A Jamsil Rivalry Game from the Other Side of the Ballpark

Jamsil is where several parts of Seoul’s sporting life sit together: the Olympic main stadium, indoor arenas, swimming facilities and the ballpark. On a summer evening, following the people headed to the game gives you a sense of how much of the district is built around that trip.

The Doosan Bears and LG Twins have shared Jamsil Baseball Stadium as their home for decades. On rivalry days, the nominal visiting team has a home crowd of its own. You can feel both versions of the same park from across the field.

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The game begins at Sports Complex Station

We got off at Sports Complex Station on Line 2 and came out of Exit 3. The crowd was already moving in the direction we wanted.

There were fans in uniforms, vendors with cheering gear and people gathering by the ticket windows. Some were looking for tickets. Others were taking a picture before getting in line.

On television you come in at the first pitch. Here the event had started before we reached the entrance.

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How we ended up cheering for LG

There were more than fifty of us, including high school students on a U.S. State Department program and Korean university students helping with the visit. Since Doosan was the home team, the plan had been to sit on the first-base side and cheer with the Bears.

We understood that we could use the regular booking process, but by the time we tried to seat the group, much of that side was sold out. We ended up along third base in the LG section. Groups planning a trip should check the home club’s booking rules for their date.

It took surprisingly little time for people to join in. We clapped with the cheer squad, picked up the songs and found ourselves looking forward to the next time LG came to bat.

The students who had looked uncertain when they sat down were cheering by the time LG got going. Some of the original Doosan fans stayed loyal. The rest of us had to admit the seats had changed the evening.

After the game, several people stopped at the merchandise shop. Some bought LG caps or towels. A few came out in Twins jerseys. We had meant to put them in the Doosan section.

The souvenir I remember is the sight of people walking out dressed for a team they had barely known when they came in.

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July 29, 2023: LG 7, Doosan 6 in ten innings

It was Saturday, July 29, 2023. LG came into the game in first place, and Doosan was near the top of the standings. The teams had enough at stake to keep both sets of fans loud from the start.

Neither team scored through four innings. LG put up four in the top of the fifth, and Doosan scored three in the bottom half. The sound of the park changed as quickly as the score.

Doosan tied it in the sixth and scored twice in the eighth to go ahead 6–4. There were still three outs to get.

LG scored twice in the top of the ninth to tie it and took the lead in the tenth on Oh Ji-hwan’s hit. The Twins held on to win 7–6.

From our seats, the swings in the score were audible. Each half-inning gave a different side of the park its turn to stand up.

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A cheering section that gives everyone a part

The students talked as much about the cheering as the play. They were used to games in the United States. At Jamsil, the songs and the cheer squad gave the whole section a part to play.

Players had their own songs. When LG came to bat, the person leading the section gave the crowd a cue, and a surprising number of people moved on the same beat.

I had heard that on broadcasts. In person you can follow it without being able to see where every pitch went. People around you tell you where the tension is simply by what they are doing.

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A hot night with more innings than expected

It was late July and the heat stayed in the stands after dark. A close game gave us another reason to stay in our seats through it.

A one-sided game might have become a brief introduction to the park. With a lead change, a tie and an extra inning, there was always something to wait for.

Even people who were seeing their first KBO game stayed to the last out. They took a while to leave after it was over.

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What the seats could show us

On television I can tell where a pitch went. In the stands I sometimes lose the ball and follow the crowd instead. Its response can make a play feel large before I know exactly what happened.

That was the part I remembered on the way home. I could look up the score later. The song the section was singing when it turned was still in my head.

I understood why some people go to a ballpark to get out of their own thoughts for an evening. We had done just that, on the wrong side of the stadium.