Much like Singapore’s national obsession, football (or soccer, depending on the way you roll), Korea has their very own obsession that never quite made it onto our shores yet! I’m talking about Korea’s national sport – baseball!

Almost every Korean knows about baseball, and it is a regularly played sport in Korean schools – and the fans come in all ages! In Korea, is not uncommon to find a fierce loyalty to your city’s teams, or to adopt the team that is supported by your family for years!

Today, we will be focusing on 5 Korean Baseball Organization teams, using K-Pop idols! Idols are usually brought in to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at games to motivate the fans!

Let’s get it!

1.    Doosan Bears (Seoul)

We’re starting the list with the one team you might have heard of – Seoul’s very own Doosan Bears! If you’ve been to Korea, you might have seen Jamsil Stadium (near Lotte World), which is the Bears shared home stadium!

They are the first established team, as well as the first champion in league history, which makes them one of the most popular teams in Korea. With this, they also have a huge roster of celebrities who threw a first pitch out for their team including Bae Suzy, IZ*ONE, and many many more! 

 

Fun Fact : IZ*ONE made their first public performance in Doosan Bears uniforms at Jamsil Stadium! If you’re WIZ*ONE, you should consider becoming a fan!

 

2.    LG Twins (Seoul)

Remember how we said that Doosan shares their home stadium at Jamsil? Well, the LG Twins are who they share it with! The league makes sure never to schedule them at home, and when they do play against each other, the atmosphere is electric. Because of this, the stadium is known in Korea as "Two families under one roof." 

Like the Bears, the Twins are also extremely popular with celebrities! Some ONCEs may remember when TWICE were seen in Twins jerseys, spending a full day learning how to swing a bat and throw a pitch! Also, Red Velvet's Seulgi and Irene famously made an appearance, sending Korean netizens into a frenzy.

3.    Lotte Giants (Busan) 

Heading down south, we find perhaps the most popular and well-loved baseball teams in Korea, the Lotte Giants! They have a peculiar tradition where fans wear bright orange plastic bags on their heads, knotted to look like Mickey Mouse ears, whenever they are rallying the team!

If you think only kids are doing it, look at the pictures below and think again – you will know that baseball truly is Korea’s national sport!

The Giants are not known for many celebrity appearances, but they had APink's Naeun gracing their field! Also, Kang Daniel was nominated as Busan’s city ambassador, and fittingly thrown the first pitch in front of the Busan faithful!

 

4.    Kiwoom Heroes (Seoul)

The Kiwoom Heroes, formely owned by Nexen, play their games at the beautiful Gocheok Sky Dome, the site of many concerts by Ariana Grande, BTS, The Weeknd and more!

Along with this affiliation to music, the team has had the fortune of securing the first pitch of multiple (albeit smaller) K-Pop celebrities! These included APRIL, AOA and EXID!

Fun Fact : The entire trainee group of Produce 101's Second Season appeared in a Heroes home game, complete with performances to boot!

 

5.    NC Dinos (Changwon)

Next up, we’ve got the second youngest team in the league (founded in 2013), Changwon’s NC Dinos! For a young team, they have blazed to a fast start, and they have gained many fans in Korea along the way!

Fun Fact : We’ve talked about the Dinos’ muscular dino mascot, but you may not know that they were also the first to implement K-Pop cardboard fans during the coronavirus where fans were not allowed in the stadium!

Other teams soon followed suit (with plush fans, etc) but the Dinos then began to put fans’ faces onto the stands! Talk about fan engagement! 

 

That’s half of the teams in Korea’s professional baseball league, and we’ll be diving into the rest of the teams in a separate article! Let us know if you want to see any more specific content - our social media channels are always open!(KORdotSIN on FB and @kordotsin on IG)

 

Click here to read about Korea's Top Universities (that aren't SKY) where you can find fans of K-Pop and baseball alike (some K-Pop idols are even students at the schools!)