I have been to a number of baseball games in the USA and frankly, I can't remember any of them being as exciting as the game I saw here in Korea. Sogang university arranged for us to attend a Friday night game at Jamsil baseball stadium. It actually acts as the home stadium for both the Doosan Bears and the LG Twins. This game had the Bears as the home team.
After arriving, we grabbed a quick bit to eat outside the stadium. The prices were very reasonable...they even had a small convenience store to buy all sorts of beverages and snacks. All the food we bought we were able to bring into the stadium, all bags we had were allowed into the stadium...there was no real bag check that I saw. Also, no one asked up to lift up our shirts and our pants cuffs to check for weapons. I don't think it's that they had a lack of security; I think it is that they don't really have to worry too much about violence at these large public venues.
Our seats were very close to what I will call 'the stage'. The stage area was for cheerleaders and now I need to explain how cheerleading works in Korea because it's completely different from what I have experienced in the USA.
[Cheerleading]
There was a team of 6 female cheerleaders that had choreographed dances to many songs. They included pop songs and the fan chant songs. Almost every player had a fan chant. I'm still bad at Korean but I imagine they mention hitting home runs and winning.
BUT the thing that seemed drastically different was the one male cheerleader that was dressed in full baseball garb. Besides the female team of cheerleaders, he would get up and coordinate all the cheers, fan chants, applause, etc. He had an amazing amount of energy and enthusiasm. It was also in the 80s in regards to temperature so I don't know how he didn't have a heart attack during the game. (He even did small golf-claps if the batter got a strike like saying "No worries, you'll hit next time").
[The Game]
When your team is at bat, you are on your feet fan chanting at the top of your lungs while the pitcher warms up and then as he winds up we all get quite to (hopefully) watch a hit. While the team is fielding it's not quite as crazy but there was still huge cheers for ever out. In general, it was nuts, and the crowd when completely bananas if there was a home run.
The teams' battering averages ranged from abysmal to actually quite good. The game we saw was almost all offense with the final score being 15-12. The field had the measurements in meters but it looked about the same size as an American baseball stadium...save for the amount of seats. I'm sure American stadiums cram more boxes and seats in (there were only two club boxes at Jamsil).
[Food/Drink]
Again, like the movie theater, all prices were reasonable. One of the best things I saw in the stadium was the vendor with the beer backpack (price for a glass was only KRW 3000!):
All the rest of the food and drink seemed like a much better deal than any American baseball stadium.
[Conclusion]
If you can, go to a baseball game in Korea. I was with a lot of other people from countries that don't really have baseball and they still had a fun time. The stadium is accessible by the Jamsil subway stop (at least I'm pretty sure ^^).
If I think of anything else I'll update.
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