Yet Another Step For Korean Baseball

Japanese fans looked lethargic, but fans of Korea were filled with energy at Anaheim Stadium yesterday.

Excitement and passion were in the air, and Korean baseball fans were on their feet as Team Korea beat Japan in World Baseball Classic (WBC) action yesterday to qualify for the tournament semifinals.

The 2-1 victory over Japan came after a 3-2 victory in Tokyo, the heart of Japan.

In Korea, people gathered in front of televisions in train stations and bus terminals long before the game started at noon.

The game was a pitcher’s duel and scoreless until the seventh inning. Cheers rang out then as Korea’s Lee Jong-beom broke the deadlock with a hit that drove in two runs.

One of the spectators in Seoul Station’s waiting area, Choi Tae-hyun (age 41), said, “I want to see Ichiro’s face. What happened to his promise to show Koreans that they won’t beat Japan for the next 30 years? I think Japan is no longer a match for Korea.”

When pitcher Oh Seung-hwan finished the game with a strikeout, people on university campuses and in hospitals cheered as well .

Baek, a patient at Chung-Ang University Medical Center in Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul who watched the game in the hospital lobby, said, “I feel so good that I do not even feel sick. I have a feeling that Korea will win the rest of its games and finish on top.”

Baseball players at the Sungsim School, famous for its hearing-impaired baseball team, gathered to watch the game at the school auditorium.

Kim Jung-shik (age 18), the captain of the baseball team said, “I think I would have been in tears had we lost to Japan. I am so proud of the Korean national baseball team.”

As Team Korea continues its winning streak against the some of the best teams like the U.S. and Japan, and as more and more Koreans get interested in baseball, sales of baseball-related items and magazines have skyrocketed.

A representative of the baseball magazine “Weekly Baseball” says that there have been a spike in subscribers ever since the WBC matches started.

Se-Jin Jung wing@donga.com mint4a@donga.com