoul Station, this time it was only a short subway ride to my new hotel, which was located right in the middle of things in downtown. As this was the sixth day straight that I was dragging all my stuff around in the morning, I very much appreciated the short trip about as much as I eagerly anticipated not having to do any trip the next day. I had to leave my bags at the hotel before check in, so I went out again to do some seeing of the sights.

I wandered south of the hotel towards a big park, but I only made it as far as the very northern end, where there was Namsangol Hanok Village, a recreated traditional Korean village. Because of the great loss of Korean history and heritage due to countless invasions and wars both ancient and recent, they government gathered up some remaining extant examples of traditional and historical Korean houses and moved them all to this created "village." In addition to the houses, the village held recreations and audience participation events of Korean crafts, folk art, and other cultural events. It was all pretty interesting, but the signs that warm you to watch your head are not just there for decoration. The Koreans in the past were even shorter than Koreans now, and even though they have helpfully padded the doorways, I nearly knocked myself out by standing up to quickly going through a door and had a nice welt to remind me not to be stupid for the next day or so.

Yi Sengeop's House

There was also a giant time capsule on the grounds of the village that I walked to when I had a singular experience. As I was taking the winding ramp down to the capsule, I ran into a Korean schoolboy, who immediately launched into his English practice with me. But then, when we said the goodbyes, he immediately dashed off, which I found odd. Thinking maybe shyness got the better of him, I continued to walk down, but around the next corner, I found the boy dragging along a friend of his back in my direction, and I had to go through English practice one more time with a new student. Finally satisfied, they ran back down to the time capsule. When I eventually got down there, the adult who was chaperoning them around gave me a little bow for my perseverance, as the two boys were still excitedly talking, presumably about meeting me. It is good to be a celebrity.

I went out of the village and started to walk down to the rest of the park, when I came across the Seoul Cartoon Museum. This is on the grounds of an animation school/production company, and as anyone with some knowledge of cartoons knows, much of the animation for American cartoons (including one of my favorites, The Venture Brothers) is done offshore in Korea, where the costs are much lower than America. The museum struck my fancy, so I went in, pleased to find it was free. It was a modest affair, with some exhibits on major cartoons from Seoul on one floor and a large library/viewing area on another. The walls were lined with some exhibits, but mostly it was row upon row of animated titles, with a central with pod seats so you could watch the shows. There were one or two twenty-somethings decked out watching anime when I was there, and one woman with her family who was asking me why I was here and if I liked cartoons. The limits of my Korean didn't allow an answer of, "Well, yeah, the animation for adults such as the US Cartoon Network's 'Adult Swim' are great favorites of mine," so I went with, "Yes, very much," which seemed to be satisfactory.

Seoul Cartoon Museum

After spending some time, it was well after lunch, so on the way back to the hotel, I decided to bite the bullet and visit a McDonalds, making it about the twelfth country in which I've ordered a number 1 Big Mac Meal. As with most of the other countries, it was just like an American Big Mac, just competently executed with slightly different packaging. I also needed to grab more money at an international ATM and head back to the hotel.

#1 meal, please

Once I got checked in, I headed up to my room and immediately began getting my stuff out for tomorrow and re-packing before I realized that I didn't need to do that, as I would be staying in the same place for more than one day. I was filled with a profound sense of joy at that moment. I then went through my dirty clothes, hung up anything still wet, found several items in need of serious laundering, and brought them down to the front desk for laundry service on my way out to the game.

Thanks to the central location of the hotel, I only had to jump on one subway, and it was a straight shot to Mokdong. The subway station was relatively close to the stadium, so it wasn't too hard to get to there or back after the game. Although the game was a little longer than average, I still got back at a decent enough time to take a soak in the tub and watch some TV before bed, especially since I didn't have an early train to catch the next morning. Can you tell I was a bit excited about that?


The Stadium and Fans:

Home plate top center field, Mokdong Baseball Stadium

Mokdong Baseball Stadium was odd in a lot of ways. As with many of the parks in Korea, it was part of a larger sports complex, with multiple stadiums in the same area. It wasn't quite as wedged in as a lot of parks (there was plenty of space to walk around it, for example), but the outfield was right up against a major roadway. Although there was a line of trees to shield the view, right behind the way was a highway. This led to a unique feature in all the pro baseball stadiums I've seen so far. There was no outfield seating at all: no bleachers, no nothing. There was just the two bullpens and the main scoreboard. The entire of the back of the stadium was covered with a high net wall (with some advertisements worked into it, of course), presumably to protect the cars on the highway. It still struck me that an above-average blast could still clear the netting, but I suspect that is part of the reason that the trees were there, as well.

The other major talking point of the stadium was the fact that the Seoul Gun Club had a shooting range there. As I was walking around the outside of the stadium, I saw a big crowd outside an entrance gate, but that entrance gate turned out to be the gun club. It sort of boggled my mind for a while there, as it had a right to do, frankly. It makes sense, I suppose, in that the stadium is a big concrete structure, so you might as well put a gun range in it, but I imagine most of you can imagine the issues if such an idea was transferred over to the States.

Well-protected

As with Sajik, Mokdong had a tapered design, going from three rows of seats behind home plate and the baselines to one row of seats in the outfield, before stopping where the bleachers would have been. It had an upper-deck walkway in addition to the main ring around the stadium, with its own concessions and the like. The main team store was not its own room, but a concession stand in the middle of the downstairs. As with most of the teams in Korea, they didn't "over-merchandise" like the Japanese, but just had a solid selection of hats, jerseys, balls, and the like.

Heroic

The Nexen fans filled the place up on a Thursday night. Presumably because the opposition Bears were just from across town, the visiting section was filled up rather nicely as well. The between-inning festivities were the regular bits and bobs of dancing and skits, although they did have one unique contest. They had couples come up onto the stage at one point, and although I did not quite understand the rules that were explained, the contest quite clearly seemed to be to do squats while carrying your significant other. The one who did it the fastest won. I have to imagine that losing that would lead to all sorts of landmine-filled discussion in the post-event debrief between the couple.


At the Game with Oogie:

First one is the hardest

The patented map-and-mime method nearly failed me on this day. There was a bit of confusion when I was pointing to the seats behind first base, but I eventually got a ticket. When I got inside, I found out why. Except for the areas right behind home plate and on the baselines, it was all open seating, with the Japanese-style "towel on the seat" reservation system. As one of the first ones in, I thought about grabbing the best seat I could, but because I had been shooting photographs through the safety netting for the entire trip so far, I decided to take a seat higher up in the seating bowl so I could get some clear shots during the game. I took a towel out of my bag for this purpose, snagged a seat up on the first base side, and then got on with my picture taking.

In the course of doing that, I realized that the Heroes do the non-traditional arrangement of having the visiting team on the first-base side and the home team on the third-base side. After I took my pictures, I went back and retrieved my towel and trudged on over to the top of the third-base seats and found a seat in the last row behind the stage. It let me look over the net while still giving me a great view of everything else.

I was eventually joined in my perch by a group of twenty-somethings in front of me and families to my left and right. One of the kids in the families had English practice with me, but that was about the end of the interactions. Everyone was very into the game, and one guy in front of me was even watching the TV broadcast of the game on his phone while he was watching it in real life in front of him. Those wacky kids.


The Game:

First pitch, Bears vs. Heroes

This one was back-and-forth in the most extreme of ways almost from the get-go. The Heroes Caucasian pitcher no-hit the visiting Bears through four and a third innings. It didn't even look like a contest, although the pitcher was backed by two spectacular plays behind him in the field. But the Heroes weren't doing much better, although just enough to have the lead. A one-out triple in the first came home on a suicide squeeze bunt to give the Heroes a lead, but then they only had one baserunner (a hit batsman, erased on a steal attempt) through four innings.

It is said that when no-hitters fall apart, they can fall apart hard and quickly, and that was certainly the case this night. After a meek ground-out to first to start the fourth, the Bears lined a clean single to left to break up the no-no. Four more singles followed, with an errant throw by the first baseman shuffled in, resulting in three runs coming across before a double-play on a fly out to left ended the inning with the Bears now up 3-1.

The Bears had two-out back-to-back singles in the top of the fifth, but a strikeout ended the threat. The Heroes decided to make a game of it again in the bottom of the inning with a one-out triple to right that came home on an error on the third baseman on the throw in. But two quick ground outs left the score 3-2 at the end of five. The Bears had some two-out magic in the sixth, with an infield single, a walk, and another single bringing home a run. The catcher had an error on the throw home, letting everyone advance, but a ground-out to short ended it. The Bears lead 4-2.

Everyone then went in order until the eighth inning, where the Bears lead-off with a walk that made it to third on a sacrifice bunt and a fielder's choice, but got stranded by two straight outs. The Heroes had a one-out single, a walk, and then another short single to load up the bases in their half, but two shallow pop-outs ended the inning with nothing across.

The Bears had a leadoff walk to start the ninth, but it was erased on a double-play and then a ground-out ended the inning. Although the Heroes were just a run behind, their listless play did not hold much hope for the home fans. Two quick outs to start the inning seemed to confirm that script. But the three singles in a row brought in a run and had it first and third with two outs, with the score now tied. And then the opposing pitcher balked in the tying run. The home fans went crazy, and I just sat there wondering what I was seeing. But the Bears could not close this script, either, and a strikeout ended the regulation nine at 4-4.

The Bears apparently didn't want to see it go on much longer, as the top of the tenth saw a one-out single followed by a walk and a single to load the bases, and then another walk to bring in the go-ahead run. This not surprisingly lead to a pitching change, and the new hurler managed to get the next batter to pop out to first. But then he gave up another short single to bring in another run, before inducing a ground-out to end the half-inning at 6-4 Bears. After the ninth, I wasn't sure what to expect from the Heroes, but they decided to go out like chumps, going 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth and sending the Bears home 6-4 winners.


The Scorecard:

Bears vs. Heroes, 06/28/12. Bears win, 6-4.

Outside of the no-hitter excitement, there were a number of noteworthy scoring elements in this game. There was the unusual (in America at least) suicide squeeze to bring in the first run of the game. Due to the insane defensive plays to back up the ongoing no hitter, I had to knock out two gems (!) in the second and third on my scorecard. There was also an outfield assist in the top of the fourth as part of a double play (F-7-5-2). Not to mention, of course, the balking in a run in the bottom of the ninth, which was a first for me.

There were also some odd patterns throughout the course of the game. The top of the ninth went "DP 6-6-3" and "6-3." Even weirder, the bottom of the third through the sixth featured two duplicate outs each inning: 6-3 6-3 in the third, 4-3 4-3 in the fourth, 6-3 6-3 in the fifth, and 4-3 4-3 in the sixth. There were an unusual amount of assists from third base on both teams (3 and 4, respectively).


The Accommodations:

Hotel Sutton

For the first part of my last stretch in Seoul, I was staying at the Hotel Sutton, a mid- to upper-range business hotel located smack dab in the middle of the city by one of the major subway junctions. The hotel enforced their check-in time, but let me leave my bag, so I didn't get into my room until the mid-afternoon right before I was heading out to the game.

While perhaps a little on the small side by American standards, it was more than adequate for my needs. The bathroom had a combined shower and tub, and one of the toilets from the future that Asia seems to always have. There was a small desk and two chair underneath the TV across from the bed, which took up all of the opposite wall. In the little alcove between the bathroom and the bedroom, there was a refrigerator and a bunch of items you could buy. They even had some Scotch available, but due to a tragic twist of fate, it was Johnny Walker. So close, Korea, but yet so far.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2012 Korea

Daejeon

On This Is Why We Have Drills

Deajeon Baseball Stadium, 2012

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Doosan Bears vs. Hanwha Eagles
Deajeon Baseball Stadium
Korea Professional Baseball
Deajeon, South Korea
5:00 PM


Outside of the Game:
And thus began my routine of waking up early to drag all of my crap around to a new hotel and go to a game and come back to pack to get ready to get up early the next day and do it all again.

I had a relatively early train this day, and I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take to get back to Seoul station from my hotel, so I tried to give myself extra leeway, yet I managed to utterly unanticipated the amount of time and effort it would take me to make two subway transfers with all my crap. I managed to miss my train. But that ended up being for the best, and I quickly got a ticket for the next train out and was able to go grab some breakfast and catch my breath.

On the entranceway to the departing train tracks, there is a sign informing that ticketed passengers only are allowed in this area, but it is okay, they trust us. That is really nearly verbatim what the sign said. Oh you wacky, South Koreans. You can't just go around treating people like adults. Where will that get you?

It was a short train ride down to Deajeon, most of which I spent unconscious. It was a short subway ride to my hotel, which I took grumbling all the way while dragging my bag with me. The Deajeon subway system is not nearly on the scale of Seoul system, and instead of RFID smart cards for single trips, they use RFID chips that are about the size of a casino token. You get one when you pay, and then you deposit it in the turnstile at the end of the trip. Altogether a pretty nifty way of handling things, though frequent users seemed to prefer a traditional smart card that you can reload or get unlimited passes.

I dragged my bag around the street looking for my hotel for a little while, as the hotel was located in the restaurant section of town among an infinite amount of little streets. I eventually found it, and they were good enough to let me check in early. I spent some time getting everything ready for tomorrow, as this would only be one-day stay, and I was off early again tomorrow morning. Since it was a slightly earlier game today and I had learned yesterday to get there as early as three hours before the game, I didn't have a lot of time before I had to set off again.

On the way out after dropping everything off at the hotel, I asked one of the staff about directions to the stadium. He turned out to be an Eagles fan and was surprised at two things. He was firstly surprised that I was going to a game. He was additionally surprised that I thought walking the 20 minutes to the stadium was something I was going to do. He very patiently gave me directions, and even wrote down the name of the stadium in Korean (so I could ask people as I went). But even with that, he gave me the second, "Well, good luck, round eye" I had received so far in the trip.

After a few turns from the hotel, the walk to the stadium was a fairly straightforward run. It was all one long street, so I was in no particular danger of getting lost, though I was in very real danger of being baked to death. It was after the worst part of the day, sun-wise, but it was still hot, and while the direction I had to walk for the stadium wasn't complicated, it also didn't have any shops on it for most of the duration. I nearly passed up one in the early going, but had the prescience to grab a bottle of water.

I have a fairly simple and easy-to-follow flow chart on water consumption during the day for these trips: Are you drinking water?
- Yes? Good. ^
- No? Drink water. ^^

But my problem was that for the rest of the walk out there, there were just no stores I could find along the way. I figured that once I got the stadium area that there would be shops to service the sporting fans, but whether it was because it was Saturday or because it was so early before the game, none of the stores were opened. And boy, it was hot, and boy, I was not following my simple and easy-to-follow flowchart.

After a little walking, I found a coffee shop that had just opened. I bought a cookie and they sold me a bottle of water that they had in a cooler for sale to fans later. I stayed inside re-hydrating in the AC out of the heat for as long as I could before it got awkward. I then went to check on the stadium, and the ticket windows were still far from opening, so I went into a sporting goods store down the street to get stay out of the heat for a while.

Eventually, the ticket booths were primed to open, so I headed back to buy my ticket and start taking my pictures.

The way back to the hotel was a little tricky. (Spoiler alert, for anyone who cares.) It was still coming down in buckets, but I was already decked out in my clear raincoat (though I had left my umbrella back at the hotel, for some reason). I managed to get turned around and walked the wrong way down the main street for a while before I realized my error and set back off in the right direction.

Televised StarCraft

Walking into the hotel bedraggled and soaked, I probably validated every misgiving the hotel clerk had about me earlier in the day. Utterly exhausted, I went back to the room to take a hot shower and soak, hung up the rain slicker and the rest of my clothes to dry for the night, and then went straight to bed. Turning on the TV, I found out there was an entire channel dedicated to competitive video games. (South Korea has a professional video game league.) And even though I couldn't understand nearly any of it, I had to stay up to watch a Starcraft match televised, because how couldn't you, really?


The Stadium and Fans:

Center field to home plate, Daejeon Baseball Stadium

In most of the smaller cities with teams, the baseball stadiums were also correspondingly smaller than in the big cities. And many of them, as can be the case in Asia, were wedged into tiny spaces in larger athletic complexes. Daejeon Baseball Stadium was the first of these that I encountered, and it fit the bill to a tee. It was about the size of an American AA park, with one row of seats that went around the entire stadium, with a second level of seats between first and third. The premium seats behind home plate were closed off from everything, but a walkway went around the entire rest of the stadium, including the bleachers area. You can even walk behind the batter's eye and main scoreboard. There's a special Eagles fan club area in center field, presumably for members of the club.

The stadium itself was really wedged in there, and there was the tiniest of walkways that went around it in many places. And it was right up against the surrounding buildings, to the point where you could probably easily hand someone in the stadium something from the window of the building next door. I have to wonder if they ever get any noise complaints.

As with the other stadiums in Korea, you could bring your own food in, but there was a limited selection of concessions in the front and the outfield. I decided to chance it and eat inside the park. At the very front of the stadium, they had a number of concessions that included an Austrian hot dog place, which made it pretty much a gimmie for me. I bought an Austrian hot dog at a Korean park, and then promptly got a mustard stain on my shirt at a ballgame half way around the world.

Similar to Japanese teams, they do an elaborate pre-game show for the fans outside the stadium. It is run by the team MC, the cheerleaders, and the mascots. It involves dancing by the cheerleaders, and the MC and mascots leading fans in several silly games. One of them this day was a water balloon toss, which is always good for some laughs.

Pre-game dancing

Though the Bears did have some fans in attendance, it was a Eagles crowd for the most part. They were passionate and loud for most of the game, as per normal. But what really struck me was how prepared they all were when it started to rain. Anyone who's been to an American game when there's the briefest of showers knows that it is usually the cue for nearly half of the crowd to head for cover. When it started raining enough to be noticed, most of the fans just pulled out rain slickers the same way I did and continued to watch the game. Nearly no one left their seats. Even when the big downpour started, most people did not leave their seats until the umpires suspended play. The way the stadium was constructed, there was precious little places under cover from rain, so the crowd pretty much smushed in and huddled up until the rain let up.

Hiding from the rain

And when it did, the same number of seats were filled as when the rain started. It didn't seem to occur to anyone to go home. Play resumed, and the crowd leaped on right at it.


At the Game with Oogie:

Scoring in the rain

Without my Korean friend from the day before, I was on my own to get tickets for the first time. There were actually a couple of Caucasian girls two lines over from me, so I felt a little less nervous about it. Working out how I was going to ask for a ticket gave me something to do for the time I was waiting on line for a ticket. I considered the many options available to me. These eventually ranged from being a complete American about it and just holding up one finger and hoping for the best (or someone who spoke a little English), to trying out what limited Korean I had available to try and say something such as "first-base seat." As the ticket gates finally opened, I opted for something awkwardly in the middle, which was a hand-drawn infield and stadium, with seats drawn behind first base. Although this ultimately worked, it was helped by a seat map she had behind her so I could point to the appropriate section and hold up one finger for the number of tickets, and she held up fingers for how much (in thousand won) the ticket cost, and I was the proud owner of a Korean baseball ticket.

And a real hot dog

It is important to note how stupidly cheap these tickets were. The most expensive seat I had in the whole of my trip was about 18,000 won (~$15), and I was exclusively sitting between home and first for the whole trip. I can see how baseball stays so popular in Korea: It is extremely affordable. Because, remember, these were the (relatively) expensive seats (though the home plate seats at most of the stadiums were between $25-$55 dollars), and decent tickets could be had for a couple of bucks, and bad ones for next to nothing.

I was sitting again on the home-team first-base side of the field, right between first base and home. It was another packed house, and it was families everywhere, perhaps because it was a weekend. I experienced people trying out their English on me for the first time. In Japan, it is pretty obvious you're a foreigner, but socially, the country is more conservative, and people don't want to risk embarrassing themselves by making a mistake when speaking with strangers.

Boy, is that not the case in Korea. People are more than happy to use you as an opportunity to practice their English, and they are not shy about it. Not to say Koreans were obnoxious or anything, but they were not afraid to come right up to you. Which is disconcerting for me, because I know for a fact that I don't know anybody in the country, so I'm not expecting anyone to be talking to me, and it is disorienting after just getting used to hearing everything in a foreign language to suddenly get dealt some English.

Which is why it must have looked like I was ignoring one of the people sitting next to me when they kept saying "Hello" to me. I just wasn't expecting it. Eventually, I realized what was going on, and said, "Hello" back. "Nice to meet you." "It is nice to meet you, too." "Goodbye." "Goodbye. Anyeonghi haseyo." (Which was kind of weird, because Korean has a goodbye to a person staying and a goodbye person leaving, but I wasn't quite sure what to whip out when both of us were staying.) I had dozens of those conversations, or something very similar, all throughout my stay.


The Game:

First pitch, Bears vs. Eagles

This was a quick-moving little game that would have ended even faster without all the rain delays. Both sides had first-inning threats that went nowhere. The visiting Bears started the game with a single and a stolen base, but except for a one-out walk, they left the runner is scoring position. Thr Eagles did them one better with a leadoff double moved over to third on a fielder's choice, followed by a walk, who both got stranded with a shallow pop-out and a strikeout. The Bears went in order in the second, but the Eagles had a leadoff single moved over on a groundout. At this point, the misty rain that had been falling turned into a downpour, and everyone flocked to the minimal cover available as gameplay was halted. The rain delay only lasted about fifteen minutes before they started the process to play again in the now-lessened rain, where the Eagles had two quick outs to finally end the inning.

Again in the third, the Bears went in order, and the Eagles did them one better by striking out looking for their entire side. Keeping to form, the Bears went in order again in the fourth, but the Eagles finally broke through. A one-out walk was followed by a single, and a two-out walk loaded the bases before another single brought in two runs and left it first and third, with the Eagles up, 2-0. A bizarre steal attempt ended the threat.

Breaking the streak, the Bears managed a single and a stolen base in the top of the fifth with nothing to show for it, while the Eagles answered with a hit batsman and a stolen base. The Bears kept this party going with a bunt single and a stolen base in the sixth, erasing everyone with a double play. The Eagles did slightly better in their half of the inning, with a single and error on the third baseman putting two runners on with two outs, but a weak fly out to center ended the inning.

The anemic Bears managed a single and a walk in the seventh with nothing to show for it, but the Eagles jumped all over a new Bears pitcher in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back walks resulted in another pitcher being brought in to promptly give up a double to clear the bases. He almost got out of it, but gave up another two-out double to make the score 5-3 before a pop to left ended the scoring.

The Bears got a single in the eighth before the Eagles tagged on another run with a one-out walk, a double, a ground-out put the score at 6-0. The rain began to fall again in earnest in the top of the ninth, but the umpire crew seemed determine to finish up the game. The compliant Bears went in order to seal the 6-0 Eagles victory. A soggy on-field celebration followed.


The Scorecard:

Bears vs. Eagles, 06/23/12. Eagles win, 6-0.

Besides the rain, most of the game was pretty straightforward. There was another strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play in the top of the sixth, and the Eagles all struck out looking in the bottom of the third, but the only really weird play was in the bottom of the fourth. With first and third and two outs, something happened. The runner on first took off to second, drawing a throw, but when the runner at third made a break for home, he got caught in a run-down, leading to a run-of-the-mill 1-4-2-5-3 caught stealing put-out.


The Accommodations:

Dealim Tourist Hotel

I think I splurged a little when I booked this hotel, but I can't really remember all that much since it was months ago. It was definitely a business hotel, despite the inaccurate name of "Dealim Tourist Hotel." Perhaps it meant it in the "American Tourister" usage of the word.

At any rate, the place was aspiring to higher pretensions than the name would suggest to the average American. It had its own restaurant and a lavish Western-style foyer. They checked me in as early as I had shown up, and my room was a combination of Western size in Korean style. There was the traditional entry room where you have to ditch the dog wrappers, and then there was huge room with traditional wood flooring and low beds. The bathroom was a larger version of the PLEX bathroom, with a full-sized tub and free-standing sink instead of the abbreviated versions in my previous hotel. For some reason I had two beds, but that was no doubt due to my not paying attention when booking the room. There was also a larger version of the communications/beauty stand from the PLEX hotel, with a tremendous thin-panel TV on one side, a full PC DVD station in the middle, and the beauty/toiletry station on the other end.

Outside of my necessary soak in the tub after the game to keep all the parts moving, and the pit stop once I checked in to get everything ready for the next day, I didn't spend a ton of time in the room, but I enjoyed what time I did spend.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2012 Korea