Inside (Korean) Baseball

I'd be lying if I told you I wouldn't shiv your grandma if it would net me one of these vintage Hyundai Unicorn jerseys.

This here humble Korea blog officially loves Korean baseball -- the chanting, the cheerleaders, the fried chicken and blood sausage, the bat-flipping, the beer.  Nothing better.

This article does a nice job of explaining the intricacies of Korean baseball team names -- the first thing to know is that neither the city nor the mascot is usually referred to like in American ball, but rather the corporate sponsor.  It can get pretty complicated:

"The Nexen Heroes exited the 2018 KBO playoffs early and nameless.

When the Heroes crashed out of the playoffs in the fifth game of a down-to-the-wire postseason clash with the SK Wyverns, the club’s sponsorship contract with Nexen came to an end.

Immediately after getting knocked out of the postseason, the team officially became the Seoul Heroes, the only team in the KBO without a sponsor in their name. The name Seoul Heroes didn’t last very long, though. Just week later, the club finalized a deal with securities firm Kiwoom Securities. The club is now tentatively being referred to as the Kiwoom Heroes, although its official name won’t be revealed until January.

This isn’t the first time that the Heroes have been rebranded. The club started life as the Sammi Superstars in 1982 and has since existed as the Chungbo Pintos, the Taepyungyang Dolphins, the Hyundai Unicorns, the Woori Heroes and simply the Heroes."

I mean, come on -- do team mascots get any better than these?

No they do not.

And my first ball game in Korea was watching the now defunct Woori Heroes (pics over at the old blog).