Day One – August 20, 2024
Awesome start to our second annual South Korea baseball tour! We started off with a game in Seoul’s primary ballpark, Jamsil Stadium. We saw the host and defending champs LG Twins face the 2022 champions SSG Landers. The game was kept tight through seven thanks to an incredible 5-4-3-2 triple play! Our seats were perfectly situated to introduce our guests to the KBO experience, located right in front of the home cheering stage, where the cheer leader, dancers, and mascots kept the energy on high wattage all night long despite the steamy summer weather. That means when the Twins went ahead 4-3 late in the game thanks to a clutch two-run double by @austindean_3 we were right in the middle of a hometown fan frenzy! We are ready for eight more days of this!
Day Two – August 21, 2024
Korea tour day two started off looking dreary with a typhoon passing through Seoul. But then it passed in time for us to not only get our evening game in but also our sightseeing! We saw the historic monuments at Gwanghamun Square and changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace before trekking to the top of Bukchon Hanok Village, where we got sweeping views and an up close look at Seoul’s distinct blend of old and new.
We had an epic bukgogi lunch then headed to the ballpark, where KT Wiz hosted the Kiwoom Heroes. We were joined by former Phillies farmhand @zi_tay and then @rojasjr_3 came over to say hello. Thank goodness we won because that meant we got to join the Wiz’s handshake line!l
Day Three – August 22, 2024
Baseball off-day on day 3 of our South Korea tour. We first visited Changdeokgung’s “secret garden,” which is a royal oasis amidst the urban density of Seoul. Then a quick drive to Gwangjang Market, which was Seoul’s first permanent market and is still bustling with vendors selling authentic Korean goods and food/drink. Most of the group tried live octopus and beef sashimi! Props to all who tried it. Other highlights were mung bean pancakes and the trendy twisted rice flour donut. Both were delicious and very inexpensive.
Guests then had the afternoon and evening to themselves. Some went to the Korean National Museum and Mark went where else but to another KBO baseball game!
Day Four – August 23, 2024
Day 4 of our South Korea tour first featured a tour of the fascinating DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) along the North and South Korean border, and then an evening game between the host SSG Landers vs the kt Wiz.
The DMZ is a bit of a strange place: an active conflict zone that doubles as a tourist destination. We learned about the ongoing tension and flare-ups between the two countries while exploring various sites along the DMZ, including a long and steep descent into one of the tunnels that North Korea dug into South Korean territory and could still potentially serve as a strategic inroad for the northerners.
The highlight of the game was our seats, in the BYOBBQ area of the stadium! Our local hosts went to the supermarket before the game and prepared a Korean barbecue feast for our guests. It was the perfect treat after a long day our touring. As for the game, it was a 31-hit slug fest, featuring a few home runs, some sloppy D, and a couple of never-seen-that-before moments. And now we have seen back-to-back Ws by @rojasjr_3 and the kt Wiz!
Day Five – August 24, 2024
South Korea Tour Day 5: our last day in Seoul! We got the morning off after a long day yesterday and started out our day with the fantastic K-Kick Taekwondo Show. It was a sensory experience with lots of action; the perfect air-conditioned hour on a steamy day.
We hopped on the bus to Gocheok Sky Dome, home of the Kiwoom Heroes and their star second baseman, Hye Seong Kim (who MLB teams may be bidding on next year), as well as the WBC and 2024 MLB Opening Series. Our seats were ultra-VIP and afforded us on-field time before first pitch! Our tour guide Joe arranged for Heroes pitchers @ariel.b_30 and @Emmanuel De Jesus to come out and meet us on the field and our crew logged lots of time on the big screen. Then we settled into our large, padded seats directly behind home plate to see the Heroes take on the LG Twins. The Twins fans traveled extremely well, and they went home happy with their team winning 6-0, thanks in part to another huge game from Twins OF @austindean_3, who has produced like Albert Pujols in his prime during our trip!
Day Six – August 25, 2024
We’re on the road for day six of our South Korea tour. We took the KTX bullet train south to Daegu. The countryside was beautiful but the best part of the ride was that our guide Diego stopped at Sumsimdang Bakery in Daejon to buy a bunch of their flagship fried soboro rolls. Pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu brought some to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts when was here for the 2024 MLB Opening Series and Koreans were very proud of how much the skipper liked them. People take the train an hour to Daejon just to buy the delicious, red-bean-filled treat! I can say with confidence – it was worth the hype!
After the train we boarded our luxury charter bus that is our ride for the next few days. We first topped at old Daegu Stadium, home of the recent Samsung Lions dynasty, to see relics of the Korean home run king, Seung Yuop Lee.
And then we lunched across the street at Woosung, whose grandma chef was credited with fueling many of the Lions champion teams. The walls of the sit-on-the-floor traditional restaurant are adorned with autographs and photos of Samsung players with grandma. And the food was delicious!
Finally, it was game time at the new Lions stadium, which is easily the best and most modern park we have been to yet. The big picture and details of this ballpark are A+ and the fans are too. Most KBO stadiums are more about the fans than the facility, but this one has it all. It was another offensive night with a first-inning grand slam by former Minnesota Twin Byung Ho Park and a fun win by the home team against the Lotte Giants.
Day Seven – August 26, 2024
South Korea Tour Day 7 was a baseball off-day, as we are staying in Korean cultural history center of Gyeongju (kind of like Kyoto in Japan). We started off at Bulguksa Temple and Seoguram Grotto, a pair of UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are still breathtaking despite being over 1500 years old. The grotto and its massive stone Buddha, carved into the mountain side at the end of a lovey winding mountain path, were a standout amongst the countless temples I’ve seen throughout Asia.
For lunch we strolled Gyeonju’s Hwangnidan Street, with its cute and stylish restaurants and shops in restored traditional Hanoi-style buildings. We had a traditional group tea time in a gorgeous shop and then a short rest at the hotel before evening sightseeing at two of Gyeongju’s best nighttime tourist spots: the ancient and fascinating Cheomseongdae Observatory and gorgeously illuminated Donggung Palace & Wolji Pond.
Day Eight – August 27, 2024
Day 8 of 9 of our South Korea baseball tour! We hit the road in our charter bus to Changwon to see the newest KBO ballpark, NC Dinos Park in Changwon. Along the way we stopped in the lush, mountainous Miryang Eoreumgol Valley, a favorite summer destination in Korea due to its supernatural cool temperatures emanating from the depths of the mountain. We were rewarded with near-freezing breezes after ascending a rocky 500m incline.
Lunch was perhaps my favorite of the trip, which is saying something! We had the regional speciality – dry bulgogi – with all the fixings of course.
Then it was on to the game between the Dinos and Doosan Bears. We met with Dinos pitcher Eric Jokisch before the game and he shared many interesting insights into the KBO experience from an American player’s perspective.
Our seats were directly behind home plate with tables to put our food and drinks. And we certainly needed them since our ticket included ten free drinks, including beer! 15 years ago I may have tried to drink all ten beers, but I happily sipped two for tonight.
In case it wasn’t clear yet, the KBO is a batter-friendly league! The Bears won 13-7 in a game that saw 28 hits.
Day Nine – August 28, 2024
That’s a wrap on our South Korea tour! Huge thanks to our nine tour guests for making this a fun and memorable trip. We saw seven KBO games in nine days, with lots of cultural sightseeing, scenic rides, and delicious meals mixed in.
Our last day featured a visit to Gamcheon Cultural Village, a Korean War refugee neighborhood that has been converted into a bright artist’s village.
We headed down the hill and geared up for our last game. It was a weekday sellout at Sajik Baseball Stadium, home of the Lotte Giants and we had more fantastic seats, in the front row behind home plate. Sajik is known as the “karaoke park” because the crowd is so animated and boisterous, like they’re performing at a raucous karaoke party. It was pretty incredible that even though the Giants got shutout 7-0 the fans were still enthusiastically signing and pulling for their team until the last out. It was a beautiful night in Busan and a fun way to end our tour. See you next year, Korea!
