baseball-players
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| ▲ In this file photo from Feb. 2, 2022, Yang Hyeon-jong of the Kia Tigers (R) plays catch during spring training at Kia Challengers Field in Hampyeong, some 380 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ South Korean pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun signs a four-year contract with the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization, in this photo provided by the Landers on March, 8, 2022. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ In this file photo from Feb. 10, 2022, Yasiel Puig of the Kiwoom Heroes takes part in batting practice at Geogeum Baseball Field in Goheung, some 470 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap) |
baseball-players
Return of iconic stars likely to provide boon for KBO
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, March 8 (Yonhap) -- Reeling from a forgettable season in which its popularity took a beating amid off-field incidents and underperformance, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will try to bank on the return of two of its biggest stars in 2022.
Held back by the global COVID-19 pandemic, KBO teams have played in front of limited crowds over the past two years. Television ratings also plummeted, to a point where the four cable networks with KBO rights asked the league office and 10 clubs for compensation for lost advertising revenues. Having several star players suspended for violating social distancing protocols in the middle of the 2021 season only exacerbated problems. The national team made up entirely of KBO players finished a disappointing fourth at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in August, turning even more fans away from baseball over the summer.
For 2022, though, the KBO should receive some boon from a pair of pitchers instantly recognizable even to casual fans.
Left-handers Yang Hyeon-jong and Kim Kwang-hyun both ended their major league stints this offseason to reunite with their former KBO teams. Yang had a bitter cup of coffee with the Texas Rangers in 2021 and rejoined the Kia Tigers in December on a four-year contract worth up to 10.3 billion won (US$8.4 million). Then Kim inked a four-year contract with the SSG Landers on Tuesday for 15.1 billion won, most in league history.
Yang spent the first 14 seasons of his KBO career with the Tigers, from 2007 to 2020, before signing a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers in February last year.
He bounced between the big leagues and the minors, failing to record a victory anywhere while posting an identical 5.60 ERA at both levels.
Kim pitched for the SK Wyverns, the previous incarnation of the Landers under a different ownership, from 2007 to 2019. He then signed a two-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals in late 2019, and went 10-7 with a 2.97 ERA in 35 games, including 28 starts, from 2020 to 2021, before hitting free agency.
Kim and Yang are both former KBO MVPs -- Kim in 2008 and Yang in 2017 -- and had been among the league's very best starters before heading overseas. That they are back with the only franchises they had known in their KBO careers should also generate excitement in those fan bases. Both the Landers and the Tigers missed the postseason in 2021 but made some significant moves over the winter, aside from reacquiring the two pitchers, in a bid for a playoff return.
The two pitchers' comebacks will also coincide with the full opening of gates across KBO ballparks this season. With the vaccine pass no longer being enforced, clubs will be allowed to welcome in fans regardless of their vaccination status, and they will not require proof of negative COVID-19 tests from spectators.
Other teams made some splash over the winter in their international signings, none bigger than the Kiwoom Heroes' acquisition of Yasiel Puig.
The former National League All-Star with the Los Angeles Dodgers had long been a familiar face among South Korean baseball fans, for his friendship with one-time Dodgers pitcher from the country, Ryu Hyun-jin. Puig does bring some baggage -- he had a reputation as a petulant teammate with questionable work ethic and faced sexual assault allegations before reaching settlements. But as long as he can behave himself, few will be as exciting to watch as the freakishly athletic outfielder from Cuba.
In 2012, the last time multiple stars came home from overseas, the KBO enjoyed a bump in attendance.
Right-hander Park Chan-ho, the first South Korean to play in the majors, signed with his hometown club, Hanwha Eagles, for his first and only KBO season. Kim Byung-hyun, another former major league pitcher, also made his KBO debut that season.
Also in 2012, the Samsung Lions and the Eagles welcomed back franchise heroes, Lee Seung-yuop and Kim Tae-kyun, from Japan.
KBO teams drew 7.15 million fans that season, up from about 6.8 million in 2011 and a record for an eight-team era (1991-2012).
The league saw its attendance fall steadily from a record 8.4 million in 2017 to just over 8 million in 2018 and then to 7.28 million in 2019, the most recent season before the pandemic. Teams only had 328,317 fans in 2020 and about 1.2 million fans last year.
While fans may still have reservations about attending sporting events before the end of the pandemic, eased restrictions should at least put the KBO on a path back to relevance in the national consciousness.
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