In the United States, many Major League Baseball games feature long periods of silence, with cheers when there is action on the field or when the stadium organ plays a catchy tune.
But in South Korea, a baseball game is a constant sensory overload. Each player has a battle song, and the cheering squads—including drummers and dancers who stand on platforms near the dugouts overlooking the spectators—ensure that there is almost constant chanting. Imagine being on a field where every player, even a rookie, gets the star.
“You should get ready to scream,” said Kim Seongjun, 26, a fan who watched an exhibition match in Seoul over the weekend. “It’s fun to get on your feet and cheer.”
Also, the food is on another level. Think of the ballpark as a giant buffet of Korean street food.
All of that awaits the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres when they open the MLB season in Seoul this week. Here is a guide for visiting fans.
Walk into any stadium in South Korea and you’ll be encouraged to stand up and participate in cheer routines almost constantly from the first pitch to the last. Fans usually watch their respective team’s cheering squad and repeat the chants, songs and dances performed by the cheerleaders, drummers and their leader, the ‘cheerleader’.
The Korea Baseball Organization professionalized cheerleading squads in the early 2000s, in part to attract new fans. This has helped make park spaces welcoming in a country where many people work long hours and face enormous social pressures.
“Our huge cheer culture is part of why baseball is such a popular sport here,” said Jung Jihoon, 22, who led the drum section for the Padres’ exhibition game Sunday when they beat the South Korean national team Korea, 1-0.
“It’s fun to lose yourself in the atmosphere,” Jung said, sitting with his drums and bass in front of where the Padres cheerleaders danced.
To fully immerse yourself, follow the example of the ruler. Among other duties, cheerleaders write fight songs and chants and sing them during games, even when their teams are losing badly.
When the Kiwoom Heroes played the Dodgers on Sunday, Kim Jung-suk, 39, the South Korean club’s cheer master, shouted, “Home run ball! Home run ball!” Fans repeated this while rhythmically hitting empty plastic bottles and playing baseball bats together.
Every time a batter hit the ball, the crack of his bat turned the chant into a roar.
“At the level of the game, everyone can care about the Dodgers,” Kim said of the game, in which the American team defeated his team 14-3. “But when it comes to cheers, Kiwoom Heroes will not be left behind.”
Learn the race songs
Personalized game songs are played every time a player steps up to the plate. They usually feature the player’s name and a short melody.
Local fans can sing their hearts out.
Kim Soowon, 38, who watched the Heroes match with her husband and children, said the team’s songs were so easy to learn that even her 2-year-old twins knew them.
“Here, baseball games are a great place for office workers to go after work to scream,” he said.
For this week’s games, the cheerleaders spent weeks creating each MLB player’s fight song, adapted from widely recognized tunes used by South Korean teams.
Fight songs are sung when a player steps up to the plate. Then, as he squares off against the opposing pitcher, the cheerleader leads chants calling for hits — or, if the team is down, a game-changing home run.
“Octani in! Ohtani infield!” Fans chanted in Korean when Dodger favorite Sohei Ohtani hit during Sunday’s exhibition game. He knocked twice.
A dance goes with every song. Don’t worry if you don’t know the moves. Each team has a troupe of cheerleaders to show them off.
“I love the energy we send and receive when the fans follow our moves,” said Kim Hana, 25, a Heroes cheerleader. “We’ll help you learn all the dances.”
Cheering, dancing and autographs have drawn young fans to baseball who might otherwise find the sport boring. “In the age of YouTube and TikTok, it’s hard to sit through a three-hour game,” said Barney Yoo, director of international operations at KBO.
The rituals also strengthen the bond between the teams and their devoted crowds, said Bae Soohyun, 39, a cheerleader for the South Korean national team on Sunday.
“It’s an exit experience that only South Korea can provide,” he said.
Eat something new
Baseball here can be a full culinary experience featuring Korean staples like fried spicy rice cakes, braised pork trotter and “chimaek,” Korean slang for the pairing of fried chicken and beer. Many fans bring multi-course meals to their seats, while some stadiums have barbecue zones for those who want to grill.
Each South Korean dance also serves its own specialties. Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul is famous for its spicy noodles in kimchi broth. In Suwon, south of the capital, fans rave about the noodles and fried whole chicken.
And at the Gocheok Sky Dome, where the MLB season opener will be played, hundreds line up for crispy fried shrimp covered in a mayonnaise-based sauce. If you’re not afraid of spice, consider the mala sauce version for a kick.
Stay for the end
There has been some concern among officials planning this week’s games that all the chanting might annoy non-Korean players. But the exhibition games over the weekend were more subdued than a typical Korean game. This may be because the fans did not start asking for a certain result.
After the Dodgers played Sunday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters that his players did not find the cheers distracting. Instead.
“The environment, the atmosphere was great,” he said.
One aspect of Korean fan culture will be comforting to losers in MLB games. While American fans may leave early in frustration if their team seems too far behind to win, fans here usually stay put until the last out.
