In 2004 the South Korean government virtually abolished Saturday hours for the average working person. It was the last member of the OECD to do so.
While the concept of a mandated six day working week is difficult conceive in many countries it highlights the sometimes incomprehensible transformation that the South Korean economy, and thereby its society, has undergone in just the past half-century or so. Baseball, like any other part of recent Korean culture must also be viewed through this same prism.
I use this to frame a recent trip I took to Daegu Baseball Stadium, home of the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) champion Samsung Lions. Built in 1981 the stadium predates the league itself, and looks it. Presumably it was modeled after many of the cookie cutter stadiums built during the 1970s and 80s in the United States. On first glance it even�looks like a toy�version of Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium. The place sits just over 13,000 people, has an Astroturf surface and a broad circular design.

It’s a small park, and in difference to the cookie cutter stadiums, it was not built as a multi-purpose stadium. Although the sight-lines are pretty good as the lower boxes don’t need to be swiveled to accommodate football or soccer.
Here’s a�Google Earth look at Deagu Baseball Sadium here
I arrived with a friend 30 minutes before game time. We sat in the outfield seats where there are family boxes, or more accurately, tables for four. The outfield borders a strip of old metal shops, the kind one might still find in old rust belt areas of the Midwest of America. The kind of shop so grimy and old that if you peak inside, you�ll find the back of the shop seemingly disappears into a black hole.
These sorts of places served as the backbone for the Korean economy during the late 60s, through the 70s and into the 80s when then dictator Park Chung-heediversified the economy, slowly shifting it�s export economy from the manufacturing of textiles, (like athletic shoes) toward heavy industry–steel, automobiles and of course the electronics, produced first and foremost by Samsung that now dominate the global marketplace.
The smell of industrial gas and paint thinner is a bit much for us and we quickly move down, 10 rows back on the third base line. Korean baseball tickets go for about $6 and are first come first serve save the reserved seats behind home plate that cost $3 more.
There is a maximum of 200 people in the stadium. It�s a Wednesday evening and there�s rain on the forecast, which might partially explain the low turnout. But, like most Japanese league teams these days, most of the Korean league teams are operating at a loss. This is part of the reason why that, despite the fact that the Lions putting themselves in a position to become champions for the third consecutive season, and are the closest thing to the Yankees or Yomiuri Giants in the KBO, they are not even close to getting a new stadium. The teams are more willing to operate at a loss than franchises in MLB or the NFL would be.�Here, having a�sports team is mostly part of a company’s proud�brand image. Cities, on the other hand, are often less excited to put up the funds for such branding. In several Korean markets baseball is marginally popular, but the companies that own the teams care little.
At 5:50, as cheerleadersare readying a table for a pregame award presentation, drops begin to fall. A downpour ensues. By 6:20 the game is cancelled.
My friend and I take cover near a concession stand. Several people selling chicken, squid and, now, “rain clothes,� see us from their posts outside the stadium. They are joyfully screaming at us, offering whole friend chicken for $4 and then $3 each as the downpour continues.
Korean baseball officials waste no time in canceling games. This might be a holdover from the maximum 12 inning rule that was only modified in 2006 to allow games to continue beyond four hours. If the game endures a one hour rain delay, the game must be completed in less than three hours. If you�ve ever seen a Korean league game you know that five pitcher innings are not out of the question. Games rarely finish under three hours.
When the KBO was founded in 1984 the country was still under an military rule. Korean policemen carried rulers and stopped citizens on the street to measure the length of men�s hair or the hem of women�s skirts. A 10 p.m. curfew was still somewhat enforced, though as the years went on it became midnight.
But a holdover from the curfew was a time and inning limit placed on professional baseball games. Games exceeding four hours were called immediately. If a game was still tied after 12 innings it went into the books as a tie.
The rule recently changed when a best-of-seven championship became best-of-nine because due to tie games ending in ties. Now playoff games may go 15 innings and there is no time limit.

The rain at the stadium became so hard people couldn’t leave. One group started to gather inside the reserved section so my friend and I headed in there. The apartments beyond the outfield wall were completely hidden under a blanket of rain.
My friend and I live in Busan, home of the Lotte Giants. Typically the Giants stink and this year has been no exception. Much like the San Francisco Giants the Lotte Giants have one guy (Lee Dae-ho) who can hit the ball a mile, surrounded by a bunch of aging veterans and substandard young players who would struggle to start for other teams in the league. To underline this fact Lee has hit 22 of the team’s 56 HR. He’s slugging .577 slugging and his OBP is .445.
Despite the MVP caliber numbers being put up by Lee the Giants are seven games under .500. They have slight playoff aspirations because half the teams in the KBO move on. The night before Samsung beat them 10-0. I watch their team bus leave the parking lot three minutes before the game is called.
While we�re sitting waiting for the rain to subside I tell my friend about a YouTube clipI recently saw detailing one of the greatest games in Korean Baseball history, played in the same Daegu Baseball Stadium, between Samsung and Lotte in 1999.
It was the elimination game of a hard fought series. At the time Samsung had yet to win a championship. The Giants were led that year by Felix Jose, who in 1991 hit .300 and was an all-star for the St. Louis Cardinals.
In the top of the 6th inning with Samsung leading 2-0 Jose hit a monster solo shot to center. As he rounded third he was pelted with several objects, including an egg right between the eyes. After nearly throwing his helmet into the stands Jose was restrained by both players and police and returned to the dugout. But then a minute later Jose broke free and ran back on the field brandishing a bat, which he waved in the air before throwing it at the taunting fans.
The game was halted for nearly an hour as fans littered the grounds with trash. While being escorted off the field by security Jose tried to throw his equipment bag into the stands. He received a five year ban from KBO play for the incident, but had such an impressive season he was signed by the New York Yankees for the 2000 season. He only managed 29 plate appearances that season and finished the league in Mexico before being signed in by the Diamondbacks for their 2002 playoff run.
The would go one to feature three more lead changes inclduing a monster shot by Lee Seung-yeop, who several years later would break the Asian record for HRs in a single season. The Giants eventually won the game 6-5.

Eventually the rain starts to slow and we are able to leave. As we’re walking out I hear an elderly man fuming that “the team doesn’t f-ing play at the Deagu World Cup Stadium,” the 265 million US dollar stadium built for the 2002 World Cup that South Korea co-hosted.
That stadium, along with the nine others here built specifically for the World Cup, is used only for soccer and the occasional track and field event. It is not equipped for baseball, and given the number of fans attending the game we never saw, 200 fans would be quite sight in a 70,000 seat stadium.�

But this is also partly why the Lions still play at a cookie cutter model stadium from 1981. Of the 10 stadiums built for the World Cup eight of them operate at a loss. Needless to say, there aren’t many cites in South Korea eager to be putting up money for new stadiums these days. Deagu would rather spend its money on things like the world class Deagu Opera House, which sits mockingly just steps from the nearly decrepit baseball stadium.
As is the case with all baseball teams in South Korea, the Samsung Lions draw much bigger crowds for weekend games when families are better able to attend. During the week teams often play in secondary markets in hopes of drawing fans that don�t ordinarily have a pro team in their area. However, this year attendance all around the KBO is down. It would appear that Koreans everywhere have found alternative ways to spending their lengthy two day weekends.

By Aaron Shinsano