Korean professional baseball games are one of most popular sports games that are watched by about eight million spectators a year. Behind this huge popularity is unique cheering culture that can be experienced in the Korean baseball league. Spectators chant some cheering words and phrases in tune with a signal sent by a leader of a cheering squad, and sing together a cheering song for each player in a tem they support. They are also enthusiastic about every single play. In addition to such special cheering culture, various events and foodstuffs offered by each stadium are the additional factors attracting more visitors to baseball games held in Korea. Fascinated by this unique Korean style of cheering, many foreigners also frequent the amusing arenas. Mark Lippert, the former American ambassador to Korea, is famous as a fan of Doosan Bears. Korea AgraFood introduces various cheering cultures you can experience in Korean baseball stadiums, food items you can enjoy there, and how to fully enjoy baseball league games in Korea. 

 

#Where to Watch Professional Baseball Games

 

There are a total of nine baseball stadiums in Korea—two in Seoul, and one in each of Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Suwon, and Changwon. In a period from the 1980s to 1990s when the Korean baseball league was found, most of seats were filled by male spectators. However, since the 2000s, there have been an increasing number of female and family-unit spectators, and there have been accordingly an increasing number of various cheering sections and events for those various visitors.

 

 

 

 

Some baseball parks in Korea such as Gwangju-Kia Champions Field, Incheon SK Happy Dream Park, and Hanwha Life Eagles Park feature lawn seating where visitors can set up tents or spread mats and they can enjoy baseball games there as having a picnic. An outfield sand park in the Champions Field in Gwangju, in particular, is transformed into a water park where children can get wet having fun in the water in the summer season. The SK Happy Dream Park is also a perfect place especially for those who visit the baseball park along with their young children because there is a kids club next to the baseball park. Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium has Rocket Battery Zone where people can enjoy both baseball and camping at the same time. There are also a growing number of stadiums operating feeding rooms such that families with babies can also make a trip to the stadiums. Besides, most of baseball parks in Korea have so-called exciting zones where spectators can have a ringside view of dynamic plays at a same eye level as the ground.

 

#Special Cheering Culture and Various Events Captivate Spectators

 

Another treat to spectators is a cheering culture for each baseball club. Among many, Lotte Giants has an outstanding style of cheering. Fans of Lotte Giants use newspapers and orange-colored plastic bags as cheering tools. They fold a newspaper in half and tear it to pieces, and then roll them up to make a unique cheering tool. They also blow air into the plastic bag and knot it at the end, and then put it on their heads. This wonderful cheering tool is created with the plastic bag which is provided by the baseball club to encourage the visitors to deal with the wastes themselves after a game. Doosan Bears has a player cheering song which has separate lines of lyrics for male and female fans. The song used to be sung together has naturally become this current one with a tacit agreement among the fans.

 

 

 

 

There are also a variety of events that spectators can enjoy. The events are usually taken place at offense-defense switch time. These include kiss time for couples, dance time to pick a spectator who dances excitingly, quick beer drinking time, and many others, providing another attraction of baseball.

 

 

 

 

#Enjoy Various Food Items on Baseball Stadiums in Korea

 

A representing food that can be enjoyed in baseball parks is so-called chimaek, which is a combined word from chicken and beer ('maekju' in Korean). Among baseball fans, the day of going to a baseball park is just recognized as the day of eating chicken. As the representing food, it comes in various types: fried chicken, seasoned chicken, boneless chicken, and popcorn chicken (dak-ganjeong). Other representing food items that can also be enjoyed in the parks include some street foods and snack (bunsik) such as stir-fried rice cake (tteok-bokki), fried food, and Korean kishke (sundae). One of good ways to enjoy these is dipping fried food and sundae in the sauce of tteok-bokki. However, as many more food items are introduced in baseball parks, the popularity of chimaek and bunsik is being divided.

SK Happy Dream Park in Inchoen features Emart Barbecue Zone where visitors can buy pork belly and rent a grill to barbecue the pork themselves. Visitors can also grill there any food ingredients they bought outside the park. The baseball park also offers King Romak Baguette Burger and Sanchez Burrito named after Jamie Romak and Angel Sanchez, foreign players of SK Wyverns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, which is one and only domed stadium in Korea, offers a popular burger set, New York Burger Dome Set. This signature set is made up with two hamburgers and two cups of beverage you choose, plus fried potato and onion, and served only at a little more than KRW 10,000. So, two can have a hearty meal at a reasonable price. Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul is lined with restaurants serving some spicy food such as fiery tripe dish (bul-gopchang), fiery pig's trotters (bul-jokbal), and stir-fried soft pork bones (odolppyeo), each of which is served at about KRW 10,000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu offers its signature set, Grand Slam Home Run Set, that you can enjoy assorted food items—flat dumplings (napjak-mandu), a famous Daegu food, and cheese rice hot dog, tteok-bokki, and fried food—all at one serving. Gwangju-Kia Champions Field offers a lunch box filled with spicy grilled pork belly with red pepper paste (gochujang samgyeopsal), which is a must-eat there. Suwon KT Wiz Park offers Jin Mi Chicken, which is fried chicken served by a famous chicken restaurant in Suwon, Jin Mi. This chicken is so popular that you have to wait for at least 20 to 30 minutes even before a game starts.

 

 

 

 

 

Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon offers spicy Nongshim garak tteok-bokki which is popular among spectators. It also offers other food and snacks such as cube steak and churros. Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium offers table-top grilled pork belly, which sells like hot cakes. The pork dish of three portions is sold at USD$ 17.6, and under the container of the pork is provided with hot packs to prevent the dish from going cold fast.

 

 

 

 

In addition to the above-described food items the baseball parks serve, there are various food including pizzas going well with cold beer, sushi and hamburger which provide you with a hearty meal, and shaved ice dessert with sweet red bean toppings (patbingsu) and fruit ade which cool off the heat on hot days, all awaiting you in amusing baseball parks in Korea.