Yagu

Seoul has three professional baseball teams (Woori Heroes, Doosan Bears, and LG Twins).  They’re better known by their corporate titles, and Doosan and LG play over east in the newer, nicer Jamsil Stadium.  Me?  I live close to Mokdong Stadium, and it’s perfectly nice but a lot smaller.  One of my bosses was a bit adamant in telling me that I should see a game over in Jamsil instead, but little ol’ Mokdong Stadium is within stumbling distance of my apartment.  So as a life-long Baltimore Orioles fan, I felt it incumbent upon me to root for one of the weakest teams in the K.B.O.: My Woori Heroes!

Dance Woori cheerleaders!  Dance I say!  Get those thundersticks a poppin!

The game was slow to build.  Korean yagu (baseball) tends to be more of a finesse game than a power one, or so I’ve read.  Less muscle, more of the fundamentals like bunting and sac’ing guys over into scoring position.  So, true to form, this game started off with a lead-off home-run by the SK Wyverns (based in Incheon).  (SK is in the bright red, Woori is in their home whites.)

Steroids in the ROK?  Probably not.  The game was a lot of fun, but a little bit of a snooze until the ninth inning when Woori staged a miraculous two-out comeback.  I was there with a fellow hagwon teacher who happens to be a Detroit fan, so between the two of us we were kind of prepared for defeat.  But hey, miracles can happen, right?

0-3 entering the bottom of the ninth, Woori pulled off some nice plays (no home-runs, despite the start of the game) and managed to pull it out against SK’s Wayguk-in closer/ringer Ken Ray (Korean teams are allowed two foreign-born players, I think).  He had great heat, but half of his pitches were in the dirt, allowing My Woori Heroes to pull off a late-season upset.  The SK fans were not amused:

They were actually louder throughout the game than the local Woori folks, and the stadium felt more like a States’ AAA game than an MLB one, but sometimes you just roll with it.  We had an ecstatic MC and go-go girls, along with being the only two waeguk-in in Mokdong Stadium screaming “Anse!” for Woori.

My friend even got an autograph from a Woori Hero before the action started:

Jang Won-Sam, #13.  A starter, he didn’t see any action this evening, but we were happy to have his autograph (on the right):

As mentioned, the game was a little dull until the 9th when the Woori bats caught fire.  A few Hite’s made the doldrums go away, as did some 2-dollar gimbap (Korean sushi):

That’d probably run about 15 bucks at Camden Yards.  Or maybe only Dodger and Angel fans can get sushi at the park these days?  I’m a little out of touch since ditching work one day in ’98 and driving to Charm City with Crazy Johnny in his busted Toyota to see the O’s at Camden listening to “Hungry Heart” the whole way.

Here’s the scoreboard at the end of the game.  As much as it was great to see underdog Woori beat up on SK, it was even nicer to see a professional sporting event that lasted under two hours (game started at six, i.e. 18:00).  No dilettante pitchers who need ten warm-up throws.  The umps were definitely in charge here.

Well, the victory made the stadium feel crowded (MC screaming, Woori booty girls dancing, Woori fans chanting, bass drums clanging) but the stadium was a little on the sparse side.  People were excited by the win though.  Everyone was having a blast, as we were all kind of surprised to see Our Woori Heroes pull off a comeback:

It would have been a more crowded experience over in Jamsil for the Doosan or LG squads, but for six bucks getting to check out some yagu with Woori was worth it, despite their less than spectacular season.  Me and my friend were well behaved enough, even after four cans of Hite beer each, and as long suffering Baltimore and Detroit fans we felt like we’d made our little contribution to Woori.  But who knows if they’ll still be around next year.  (If I’m not mistaken, they were the Hyundae Unicorns last season.  Teams get bought and sold and moved a lot more often here.)

Only three games left in the K-League season, and I’m planning on checking out at least one of them.  We made friends with a Korean kid who wanted to make sure we understood all the complexities of Korean baseball round about the fifth inning. (“Anse” is like saying “Good Job!”  “Ante” means “Hit the ball!” he taught us.)  He was too young for Hite, but dug hard on his ramyeon:

He had plenty of quality ballpark vittles to choose from:

Great night out.  Probably my favorite so far.  And a cheap one at that. (Two dollar beers, two dollar grub, and no hassle for bringing in any other food or surreptitious bottles of soju as far as I could tell.)

Chuka Hamnida Woori Heroes!  Whether you like it or not, you’re my yagu squad from now on!

I’m looking forward to checking out some Korean soccer as well, but given the fact that Korea is now the Olympic champion in baseball, I won’t stray too far from yagu.  Or Woori, since they’re now My Heroes.  (That’s what the signs tell me, and I not going to question it.)