SABR Asian Baseball Research Committee Blog

Asian Baseball History and Culture is Our Passion

Category: Korea

  • San Jose Asahi’s 1925 Tour of Japan and Korea

    San Jose Asahi’s 1925 Tour of Japan and Korea

    by Ralph Pearce

    Every Tuesday morning we will post an article from SABR’s award-winning books Nichibei Yakyu: Volumes I and II. Each will present a different chapter in the long history of US-Japan baseball relations. This week  Ralph Pearce discusses the Japanese American San Jose Asahi’s 1925 tour of Japan and Korea.

    The San Jose Asahi Baseball Club was one of a number of Japanese teams to organize in Northern California between 1903 and 1915. Other cities to organize early teams included San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, and Florin. The name Asahi means Morning Sun in Japanese and was a popular team name. San Jose’s first Asahi team was made up of Issei (first-generation immigrants) players and lasted only a few years. In 1918 one of the former Issei players encouraged a young Nisei (second-generation) fellow, Jiggs Yamada, to reconstitute the team with Nisei players. Jiggs, a catcher, enlisted the assistance of 15-year-old pitcher Russell Hinaga, and the two soon put a team together.

    Unlike the Issei players, these young Nisei players were bom in the United States and had attended English-language schools with a largely Caucasian enrollment. Because of this, both a generational and cultural gap existed between the Issei and Nisei. Through the shared love of baseball, Nisei teams like the San Jose Asahi helped bridge this divide. In the early 1920s, a sympathetic newspaper columnist in San Jose, Jack Graham, encouraged the Asahi to extend that bridge by participating in games outside the Japanese leagues. This participation drew the larger San Jose community to the Asahi Diamond in Japantown, and there Caucasians began to mingle with Japanese Americans, helping to establish familiarity and friendship.

    Another bridge in the making was the growing baseball friendship between the United States and Japan. Japan’s enthusiasm for the game had been spreading since its introduction in the 1870s. The tradition of international baseball exchanges began with Waseda University’s 1905 tour of the American West Coast and continues to this day. This friendship through the two nations’ shared love of baseball helped foster cultural appreciation and understanding.

    San Jose’s opportunity to visit Japan came in 1925 at the invitation of Meiji University, whose baseball club had toured the United States the year before. The timing couldn’t have been better for the Asahi; several of the players—Jiggs Yamada, Morio “Duke” Sera, Fred Koba, and Earl Tanbara—were anticipating retirement from the team. It was agreed that they would stay with the Asahi until their return from Japan.

    It is believed that Meiji University provided some funds for tour expenses, though much of the burden was on the team and its Issei supporters. The first obstacle was the cost of transporting 17 passengers to and from Japan. Jiggs Yamada explained how this was accomplished:

    Well first, we had to get some way to go to Japan. A boat was the only thing we could get. We happened to have a boy, Earl Tanbara. … Tanbara’s folks, mother and father, worked for the Dollar Steamship Company family in Piedmont. So when he graduated high school, we had his father talk to Mr. Dollar and ask him if he could do us a favor. He said, “Sure, as soon as Earl [goes] to Cal [Berkeley] and graduated, he’s got to work for me at the steamship company.” They were going to open up an agent in India. So he said, “Sure, if he promises to do that, I can have him going on our boat to Japan.” .. .So that’s how we got to go to Japan on a boat. People figured it was funny how we got to go to Japan . because at that time the steamship boat was expensive.

    A few days before departure, Asahi supporter Seijiro Horio gave $800 to Nobukichi Ishikawa, the team’s treasurer. This appears to have been the primary funding source for the team’s trip.

    Jack Graham publicized the coming tour to Japan in a number of articles. On March 18, 1925, the day before the team departed, he wrote: “There will be a big delegation of fans in attendance and a bumper crowd of Japanese fans will be on hand to see their favorite sons in their final game in this city. The Asahi team will sail on Saturday for Japan, where they will play a series of games in the flowery kingdom. On their return, they will stop in the Hawaiian Islands, where they will play seven or more games. It will be the latter part of June before they return. The Asahi team has made many friends in this city by their gentlemanly manner in playing the national game, and whenever they stage a game here there is always sure to be a big turn-out.”

    The next day, Graham ran a column praising the Asahi and encouraging local pride in the team as representatives of San Jose. A large photograph of the team ran at the top of the sports section, remarkable in that images of local teams rarely appeared in either American or Japanese American papers at the time. The caption read in part: “The Japanese Asahi baseball team will leave San Jose on the first leg of its joumey to the land of cherry blossoms this morning, when it takes the train to San Francisco where it will stay until Saturday, when it will embark on the President Cleveland for Japan.”

    The team members making the trip to Japan were pitchers Jimmy Araki and Russell Hinaga; catchers Ed Higashi and Jiggs Yamada; first baseman Harry Hashimoto; second baseman Tom Sakamoto; third baseman Morio “Duke” Sera; shortstop Fred Koba; third baseman-outfielder Sai “Cy” Towata; outfielders Frank Takeshita, Frank Ito, and Earl Tanbara; and utility players Jitney Nishida and Jimmie Yoshida. While the team was in Japan, the strong Asahi “B” team continued to play in San Jose against teams of its caliber. Asahi Diamond was also made available for use by other local teams and management of the diamond was temporarily turned over to locals Happy Luke Williams and Chet Maher.

    The Asahi, along with the trip’s manager, Kichitaro Okagaki, and its treasurer, Nobukichi Ishikawa, left San Francisco on March 21, 1925, and a little over two weeks later they arrived in Japan, giving them about a week to recover before their first game. When the team arrived in Japan, Earl Tanbara purchased two Mizuno baseball scorebooks. Earl kept meticulous track of each game, including dates, locations, and the names of all the players.

    The Asahi played their first game on Thursday, April 9, against their hosts Meiji University. They lost 8-2 with Araki going the distance on the Meiji grounds. The Asahi played their second game on Saturday, April 11, against Waseda University. They were playing better now, though they lost in a 12-9 slugfest. Russ Hinaga and Jimmy Araki shared the pitching chores, Frank Ito got a double, Harry Hashimoto had a triple, and Cy Towata and Earl Tanbara hit home runs. Each side recorded only one error.

    The Asahi played their third game two days later with a rematch against their hosts, Meiji University. Jimmy Araki again pitched the entire game with Ed Higashi doing the catching. Araki was knocked around for a 9-4 loss, despite a batch of errors by Meiji. Next up—the very next day—was Keio University, another tough team. If the Asahi were ready for a win, it would have to wait for another day. Araki and Hinaga pitched the team to a 20-4 shellacking, the Asahi racking up seven errors along the way.

    Two days later, on April 16, the Asahi faced Tokyo Imperial University. Once again Araki and Hinaga teamed up. The team was sharper that day, making only one error. Harry Hashimoto hit two doubles, chalking up a run. That was the Asahi’s only run, though, to six for Tokyo and their fifth loss in five games. The Asahi played for the love of the game, but they were serious competitors and this situation was not acceptable. Jiggs Yamada explained the problem and the remedy:

    We didn’t play so good because our legs were shaking and all that and the ball was different. It was a regular size American ball, but the cowhide, it slips. The pitcher couldn’t play, pitch curves or anything and the players themselves couldn’t throw the bases, so we couldn’t play good. So finally we told the manager [Okagaki] of our team “Get us some American balls.” So they sent us a one dozen box of American balls, then we started to play different. Then we started to play our regular play.

    Teammate Duke Sera confirmed the situation, saying that after leaving Tokyo, the manager saw to it that future Japanese teams could use their own baseballs when they were in the field, and that the Asahi players would use American balls when they were in the field.

    On April 18, the Asahi played yet another strong university nine. This time it was against Hosei. Jimmy Araki took to the mound for the Asahi and despite several errors, the team finally got its first win. The Asahi won 7-4 and scored all their runs in the first three innings, thanks in part to a home run by Araki himself. The team followed up a week later with a 25-5 victory over Sendai, with Hinaga pitching and Araki sharing left field with Tanbara. The Asahi suffered another loss on May 1, against Takarazuka before beginning a 13-game winning streak.

    The Asahi had played their first six games in Tokyo against strong university teams before venturing north to Sendai. From Sendai, they headed south about 500 miles to Osaka. They played three games in the Osaka area and one game in nearby Kyoto. In the game against Kyoto Imperial University, Tom Sakamoto hit a dramatic “Sayonara Home Run” or walk-off home run in the 10th inning to win 3-2.

    From Osaka, the team headed south to Hiroshima for two games. As they traveled the country by train, they continued to accumulate wins and, more importantly, became acquainted with the land of their parents.

    One of the players, Duke Sera, had been bom in Hawaii, and then raised by his uncle in Hiroshima. His uncle had sent him to Stanford University to complete his education. When the team visited Hiroshima, Duke’s uncle held a reception for the team. According to Yamada, when the uncle met Duke and the team he quipped, “What the hell are you doing with this bunch here? You’re supposed to be studying!”

    After the final game in Hiroshima on May 12, the Asahi traveled 400 miles back to Tokyo. It was the team’s original intention to return to the United States sometime in June. Whatever plans they may have had, however, were altered upon their return to Tokyo (except for Duke Sera, who had to return to his studies at Stanford). Jiggs shared the change of plans:

    Continue to read the full article on the SABR website

    San Jose Asahi’s 1925 Tour of Japan and Korea
  • Zoom Event with Hyeonjeong Shim, former Korean Women’s National Baseball Team pitcher- November 21 at 9PM EST

    Zoom Event with Hyeonjeong Shim, former Korean Women’s National Baseball Team pitcher- November 21 at 9PM EST

    SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee is excited to host former Korean Women’s National Baseball Team pitcher Hyeonjeong Shim for a Zoom chat on November 21, 2025, at 9pm EST. The program will begin with a short presentation and a live interview hosted by Zac Petrillo, followed by a Q&A session with viewers. You must sign up below to attend.

    Hyeonjeong Shim is a former pitcher for the Korea Women’s National Baseball Team (2022) and has appeared on YouTube’s Pro Neighborhood Baseball (PDB) as well as in multiple media interviews. She is currently a Public Relations Intern at the Korea Anti-Doping Agency and a student at Kyung Hee University, majoring in Physical Education and Cultural Entertainment. She was also a member of the winning team at the 2023 KSPO Olympic Academy.

    Hyeonjeong Shim will talk about her journey/experience in women’s baseball in Korea, some background/history of women in baseball, her experiences on the national team, how she interfaces with the KBO, and what she is working on today/plans to do in the future.

    Asian Baseball Committee Meeting

    When: Nov 21, 2025 09:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

    Register in advance for this meeting:

    https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OJtLr4InQcG1EvHWcqg7Nw

  • The Uniform of Youth: The Baseball Jacket

    The Uniform of Youth: The Baseball Jacket

    by Taein Chun

    It’s been over 40 years since professional baseball took root in Korea. It’s now gone beyond being just a sport and has deeply permeated Korean daily life and culture. Traces of baseball can be found not only in the cheers and songs at the stadium but also in everyday scenes outside the ballpark. One such example is the sight of students on university campuses wearing matching jackets as a group. This jacket, called the “gwajam,” actually originated from the “baseball jacket,” and today it has become the uniform of youth. More than just a fashion item, this jacket has found its place in Korean society. But how did it get there?

    A Tradition Born with the Harvard Baseball Team

    The roots of the baseball jacket trace back to 19th-century American college baseball traditions. At the time, Harvard’s baseball team awarded its starting players sweaters embroidered with the school’s initials. These were known as letterman sweaters. They weren’t just for warmth, they were symbols of honor, proof of one’s baseball skill and achievement.

    Over time, the tradition evolved into a more practical jacket: wool for the body, providing warmth, and leather for the sleeves, offering durability against friction and wind. This combination was perfect for athletes braving cold weather on the field. At the same time, the two-tone design of wool and leather created a bold look that expressed school colors and identity. With its blend of function and symbolism, the “varsity jacket” became an iconic symbol of American college sports.

    Early Harvard baseball team in the 19th century

    The Birth of the “Baseball Jacket” in Korea

    This jacket entered Korea in the 1980s, coinciding with the launch of professional baseball. The two-tone design of wool body and leather sleeves resembled the thick warm-up jackets worn by players in the dugouts. In fact, players from the MBC Blue Dragons, one of the founding teams, were often seen wearing such jackets with their blue uniforms. This became a familiar sight to fans.

    When combined with the popular image from American dramas and movies, “baseball teams wear varsity jackets,” Koreans naturally began calling this unfamiliar jacket yagujamba (baseball jacket). Unlike its difficult English name, the simple and catchy Korean nickname stuck instantly with the public.

    MBC Blue Dragons’ trademark baseball jacket, 1987

    Baseball jacket worn by youth in the drama Reply 1988

    From Campus to “Gwajam”

    By the late 1990s, university sports teams and clubs began adopting baseball jackets as group uniforms. It’s said that Seoul National University’s rugby team was the first to make them, which is often cited as the origin of the Korean-style gwajam (short for “gwahak jamba,” or “department jacket”).The trend soon spread to academic departments, and the naming system took hold: school/department name on the front, and name/student ID/graduation year on the back. So widespread was the practice that almost every Korean university student came to own at least one. More than showing belonging, gwajam became a symbol of youth itself, carrying memories of that time.

    Matching gwajam, the uniform of youth

    Over time, the gwajam branched out into more variations beyond the original baseball jacket: long padded coats for winter, hoodies for mobility, and custom jackets for individuality. Though the forms changed, the core remained the same: wearing the same jacket together to affirm belonging and share memories. Just as baseball teams express identity through uniforms, the gwajam became another kind of uniform showcasing the collective bonds of students.

    Another Legacy Left by Baseball

    In the U.S., the varsity jacket symbolized the achievements of outstanding athletes. In Korea, however, the gwajam was reborn as an expression of group solidarity. Though its direct link to baseball seems small, the survival of the name “baseball jacket” owes much to the cultural symbolism of professional baseball in Korea.

    Baseball did not end at the stadium. Its name carried over into campus life, becoming part of the landscape of youth. Years later, when one pulls out a gwajam from the closet and wears it again, the cheers, laughter, and time spent with friends come rushing back.The name borrowed from baseball isn’t just a label, it’s proof that Korean baseball culture has deeply embedded itself beyond the game, into everyday life and memories of youth. That’s why even today, the baseball jacket remains the uniform of youth, a testament to the enduring power of baseball culture.

  • “‘No Fear’ — The Legacy Royster Left in the KBO League”

    “‘No Fear’ — The Legacy Royster Left in the KBO League”

    by Taein Chun

    The First Foreign Manager in the KBO

    At the end of 2007, the Lotte Giants needed a breakthrough to end their long slump. The team’s performance was declining, and fans’ frustration was mounting. At that time, Bobby Valentine, who was managing the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan, was asked by Lotte’s ownership to recommend a new manager. Without hesitation, Valentine introduced his longtime friend, Jerry Royster.

    Arriving in Busan, Royster became the first foreign manager in KBO history. A utility player who spent 16 years in Major League Baseball moving between the infield and outfield, he took on the Korean stage after retiring as a player and working as a coach and minor league manager. At that time, the idea of a foreign skipper was almost unthinkable, and the Korean baseball world viewed it with both curiosity and concern.When the 2008 season began, a new scene unfolded at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. With the slogan “No Fear,” Lotte declared an aggressive brand of baseball under its new manager. Fans quickly embraced the American leader, calling him simply “Royster” instead of the formal “manager.” Beyond nationality, the very fact that a foreigner was officially holding the reins of a KBO team was a symbolic milestone.

    Jerry Royster during his LA Dodgers days (1973–1975). He began his career debuting in the Major Leagues as a utility infielder.

    A Short but Powerful Three Years

    Royster stayed in Korea for only three years, but in that short time he left an indelible mark on the team and its fans. For years, Lotte had been mockingly nicknamed “8888577.” This number string represented their final standings from 2001 to 2007, mostly finishing dead last (8th place) in the eight-team league. Among fans, “8888577” became shorthand for failure and despair.

    But everything changed after Royster took over in 2008. Though Lotte never won a championship under him, the team reached the postseason three years in a row. A club long accustomed to losing now had the confidence that “we can win.” At a time when team identities in Korean baseball were fading, Lotte regained a strong identity: a team that fought until the last out, one that played bold, attacking baseball.

    After contract renewal talks broke down in 2010, Lotte fans raised funds themselves to publish a newspaper ad supporting manager Royster: ‘Why Not Royster?’

    The Philosophy of Fearless Play

    Royster’s baseball philosophy could be summed up in two words: “No Fear.” He valued bold attempts over results. Hitters were encouraged to swing aggressively, runners to take the extra base, and pitchers to trust their decisive pitch without shrinking back.

    This message, “don’t be afraid of failure,” stood in sharp contrast to the conservative, risk-averse approach typical of the KBO then, leaving a strong impression. Players experienced new freedom, and fans delighted in the refreshing style of play. “No Fear” became more than a slogan; it fused with Busan’s passionate cheering culture and grew into a symbol.

    His leadership also broke from the authoritarian style common in Korea. He shared emotions with players in the dugout and greeted fans first after games, rare sights in the KBO then. Rather than stressing authority, he emphasized communication and empathy. Asked “Who is the best player?” he always answered, “Every player is a good player.”While ordinary in the U.S., this philosophy was a fresh shock in Korea. In a culture of hierarchy, his trust-based, autonomy-driven style gave players a sense of ownership. That’s why players like Sung-hwan Jo, Dae-ho Lee, and Jae-gyun Hwang later called him a “mentor.”

    Min-ho Kang and manager Jerry Royster celebrating after a game in 2008. This photo won the Golden Photo Award at the Golden Glove Ceremony that same year.

    Royster as a Cultural Keyword

    Royster became more than a figure in the dugout, he was tied to Korean society. Even after he left in 2010, whenever a managerial change loomed, the phrase “like Royster again” resurfaced in media and fan discussions.

    The “No Fear” mantra became a cultural keyword shared across Korean baseball fandom. Even today, his name resurfaces in charity games, broadcasts, and YouTube interviews. At the 2024 Hope Plus Charity Baseball Game in Sajik Stadium, he returned as honorary manager, greeted with roaring applause as he once again shared the “No Fear” spirit. For fans, Royster remains a living presence, not just a figure of the past.

    Former manager Jerry Royster returned to Sajik Stadium for the 2024 Hope Plus Charity Baseball Game. Amid the passionate cheers of Busan fans, he once again shared the ‘No Fear’ spirit.

    A Black Leader in a Homogeneous Society

    Royster’s presence also influenced Korean society. Until the late 2000s, racially discriminatory expressions against Black people were often used casually in Korea. In 2008, a player posted a racial slur aimed at Royster on his personal SNS, which immediately sparked backlash. Unlike in the past, when such things might have been brushed aside, this time the player had to issue a public apology, because Royster was respected not just as a coach but as a leader.

    From that moment, such remarks were no longer tolerable. His presence became a real-life lesson for Korean baseball in diversity and respect, fostering an attitude of evaluating a leader beyond race.

    Royster’s impact continues today. Lotte has gone through many managers since, but every era is still compared to “the Royster years.” A style of baseball where players and fans breathe together and play fearlessly, that philosophy lives on as a benchmark beyond wins and losses. His name remains a reminder not of mere nostalgia, but of the direction Korean baseball should strive toward.

  • Preserving the History of Korean Baseball:

    Preserving the History of Korean Baseball:

    Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium and Suengui Baseball Stadium

    by Jeonghyun Won

    Korea’s First Baseball Stadium: Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium

    The history of baseball is not complete if we only look at the records of players and teams. The stadiums where the games are played are just as integral to baseball’s story. In the United States, the birthplace of baseball, the first baseball field is believed to have been Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, built in the early-to-mid 1800s. Although it no longer exists, records say that the first official baseball game took place there on June 19, 1846. Korea’s first baseball stadium also, unfortunately, no longer exists. Where one now finds Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), one of Seoul’s most famous tourist attractions, once stood Dongdaemun Stadium, the birthplace of Korean baseball. The history of Dongdaemun Stadium parallels Korea’s own painful modern history. In 1925, during the Japanese colonial era, the Japanese government constructed Gyeongseong Stadium as part of its policy to indoctrinate and control the Korean population. This was the beginning of Dongdaemun Stadium. After Korea’s liberation, the stadium was renamed Seoul Stadium.

    At that time, Seoul Stadium was the mecca of Korean sports and the beating heart of the nation. The stadium hosted the most popular sporting events in Korea, including high school baseball tournaments and international competitions like the Asian Baseball Championship. It was here that Choi Dong-won, one of the greatest pitchers in Korean baseball history, recorded an astonishing 17 consecutive hitless innings. The legendary rivalry between Kim Geon-woo and Park No-jun, one of the defining rivalries of the early professional baseball era, also began here. The very first game in the history of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) (MBC Blue Dragons vs. Samsung Lions, 1982) was held at Seoul Stadium, and in 1985 the OB Bears (now the Doosan Bears), the first KBO champions, used the stadium as their home ground for an entire season.

    But Seoul Stadium could not escape the flow of time. In preparation for the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the government built the new Seoul Sports Complex in Jamsil. Seoul Stadium lost its position as the center of Korean sports, was renamed Dongdaemun Stadium, and entered a period of gradual decline.

    Dongdaemun Stadium, aging and deteriorating over time

    High school baseball games continued to be held there, but the stadium was overshadowed by the popularity of professional baseball. To make matters worse, the decades-old facilities were increasingly shunned by players and spectators alike. In the mid-2000s, one baseball insider remarked, “The artificial turf is practically like concrete—if you make a mistake, you could get seriously injured. The dugouts are so cramped that players have to stand throughout the entire game. The bathrooms and other facilities are terrible, making things just as uncomfortable for fans[ZP1] [c2] .”[i]After years of debate, Dongdaemun Stadium finally closed its doors on November 13, 2007, following the Seoul High School Baseball Fall Championship final between Baemyung High School and Chungam High School.

    The Heart of Incheon Baseball: Suengui Baseball Stadium

    Suengui Baseball Stadium

    If one only thinks about today’s professional baseball scene, the cities that come to mind are Seoul, Gwangju, or Busan. But Incheon also has every right to call itself a “baseball city.” Records show that as early as 1897, students of the Incheon English Night School played one of Korea’s first baseball games there. Incheon Commercial & Industrial High School (now Incheon High School) even represented Korea several times at Koshien, Japan’s most prestigious high school baseball tournament, during the Japanese colonial period.

    Suengui Baseball Stadium was the site of countless memories for Incheon’s baseball-loving citizens. Built about ten years after Dongdaemun Stadium, Suengui opened its gates in 1934. During the heyday of high school baseball, Incheon High School and Incheon Dongsan High School were among the most dominant teams in the country, and Suengui Stadium was packed to capacity almost every day. Even after the start of professional baseball, fans continued to flock to the stadium. The Sammi Superstars (one of the KBO’s inaugural teams), and later the Cheongbo Pintos and the Taepyeongyang Dolphins, all used Suengui as their home stadium. However, the professional teams’ results paled in comparison to those of the legendary local high school teams. In the 20 seasons of professional baseball played at Suengui, the postseason was hosted there only four times.

    The gap between the fans’ overflowing passion and their teams’ underwhelming performance sometimes led to a rowdy, almost “hooligan-like” fan culture. While baseball fandom throughout Korea could be unruly in the early professional years, Incheon fans were considered especially intense, earning the nickname “Dowon Warriors” (Dowon Stadium was another common name for Suengui Stadium due to its proximity to Dowon Station). During Sammi’s infamous 18-game losing streak, fans once blocked the players’ bus and even demanded hearings with the team’s manager. But this passion also helped advance Korea’s fan culture. In the 1980s, before organized cheering squads existed, Suengui had an unofficial cheer captain, Mr. Kim Young-sik, who would rally the fans, lead applause, and chant the players’ names, setting the foundation for the lively cheering culture that KBO fans know today.

    Suengui Stadium later served as the home of the Hyundai Unicorns and SK Wyverns, but in 2001 it relinquished its “home of pro baseball” status to Munhak Baseball Stadium. Eventually, the site was redeveloped for a soccer-specific stadium and residential apartments, and Suengui passed into history.

    “As Long as We Remember, It Never Truly Disappears”

    Dongdaemun Stadium Memorial Hall

    Today, if you visit Euljiro 7-ga in Seoul or Dowon-dong in Incheon, you won’t find a baseball stadium. But the spirit of the ballparks can still be felt. Inside Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the Dongdaemun Stadium Memorial Hall preserves the history of the stadium and displays equipment used there. At Incheon’s Dowon Station underpass, an exhibition called the “Incheon Sports Timeline” briefly recounts the history of Suengui Stadium. Through these spaces, one hopes that American baseball fans, and fans everywhere, can gain a deeper appreciation for Korean baseball and enjoy it even more.

    [i] “Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) – Past and Present, and the Stories Buried Beneath It,” Redian (Seoul, Korea), September 6, 2019, (https://www.redian.org/news/articleView.html?idxno=136378 (last accessed September 23, 2025). 

  • ‘Tibucil’ is the barometer of Korean baseball’s popularity

    ‘Tibucil’ is the barometer of Korean baseball’s popularity

    by Taein Chun

    The SPC–KBO Collaboration: The Birth of KBO Bread

    To gauge the popularity of professional baseball in Korea, you don’t have to rely only on stadium attendance or TV ratings. Just look at the little stickers hidden inside convenience-store bread packs, known as “띠부씰 (Tibucil).” Short for “떼었다 붙이는 스티커 (tear-and-stick stickers),” the term has long been a pop-culture symbol linking generations and industries. Today, it also serves as a barometer of baseball’s popularity.

    The Seeds of a Fan Culture

    The Tibucil craze began in the late 1980s, when stickers featuring celebrities or cartoon characters were slipped inside bread packaging. Kids swapped them during school breaks. In 1999, 국찐이빵 (Gukjin Bread), modeled after comedian Kim Guk-jin, and 찬호빵 (Chan-ho Bread), named for MLB pitcher Park Chan-ho, sold 600,000–700,000 packs per day, sparking a nationwide boom. In the 2000s, 포켓몬빵 (Pokémon Bread) pushed sticker collecting to its peak.

    That generation of elementary school collectors are now thirty- and forty-somethings with spending power, sharing the habit anew with their children.

    Gukjin Bread (left) and Chan-ho Bread (right)

    KBO League Joins In: The Arrival of KBO Bread

    In spring 2025, this collecting culture fused directly with the KBO League. SPC Samlip launched “크보빵 (KBO Bread),” created with nine clubs and stuffed with 215 random baseball Tibucil across ten product types. The design encouraged fans to hunt down “내 팀, 내 선수 (my team, my player).”

    The craze was instant. One million packs sold in just three days, and 10 million in 41 days, matching the blistering pace of Pokémon Bread’s 2022 revival. The sales surge coincided with KBO’s record 10 million spectators in 2024, and projections of 12 million in 2025. Stadium fever spilled over directly into Tibucil mania.

    From Stickers to Baseball Culture

    The KBO Bread phenomenon soon moved beyond limited-edition stickers. In May 2025, SPC released a follow-up line, “모두의 크보빵 (Everyone’s KBO Bread),” featuring 180 stickers of team uniforms and 26 of national-team uniforms.

    The concept expanded, too. Popular “야푸 (yagu food / baseball food)” like chicken, nachos, and burritos were reimagined as bread and snacks: 끝내기 홈런 미트 부리또 (Walk-off Home Run Meat Burrito), 몸 쪽 꽉찬 양념치킨볼(Inside Fastball Spicy Chicken Balls), 4-6-3 카라멜 땅콩 베이스 샌드 (4-6-3 Caramel Peanut Base Sandwich). Product names themselves echoed baseball lingo, heightening fan engagement.Thus, what began as a small sticker evolved into an experience spanning culture, food, and merchandise, keeping baseball’s momentum burning.

    Everyone’s KBO Bread, released in February 2025

    Connecting Stadiums and Convenience Stores

    From the start, KBO Bread became a central marketing tool. Between March 20 and April 21, 2025, SPC ran a “크보빵띠부씰 드래프트 이벤트 (KBO Bread Tibucil Draft Event)”: post your sticker with hashtags #크보빵 and #띠부씰드래프트 on social media for chances to win a pure-gold baseball, iPad Mini, national-team uniforms, team goods, or ballpark tickets.

    Follow-up campaigns tied to 모두의 크보빵 (Everyone’s KBO Bread) included photo contests and “도감 완성 (album completion)” challenges. Convenience stores near stadiums handed out stadium-exclusive stickers. Clubs devised their own twists. The Hanwha Eagles offered the fiery 이글이글 핫투움바 브레드 (Eagle-Hot Ttuk-Ttu-mba Bread), NC Dinos sold 공룡알 흑임자 컵케이크 (Dinosaur Egg Black Sesame Cupcakes).

    This spurred a lively ecosystem: buying bread at stores, swapping duplicates online or at meet-ups, and filling feeds with proof photos and unboxing videos. Rare Tibucil fetched premiums many times over retail. Much like MLB baseball cards, but in Korea, more entwined with everyday life.

    A Sudden End After 73 Days

    But after just 73 days, the KBO Bread boom came to a halt. The reason: an industrial accident at SPC’s Siwha factory and the resulting boycott.

    SPC had already faced scrutiny after repeated workplace accidents, including the 2022 death of a 23-year-old female worker caught in bakery machinery. When another accident struck a production site in spring 2025, boycott calls surged. SPC halted production to stem the backlash, and the product disappeared.Scarcity drove prices sky-high. A Do-young Kim national-team sticker resold for ₩15,000, a Hyun-jin Ryu for ₩13,000, five to ten times retail. Ironically, the discontinuation only intensified the collector craze, birthing a new “단종템 프리미엄 (discontinued-item premium)” culture.

    Photo of KBO Bread Tibucil stickers

    What Tibucil Teaches About Korean Baseball

    The Tibucil boom revealed three lessons for Korean baseball:

    1. An affordable gateway. For under ₩2,000, kids could “own” their team or player, lowering the entry barrier compared to pricier caps or jerseys.
    2. An online–offline bridge. Though sold in convenience stores, Tibucil extended naturally into social media, secondhand markets, and stadium exclusives.
    3. A real-time popularity index. Sticker trade velocity and prices quickly signaled which players and teams were hot, providing insights for marketers.

    Even though KBO Bread are gone for now, the message is clear: small collectibles, smartly tied to fandom, can expand touchpoints, blend online and offline, and serve as live metrics of buzz. One day, another little collectible might just set Korean baseball aflame again.

  • From Monsters to Fighters: The Turf War in Korean Baseball Entertainment

    From Monsters to Fighters: The Turf War in Korean Baseball Entertainment

    By Hunhee Cho

    The KBO League has ten professional teams, but every fan recognizes an unofficial 11th team: the Strongest Monsters (now the Blazing Fighters). The Monsters first appeared on JTBC’s variety show Strongest Baseball (known to Americans as A Clean Sweep, and currently airing on Netflix). The premise was simple: retired players who had once excelled in the KBO form a team and compete against high school, university, and minor league teams. If they fail to maintain a winning percentage above .700 for the season, the program ends. The logline was straightforward, but the results were surprising.

    Strongest Baseball Shakes Up the Game in Korea

    TV shows where retired players form a team and play baseball have existed before, with Back to the Ground on MBN as a prime example. But those programs stopped at simply evoking nostalgia for legendary players. Strongest Baseball went a step further, setting a .700 winning-percentage target and giving viewers a clear reason to cheer for the team as if it were a real professional club.

    Strongest Monsters Team Roster, 2023 Season

    Strongest Baseball rewrote the playbook for Korean baseball entertainment. On game days, Jamsil Baseball Stadium – the largest in Korea, with over 20,000 seats – was sold out. Like a pro team, the Monsters had their own fight songs and sold jerseys. 

    Above all, the true value of Strongest Baseball lies in how it sparked the popularity of the KBO League. By adopting a variety show format that anyone could enjoy without pressure, it allowed viewers to naturally learn the rules of baseball. As a result, it broke down one of professional baseball’s biggest entry barriers: its complicated rules. The Strongest Monsters also faced high school teams, introducing promising young players to the audience. Fans who had supported these prospects continued to follow them into the KBO once they were drafted. From 2022 to 2024, the years during which Strongest Baseball aired, KBO League’s annual attendance rose from 6.07 million to 8.10 million to 10.88 million. In boosting the league’s popularity, Strongest Baseball clearly served as a catalyst.

    The future seemed bright, but that expectation fell apart. The Strongest Monsters roster now plays under the name Blazing Fighters, and the show’s title has changed from Strongest Baseball to Blazing Baseball. Meanwhile, the show Strongest Baseball remains, with a new roster preparing for broadcast. So, what happened in between?

    The Conflict Between JTBC and Studio C1

    The split into two programs began with a dispute between the broadcaster and the production company. The original Strongest Baseball was produced by Studio C1 and aired by JTBC. Each season began with open tryouts, and season four was no exception – until February 2025, just weeks before tryouts, when JTBC abruptly announced their cancellation.

    Studio C1 quickly countered, stating that tryouts would proceed as planned. Indeed, they did, but the incident brought the JTBC–C1 conflict into the open. The next flashpoint was production costs: JTBC accused C1 of overbilling and withholding financial records and announced it would replace the production company.

    C1 fired back, claiming JTBC had withheld live game revenue for two years without disclosing the amounts. They also declared they would continue producing the program independently. The dispute escalated into lawsuits, which are still ongoing.

    From Strongest Monsters to Blazing Fighters

    Fans’ attention shifted to the players – whichever side retained the Monsters’ core identity would inherit its fanbase. The winner was C1. Except for Sim Soo-chang and Oh Ju-won, the entire roster sided with C1. With the players’ backing, CEO Jang Si-won quickly began production on a new show, rebranding Strongest Baseball as Blazing Baseball and renaming the team Blazing Fighters.

    Blazing Fighters on the field

    Challenges persisted after the Fighters’ debut. When C1 uploaded Blazing Baseball episodes to YouTube, JTBC filed complaints, leading to repeated takedowns. The turning point came from business deals: despite legal risks, the Fighters signed a home stadium contract with the city of Daejeon, secured a uniform deal with Wilson, and sold patch ads to sponsors including Kakao Pay Securities.

    C1’s biggest win was landing a live broadcast contract with SBS Plus, a major terrestrial channel. Now, for the first time, a baseball variety show streamed games like a professional team. To top it off, C1 launched its own platform, where fans could watch Blazing Baseball without fear of takedowns. While it has generated less buzz than seasons 1-3 (because those streamed on Netflix), Blazing Baseball still sells out Gocheok Sky Dome tickets in just five minutes.

    The Trials of Strongest Baseball

    Meanwhile, Strongest Baseball has faced headwinds before even airing. Only two players from the original Monsters stayed with the JTBC version. JTBC quickly filled the roster with other retired players, but a bigger issue arose when hiring a new manager.In late June, JTBC announced Lee Jong-beom, a coach for kt wiz, as the new Strongest Baseball manager – right in the middle of the KBO season. With kt in a tight pennant race, the loss of a coach angered the team’s fans, who directed their frustration at both Lee and JTBC. Lee explained that he accepted the job because he believed “reviving Strongest Baseball will greatly advance Korean baseball,” but public opinion remained cold. Already criticized by the original fanbase, the show now lost neutral viewers as well.

    Thumbnail of the teaser for Strongest Baseball

    Strongest Baseball is slated to premiere in September, but its teaser videos are filled with more comments supporting Blazing Baseball and criticizing JTBC.

    So now the question is, will Blazing Baseball keep its old fanbase and remain on top? Or will Strongest Baseball use JTBC’s corporate power to turn the tide? Whether JTBC or C1 ultimately prevails, one fact remains: this is a turning point in Korean baseball entertainment as well as the growing popularity of the game in Korea. 

    How this saga ends could have a massive impact on whether Korean baseball continues its shocking rise and the way it will be seen on the international stage for years to come. 

  • Korea’s Journey into Organized Baseball Before the Founding of the KBO by Jongho Kim

    Korea’s Journey into Organized Baseball Before the Founding of the KBO by Jongho Kim

    The KBO League was founded in 1982. But long before its launch, baseball was already part of Korean life. From the first known instance of baseball on the Korean Peninsula in 1894 to 1981, how did Korean baseball connect with the wider world?

    The first established baseball team with a primarily Korean roster was the Hwangseong YMCA Baseball Team, founded in 1904. Philip L. Gillette (1872–1938), an American Protestant missionary, evangelized various Western sports to Korea: basketball, skating, baseball, and more. Among them, baseball captured the attention of many young Koreans. A game played by catching a ball with a large glove and hitting it with a wooden bat to score runs was unlike anything Koreans had seen before.Gillette formed the team, ordered baseball equipment directly from the United States, and trained the players himself. Their first game, against the German School team in 1906, marked the beginning of competition beyond Seoul, as the YMCA squad traveled to Kaesong, Pyongyang, and other cities to face school teams there.

    Poster from the 2002 film “YMCA Baseball Team”

    Full-scale international exchange began in 1912. From November 5 to 12 of that year, the team traveled to Japan to play a series of games against Japanese students. On November 7, 1912, they recorded their first-ever victory against a Japanese school. In an era when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, news of a win over Japan gave great encouragement to Koreans enduring those dark times.

    However, the following year, missionary Gillette was expelled, and several players were wrongfully arrested. The team was ultimately disbanded.

    Despite ongoing Japanese colonial rule, baseball persisted. In 1922, a Major League All-Star team visited Korea. In 1925, the University of Chicago baseball team and an American women’s baseball team also came to play, keeping the spirit of international baseball alive. Another milestone came on May 23, 1923, when Heo Seong, fresh from studying in the U.S., founded the Joseon Baseball Umpires’ Association, Korea’s first organized umpiring body.

    The real turning point came in 1925 with the construction of Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium (then called Gyeongseong Baseball Stadium, demolished in 2007). With a dedicated ballpark in place, numerous amateur clubs sprang up, mostly led by young Koreans.

    After liberation from Japan in 1945, eight industrial-league teams were founded: the Financial Union Baseball Team, Joseon Transportation Baseball Team, Gyeongseong Electric Baseball Team, Joheung Bank Baseball Team, Namsun Electric Baseball Team, Joseon Electric Baseball Team, Samguk Coal Baseball Team, and Jungang Industrial Baseball Team. In the fall tournament of 1946, six more teams joined – such as the Post Office (Communications Bureau) Baseball Team, the Railway Bureau Baseball Team, and the Seoul City Bureau Baseball Team, further expanding the industrialz`-league ecosystem.

    Even during the post–Korean War slump in baseball, change was in the air. In 1956, a Zainichi Korean student team visited from Japan, followed by a Japanese industrial-league team in 1961. These exchanges opened the door for Japanese players to come to Korea, and for Korean players to go to Japan’s professional leagues.

    One famous case was Baek In-chun, a former industrial-league player who joined Japan’s Toei Flyers (now the Nippon-Ham Fighters). In the opposite direction, Kim Sung-keun came from Japan to continue his baseball career in Korea’s industrial league. Whereas industrial teams before the 1960s were mostly run by public institutions, Korea’s rapid industrialization in the 1960s–70s saw banks and private companies forming and operating their own corporate teams.

    Industrial-league baseball reached its peak in 1975, the year the Lotte Giant (precursor to today’s Lotte Giants) was formed. These industrial teams didn’t compete in a regional-franchise-based league like modern pro teams; instead, they were company teams made up largely of employees, operating in a kind of workplace baseball system.It wasn’t until the spring of 1982 that professional baseball, the KBO League, officially began. While industrial-league baseball gradually faded into history after that, baseball as a sport became deeply woven into everyday Korean life.

  • Diary Reference Pushes Earliest Date of Baseball in Korea to 1894.

    Diary Reference Pushes Earliest Date of Baseball in Korea to 1894.

    As many sources still list 1896 as the earliest known baseball game in Korea, the SABR Asian Baseball Committee has decided to call attention to this 2016 article by baseball historian Patrick Bourogo that provides evidence that the game was played in Korea as early as 1894.

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/sports/20160329/baseball-in-korea-goes-back-further-than-you-might-think

  • How to Follow Asian Professional Baseball

    How to Follow Asian Professional Baseball

    by Zac Petrillo, Jerry Chen, and Rob Fitts

    So how can English speakers follow Asian baseball? There are now numerous ways to track professional baseball in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan even if you don’t read the native languages. Let’s look at each country in turn.

    Japanese Baseball (NPB)

    Just five years ago, it was difficult for English speakers outside of Japan to follow NPB, but now there are so many ways and sites to follow Japanese baseball that I can only list a small number here. Numerous sites post daily results, standings, and statistics on the web. Some sites that I find useful include the official website of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB.jp), yakyucosmo.com, proeyekyuu.com, baseball reference.com, and flashscore.com. Japan-baseball.jp, the home page of Samurai Japan, contains schedules, rosters, scores, and information on all the national baseball teams. Those seeking more advance statistics may want to look atNPBstats.com and Delta Graphs which have incredible databases of traditional and sabermetric stats covering the entire history of Japanese professional baseball.The r/NPB group on Reddit is the most active social media site in English dedicated to NPB, with thirty-one thousand members in 2024. Members post game scores, standings, video highlights, and links to stories on other platforms. It is also a great place to ask questions about the game, learn how to buy tickets, find memorabilia, and read about other topics. One can also browse Japanese-language sport sites, such as Sportsnavi, and individual team sites and use a translation Ap, although I have not had much luck with this approach as the translations are often poor.


    A great resource for following Japanese baseball is japanball.com, the home for the baseball tourism company JapanBall. Their site includes pages featuring each NPB team and stadium, articles on the history of the game and current players, exclusive interviews, current NPB news, game schedules and statistics, and information on their organized tours of Japan. You can also sign up for weekly updates on NPB via email. 

    One of the easiest ways to follow NPB is by subscribing to select YouTube channels. Pacific League TV Official is a Japanese-language channel that contains over twenty-two thousand videos, including game highlights, player profiles, and much more. Pacific League Marketing also has an English-language channel called Pacific League TV, with nearly two thousand videos. The channel contains highlights, features on top Japanese and foreign players, archived games with English commentary, a podcast, and my favorite: the top-ten plays of the week.

    There are two other can’t-miss YouTube channels for English-speaking fans. The Gaijin Baseball channel is one of my favorites. It contains about one hundred videos on the history of Japanese baseball. The stories are well researched and often contain compelling narratives with great graphics. This is the best place on the web for a beginner to learn about the history of the game in Japan. JapanBall has recently started a YouTube channel which contains updates of the current season as well as features on individual players and selected topics.

    In July 2025, former NPB and KBO player David McKinnon along with journalist Jasper Spanjaart created Pacificswings.com. This site features video discussions of Asian baseball along with interviews of current and past players.

    Full games, albeit with Japanese commentators, are also available. Pacific League games are easily viewed on Pacific League TV, a subscription service run by Pacific League Marketing that provides live games and archived games dating back to 2012. As the name suggests, the service only contains games from the Pacific League, along with interleague games held in Pacific League ballparks. Besides the games, the Pacificleague.com website contains thousands of videos, including game highlights, player profiles, news, and feature stories and league and player stats. The website and the games are in Japanese only, but there is an English-language page providing directions on how to join and navigate the site. As discussed above, Pacficleague.com also runs two YouTube channels, one in Japanese and one in English.


    There is no single location to watch Central League games, but one can subscribe to various teams’ streaming channels or subscribe to a Japanese cable TV package. For example, Nozomi provides over eighty Japanese channels, allowing one to watch many Central League games both live and archived for two weeks after the initial broadcast. Programs can also be recorded. More information on watching Japanese baseball games can be found in this excellent article on japanball.com. 

    Korean Baseball

    For English-speaking baseball fans, following the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is easier than ever, thanks to a growing number of platforms offering games, highlights, and stats in English or with minimal language barriers.

    The most comprehensive way to watch KBO games live in the U.S. is via SOOP, which streams every game live with Korean commentary. While it lacks English audio, it’s perfect for fans who want real-time access to all matchups.

    For English-language coverage, the best option is the KBO Channel on Plex. Each day, one game is streamed live with Korean play-by-play, followed by a 24/7 replay stream of recent games, all featuring English AI commentary. This makes it easy for fans to catch up at any time and follow the season in their time zone.

    If you prefer highlights, the official KBO YouTube channel is a reliable source. Although entirely in Korean, it features medium-form highlight packages for every game, with key hits, big strikeouts, full innings, and significant moments. The visual focus makes it easy to follow even without understanding the commentary.

    For real-time stats and box scores, MyKBO Stats is the top destination for English speakers. Created by Dan Kurtz, the site provides live box scores, team and player stats, and historical data going back to 2013. It’s a must-bookmark for serious fans. You can also follow Kurtz on X (formerly Twitter) for regular updates and news.

    For those looking for deeper analytics and historical data, STATIZ is a goldmine. Though the site is in Korean, it works well with browser-based translation tools and offers advanced stats and box scores all the way back to the league’s founding in 1982. It’s ideal for fans interested in diving into the numbers behind the game.

    A few Korean news organizations provide KBO coverage in English. The most notable is the Yonhap News Agency, which regularly publishes game recaps, player profiles, and league developments. Their best-known KBO reporter is Jee-ho Yoo, a respected Seoul-based journalist and KBO expert whose work is a go-to resource for international readers.

    Social media is another excellent way to stay connected. The X account “KBO in English” is run by an English-speaking fan based in Korea and offers regular updates and fan-friendly insights. It’s a great way to build familiarity with the league, players, and teams from a Western perspective. Also worth following is Daniel Kim (@DanielKimW), a bilingual baseball analyst who became widely known during ESPN’s KBO coverage in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    While KBO content is still largely in Korean, English-speaking fans have options to follow the league. SOOP delivers every game live, Plex’s KBO Channel provides English commentary and 24/7 replays, MyKBO Stats covers real-time stats and historical data, and STATIZ offers deep analytics for those willing to use browser translation. Add in highlight reels on YouTube and fan-run social accounts, and there’s a whole ecosystem ready for English-speaking fans to dive into Korean baseball.

    Taiwanese Baseball (CPBL)

    Founded in 1989, the CPBL is more popular than ever, having recently benefited from the completion of Taipei Dome in 2023 and Taiwan’s Premier12 championship in 2024. The league currently consists of six teams who play most of their home games in six stadiums across the country:

    • CTBC Brothers – Intercontinental Stadium, Taichung (YouTube)
    • Fubon Guardians – Xinzhuang Stadium, New Taipei (YouTube)
    • Rakuten Monkeys – Rakuten Taoyuan Stadium, Taoyuan (YouTube)
    • TSG Hawks – Chengcing Lake Stadium, Kaohsiung (YouTube)
    • Uni-President Lions – Tainan Municipal Stadium, Tainan (YouTube)
    • Wei Chuan Dragons – Tianmu Stadium, Taipei (YouTube)

    Taiwanese baseball has very limited English-language coverage. The best source currently is the CPBL official website, which publishes real-time box scores, season schedule, standings, team rosters, and stats in English. Besides the CPBL website, the only major resources for English speakers are:

    • CPBL Stats – news and stats in English; the site’s X account (@gocpbl) regularly posts news and video clips
    • r/cpbl on Reddit – predecessor to CPBL Stats and a good place for updates and questions
    • The Taipei Sun – a newer initiative to cover Taiwanese baseball, including players abroad, in English

    To watch CPBL games, fans can stream via Twitch (available for some teams only) or purchase a CPBL TV subscription from HamiVideo. As of July 2025, subscription plans for home games for each team are ~$2.70/month, or for all games ~$10.30/month. CPBL Stats has an English Guide to CPBL TV that is a bit dated but should still be helpful.