Baseball, bat-playing game, a ball, and gloves between two teams for nine players each on a baseball field with four bases that are white colored, located like a diamond. Teams switch positions, batters for offense, and fielders for defense. also they exchange places when three players of the batting team are “put out.” As batters, baseball players want to hit the ball out of the stadium to make a complete circuit around the bases for a ‘run.’ The team which scores by running in nine innings wins the game. Baseball is called the nation’s calendar. The time that industrialization rises, the basic clock time from the office or factory steals people who have earlier experience of time in its wealthy associations with the afternoon, normal rhythms which are made by seasons, and traditional calendar from church. On the other hand, for people who live in America, baseball training season opens when the spring arrives, normal-season play is in summer, and the World Series starts when fall starts. For the winter season, baseball fans are watching ‘hot stove leagues,’ remembering about games played months ago or greats and expectations about what the next season had to offer. (Rader, B.G. and Holtzman, J. (2019)
History
Nationalistic sentiment helped baseball to become “America’s game.” For their effort to get more cultural freedom, Americans wanted to get their own sports. For example, Cricket is a UK people’s sport, and gymnastic clubs called turnvereins are German people’s sport. In the sports news in 1857, it said Americans need to have a sport which can be called “Native American Sport.” In 1907, baseball became a powerful sport that can be called a “Native American Sport.” One man appointed a special commission in 1907. He was a great pitcher and a member of the baseball team in the past, also he managed a big company which made things about sports at that time. In that commission, they reported that baseball is not related to the UK and “rounders” , which is a kid’s game. Instead, the commission said that unless they knew, baseball was made by Abner Doublebay from Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. They did meaningless research and logic to make more money, so it can be false. But this myth which is called “origin of baseball” was perpetuated for decades. (Rader, B.G. and Holtzman, J.(2019)
About MLB
Baseball is one of America’s famous and popular sports, because they made it. MLB stands for Major League Baseball, and it is also the most professional and historic sports league in the US. In MLB, 30 teams from the USA and Canada compete to become a winner. There are many famous teams in MLB. First, the most popular team in MLB is the New York Yankees. This team has the most World Series Titles(27) and their home stadium is called Yankee Stadium. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the second-popular team in MLB. It has 7 World Series Titles, and They changed their team name a lot because their team was in Brooklyn at first. Their home stadium is called Dodger Stadium. Third popular team is the Chicago Cubs, which has 3 World Series Titles. The year between their second and third titles in the World Series are 108 years. Their home stadium is called Wrigley Field. Next team is the Boston Red Sox. It has 9 World Series Titles, and this team had a popular curse which is known as the “Curse of the Bambino.” Their home stadium is called Fenway Park. Last team is the St.Louis Cardinals. This team has 11 World Series Titles, and it is very surprising that their team name is “St.Louis” Cardinals. Their home stadium is called Busch Stadium. (Miller, K.(2024) However, MLB is definitely the highest level of professional baseball. MLB was not one league at first. NL(National League) and AL(American League) were separated and became independent organizations after their founding in the 19th century. Before they combined as MLB, there was a big fight which is called “The baseball war.” The reason that war happened is because the America League based in the Midwest zone moved teams to the East Coast to combine with the National League. Also the American League took star players from National League squads during this war. Two leagues had a truce in 1903, and as a result, the World Series were established. The World Series is a competition which compete with two teams from NL champion and AL champion, to make a real national champion, and also the National Commission was made at this moment. The National Commission is a commission that manages Major League Baseball, and it has a three-man governing body. But it became a single commissioner of baseball in 1921. (Augustyn, A.(2018)
About KBO
In South Korea, a baseball league is available. It is called KBO, and it stands for the Korea Baseball Organization. KBO is also very popular and famous for Koreans and other nationalities. There are 10 teams in KBO. South Korea is smaller than the USA or other countries, so three teams are sharing one place, Seoul. First for Seoul, Doosan Bears, LG Twins, and Kiwoom Heroes are sharing. Next there is one each in Incheon for SSG Landers, Suwon for KT Wiz, Daejon for Hanwha Eagles, Daegu for Samsung Lions, Busan for Lotte Giants, Gwangju for KIA Tigers and Changwon for NC Dinos. It is strange that their team name represents famous companies in Korea such as Samsung or LG, not their region names such as Seoul or Incheon. The reason they use their company’s name is because its companies own each baseball team, not their regions. That’s why it doesn’t write their region in their team, and this is one of the differences between MLB and KBO. In 1982, the Opening of the Korean baseball league was started, and there were only six clubs at first. Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions are the only teams who haven’t changed their team name since KBO started. In contrast, KIA Tigers, based on Gwang-ju were called Haitai Tigers at first. LG Twins originally called MBC Chungyong, and Doosan Bears used to be OB Bears from Daejeon. The last and sixth team, Sammi Superstars, were playing in Incheon. But they changed their names very often before moving out of Incheon and they went out of business. Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium, which changed to the site of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza these days, was a place where the first game was started. floodlights from the Stadium are still there, and that area has become a small museum. Chun Doo-hwan, president of Korea, threw the first ball on the pitch on March 27th as MBC. In the first season of KBO, Bears took first place. In the 1980s, KBO was owned by the Haitai Tigers. They won 5 championships, and they did four straight during 1986-1989. In those decades, Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions also won their first championship each, and OB Bears left Daejon and moved to a new stadium called Jamsil in Seoul. Binggrae Eagles was established to replace Daejeon, which is the 7th member of the league.In that time, Sammi Superstars changed their name very often because their owner was changed a lot. In the North side of Jeolla, Ssangbangwool Raiders joined as a 8th member in KBO. However LG owned MBC Chungyong and changed its name to LG Twins and they also won two championships in 1990. At that time OB Bears renamed as Doosan Bears, also SK Wyverns (which is SSG Landers Now) moved to Incheon, Also Hyundai Unicorns (originally Sammi Superstars) moved to Suwon. There was a big change in the 2000’s KBO league. As the Korean National men’s baseball team won first place and claimed the gold medal from the 2008 Olympic Games, popularity of baseball in Korea suddenly increased, and the league also became one of the major sports in Korea. Almost everything changed because of the popularity of baseball. In the past, stadium manners were not nice. There was violence inside and outside of the stadium. But after 2008, as the KBO got popular, these violence were decreased, and there is no violence now. Also many companies wanted to buy a baseball team to make more money, so a lot of teams changed its name and its owner. Firstly SK Wyverns joined as the Raiders were sold, and also Unicorns were changed to Woori Heroes. Lastly Haitai Tigers were sold by a company called KIA, so it changed its name to KIA Tigers. In the 2010s, KBO became 10 clubs total as the KT Wiz joined as a 10th member from KBO in 2015 at Suwon. (Farrell, A.(2020)
References
Rader, B.G. and Holtzman, J. (2019). baseball | History, Definition, & Facts. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball.
Augustyn, A. (2018). Major League Baseball | History & Teams. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Major-League-Baseball.
Farrell, A. (2020). History of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). [online] Expatguidekorea.com. Available at: https://expatguidekorea.com/article/history-of-the-korea-baseball-organization-kbo.html [Accessed 3 Dec. 2024].
Miller, K. (2024). Major League Baseball’s Most Popular Teams, Ranked. [online] Sleeper Fantasy Guides. Available at: https://sleeper.com/blog/major-league-baseballs-most-popular-teams-ranked/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2024].
