Learn Korean Baseball Culture
- 민서 이
- 2024년 4월 4일
- 2분 분량
Finally, it's time for baseball! Are you enjoying your baseball season? For me, it has been so fun to watch both KBO and MLB games. Especially, Junghoo Lee is rocking the MLB with his amazing hits and had his first homerun last week. Also, my favorite player in Kiwoom Heroes, Juhyoung Lee, has just recovered from injury and had a successful comeback game on April 2nd. Today, I like to talk about some of the unique features of KBO.
Amazing Bat Flip
Have you ever heard of “Bat Flip?” It is the action of a batter throwing the bat after hitting the ball, which is considered rude behavior in MLB, but not in the KBO. In MLB, it is considered an act of provoking the pitcher, leading to throwing an empty ball or, in extreme cases, bench-clearing. However, in Korea, bat flipping is considered a type of performance.
Koreans call Bat Flip ‘Ppadeon(빠던)’, which stands for ‘Ppatta deonjigi’. The word “Ppatta” comes from the Japanese word ‘バット’, which is pronounced ‘Batto’. When a player hits a home run, they throw the bat as a kind of performance. Just as each player has a different batting form, each player has a unique bat flip style.
Cheering Anthems
Cheering culture is very famous in Korean baseball. Cheering for one's team indeed is the same all over the world, but Koreans’ cheering culture is truly passionate.
In KBO, there are a lot of cheering anthems. Each team has a lot of cheering songs, and the cheerleader leads the cheering, encouraging fans to cheer out loud for the team. There are even dance moves to the song and they provide tutorials on their Youtube channel. Not only are there cheering songs that suit each situation, but each player also has their own cheering song. It makes people shout players’ names which makes fans feel affection for the team and loyalty to the team. Also, each team comes up with their unique cheering items such as small bats, clappers and more. For instance, KT Wiz even made an official light stick for cheering.
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