Korean baseball?
It may sound like a local organization of some junior league, but the truth is far away.
It is a huge, successful and widespread league that even provides stars for the American baseball leagues.
Just to be clear, the top three places on the list of the richest South Korean athletes are populated by baseball players.
What is this all-American sport doing on a peninsula on the other side of the world?
Great question.
The organization of the South Korean baseball has become a world story also thanks to the corona plague.
It became one of the first major sports leagues in the world to renew competition against the backdrop of the epidemic, and when the games resumed - these became necessary broadcasts to the thirsty American audience.
The first broadcast attracted some 200,000 Americans to watch in the middle of the night, creating a wave of optimism and anticipation for the return of the sport in every form.
Their reality included surveillance apps, a strictly enforced quarantine, and months away from family.
But they went back to work.
Within three months, South Korea had moved from the second-highest number of cases in the world and from abruptly canceled training - to a full return to the activities of a professional sports league in stadiums.
The state has in fact identified, located and isolated the virus, proving that the right policy is beneficial to sports and the public as well.
This push has put Korea even further on the world baseball map, but the question still remains as to why they are so attracted to this sport.
There are, of course, other popular sports in Korea, and they include basketball, soccer, volleyball, fencing, archery and Korean martial arts.
South Koreans even take pride in their own industry, taekwondo, which they actually developed themselves towards the middle of the last century.
But even this national sport, is not one of the most popular sports here.
Baseball in particular is the most popular, and the Koreans are not alone.
In Japan, too, this sport has become particularly popular, and here too there is a rather interesting historical connection.
A foreign game
The beginnings of baseball in Korea relate to the visit of an American citizen to the region in 1903.
He served as part of the Christian Association and taught many young Koreans to play baseball.
The game gained great popularity between 1945-1910 under Japanese rule.
As early as 1927, local and regular baseball events were recorded, and since then this sport has not stopped growing in the area - despite the political upheavals it has undergone.
Today, the biggest teams in the country have huge fan teams with hundreds of thousands of spectators at every game.
One of the supposed reasons for the success of this sport in South Korea, is related to the involvement of the fans in the sport.
The organizers do everything to keep the audience busy and bounce the threshold of excitement, with sessions, music and dancing during the more boring parts of the game.
These are just some of the reasons why watching the game has become a popular national hobby.
The spectators, it turns out, point with their feet and testify - the atmosphere in the stadium is what makes the game so special.
The audience voted with their feet, Photo: AFP
Superstars
And where there is admiration for the sport there are also stars, and the greatest of them all in this field is Shin So Cho - a player who has starred for several years in the American League.
He is actually the most profitable Korean sports star of all time.
According to various reports, in 2013 Cho signed a seven-year contract with the Texas Rangers, for which he pocketed about $ 130 million.
He holds several records in the new continent, and recently returned to play in his home country.
And if Cho is at the end of his career and is over the top, there are also examples of those who are the future. Such an example could be Wen-bin Cho (no family connection), who even started playing baseball following his brother.
The promise of snacks and fast food at the end of each game, was his initial attraction to baseball training.
Thus begins the story of Chu, who makes his professional debut less than two months after signing for the Cardinals, and six months after leaving South Korea to gamble on his ability.
At 18, Cho will be the fourth youngest position player in training camp, the second youngest foreign player, and the last to sign a professional contract.
The effect is clear, Photo: AFP
With a half-million-dollar contract and a lot of shoulder pressure, he will have to show composure alongside high ability.
The group is aware of this and tries to make it as easy as possible for him.
Among other things, a permanent translator is attached to it to facilitate his professional baptism of fire.
Meanwhile, the corona wheel continues to spin, and now South Korea is under another wave of contagion.
But given the enthusiasm of the fans and the deep grip of this sport in the area, one can expect more news and surprises from the East in the baseball league.
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