This story of fandom begins like so: A couple of decades ago, in the 1990s, a young SungWoo Lee was watching a sports broadcast on television at home in South Korea. Baseball was on. More specifically, a team wearing blue had been thrust onto the screen. Former Royals first baseman Jeff King crushed a home run and Lee watched, focused much more on Kauffman Stadium.
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What were these fountains? The JumboTron was shaped like a crown?
“That caught my eyes,” Lee said. He started to research the team. He read about the club’s history: Ewing Kauffman, the winning in the 1980s and the losing in its most drastic form. “Sympathy? Underdog-lover?” Lee said recently. “However you say it in English, the more I got to know the Royals, the more I fell in love with them.”
Waking up to watch Royals baseball has been part of Lee’s life in the years since. Being that Americans are now adopting Lee’s sleep cycle to watch the Korean Baseball Organization, we thought it would be good to check in on one of the Royals’ biggest fans. He was nice enough to answer our questions.
(Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
First off, how are you? How is your family during this time?
Fortunately, all my family members are doing great. Of course, there’s some discomfort wearing a mask all the time, but I hope all Royals fans are staying safe and healthy over there, too.
What’s it like, knowing the Korean Baseball Organization is being televised here in the United States but not being able to watch your Royals in Korea?
It feels, like, amazing … but it’s also a bit sad due to how much things have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s fun to see many Royals folks staying up to catch KBO games like I did for Royals games. But I also worried whether many foreigners would like the KBO because no fans in a Korean stadium is like food without seasoning.
How common are Royals fans in Korea?
Late in the 1990s, South Korean-born Chan Ho Park of the Dodgers was a sensation. He was a hero for Korean people who struggled with the domestic economic crisis after the International Monetary Fund bailout. Many people hopped on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball bandwagon. When MLB became popular, many friends and co-workers asked me about MLB. I was established as a Royals follower.
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During the Royals’ long and dark days of losing, I kept following the team due to my one-year younger brother. I had nice conversations with my brother about the organization. Similar to the old Royals blog “Rob & Rany on the Royals,” I’m a bit optimistic like Rany (Jazayerli), and my brother is realistic like Rob Neyer.
Dare I compare us to them, we’re both not doing well on statistics.
What were you most looking forward to this season for the Royals?
The young players’ adjustments and strides of Hunter Dozier, Ryan O’Hearn, Adalberto Mondesi, Nicky Lopez, Bubba Starling, Brad Keller, Jakob Junis and Jorge López. Of course, I also expected a lot of our prospects, like Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, Daniel Tillo, MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel, Khalil Lee and Nick Heath.
During typical seasons, how do you keep up with the games?
A weekday night game begins at 9 a.m. here in South Korea. I can’t watch most of them because I’m working at the office, but early in the 2000s, I did use the MLB.com Gameday popup window secretly on my office desktop. Nowadays, I get an alarm occasionally when Royals games start and when the score changes. On Saturdays, I can watch the game at home with ease.
But since our baby was born, it has been getting difficult to watch Royals games because he tries to touch and pull everything with sound.
You mentioned your 30-month-old son. What’s his name?
HaanGyeol Lee.
Does his name have a meaning?
Yes, it means “always, constant, unwavering and steady,” as I wish him to always be well and happy. In baseball terms, I liked the meaning of his name: “Consistency.”
How has having a child changed your life?
Being a dad/parent is a life-changing transformation. Everything is baby, baby, baby.
I’ll give all my respect to any parents in the universe. It keeps reminding me of my parents and what they did for me growing up. To return their favor, I’m trying to visit my mom and parents-in-law with their grandchild as often as I can.
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Last April, my wife quit her job to take care of him. I really appreciate my wife’s dedication. Also, my free time has been dramatically reduced, so I didn’t follow the Royals as much as I did in the past. I’m sorry I don’t have much interaction with Royals tweeps these days.
Fortunately, I could watch all Chiefs playoff games, though.
What precautions are South Koreans taking for the virus?
Before this pandemic, only some wore masks when weather forecasts said air pollution or micro-dust from China was worse. Now without a mask, you would be rejected to enter anywhere. And there are hand sanitizers everywhere: on buses, on subways, on trains, in offices and at restaurants.
My job is as a merchandising director. I have so many meetings with brand representatives. Even at the office, I do wear a mask during conversations and meetings. I think this pandemic has changed people for the good regarding individual and public sanitary awareness.
How severe is the current state of the virus in South Korea?
As of this past weekend, we have had zero new local infections. In the past, there were some fatal cases of flu such as SARS and MERS, but this coronavirus is totally different. A relatively small country here in South Korea, we stick together no matter what. We stick to the guide from our government. We all appreciate our medical teams for their selfless devotion. This past weekend, it was a holiday in between Labor Day and Children’s Day. There were lots of people pouring into the parks, roads and malls.
I’m happy we’re getting closer to the norm. And finally, we have a 2020 baseball season. The KBO started May 5.
Who is your team in the KBO, and why do you root for them?
The Doosan Bears. They were the first KBO champion in 1982 and caught my eyes. At that time, they had a 22-game winning pitcher, Park Chul-Soon, who came back to South Korea after playing in the Brewers’ minor leagues. The Bears are like the Royals for me. They have won three KBO titles recently, but they also had quite a tough time in the early 2000s due to a tight budget.
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Still, they managed to develop a good farm system. And they relied on good defense, fast baserunning and contact hitting. They keep beating the Samsung Lions and LG Twins, teams like the Yankees and Angels in MLB. And the Bears have a great rivalry with the LG Twins, another home team of Seoul. It’s like the Royals and Cardinals in Missouri.
Yesterday I spent an hour and a half doling out KBO team suggestions to people and finally my mentions have calmed down enough for me to log back on and tell you that you can get your piping hot recommendations here: https://t.co/8t0Nqmeytc
— Levi Weaver (@ThreeTwoEephus) May 10, 2020
Which team would you recommend Royals fans watch?
The Doosan Bears!
Which players in the league are most like Jorge Soler, Whit Merrifield, Alex Gordon and Salvador Pérez?
Soler is like Kim Jae-Hwan of the Bears. He was a KBO home run king, and the Bears’ home field is the biggest and pitcher-friendly like The K. Whit is like Oh Jae-Won. He’s a second baseman and captain of the Bears, a gamer and hustle player. There’s no player, with his defense and strong arm, like Gordon, but Min Byung-Hun of the Lotte Giants has a good throw and gap power. Or Park Yong-Taik of the LG Twins, who is past his prime but shows leadership and good contact. And then Salvy is similar to Yang Eui-Ji of the NC Dinos. He’s a former Bears catcher and the Korean national team catcher who won KBO titles with Doosan and signed the biggest contract for a catcher.
How happy will you be once the Royals are back playing?
Oh, you know. For over 25 years, the Royals have been my love, rest and relief. Frankly speaking, I’ll be happier for that than the KBO Opening Day. But I’m also afraid I can’t follow them as much as I did in the past with work and a baby boy.
That’s understandable for now, but he’ll be a Royals fan, right?
Of course he will. First of all, he should speak and understand Korean … to be brainwashed by me. (Laughs.)
(Photo: John Sleezer / Kansas City Star / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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