Ken Herman: Hustle doo!  Korean baseball’s an audience participation sport

Former major leaguer Karim Garcia, a first-year player here and the leading vote-getter in fan balloting for the Korean all-star game, is hailed by Giant fans with a song that repeats Gar-ci-a over and over again.

Also in the Giants’ dugout is former major leaguer Jerry Royster, who, as the Giants’ skipper, is the first American to manage a Korean team.

‘’I’m having a blast,’’ Royster said. ``I’m having an absolute blast.’’

Royster loves the enthusiasm and respect in the stands but is trying to get his team to play more aggressively, which is somewhat out of character in Korea.

‘The approach that the players have here is quite different than what we are used to in the United States. It’s not very aggressive baseball and they are very respectful of each other. That comes into play quite a bit on double plays. They don’t break up double plays. And when guys get hit (by a pitch) there is somewhat of an `I’m sorry’ kind of attitude for hitting you,’’ he said.

I think Ken Herman is a political writer, writing here mostly from a marketing perspective, but this is a pretty entertaining article.

Here is a related article that’s entirely about Royster.

The Korean league, now with eight teams playing 126-game schedules from March through August, was formed in 1982, long after baseball was brought to the nation by U.S. missionaries in the early 20th century. In 1994, pitcher Chan Ho Park became the first Korean to play in the U.S. major leagues.

On the field, the play is solid and entertaining, but nowhere near as intriguing as what goes on in the stands.

It’s four hours of wonderment for Tennyson, his sister Erica and her two American friends, who, like her, teach English here.

‘’I’m a big fan of the cheerleaders and the guy who actually leads cheers,’’ Tennyson said. ``That’s a great job. We need that back home.’’

‘’They all know every song, every dance move,’’ Erica Tennyson said as fans around her sang and danced.

Could this work back home?

‘’It would be amazing,’’ said Andrea Mullen, a Greenville, S.C. native. ``I would go to more games if this happened.’’