No fans present but Korean baseball's start is still a hit

SEOUL • Lee Raon, a nine-year-old baseball fan, stood on the mound.

But instead of throwing the ball, the boy, inside a giant clear balloon, walked towards the catcher in what was called a "socially distant first pitch" for South Korean club KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) League yesterday.

The ceremony marked the start of the top flight of South Korea's professional baseball league season after a five-week delay since March 28 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has all but wiped the global sporting calendar clean.

No fans were allowed to attend any of the five games, and referees, coaches and cheerleaders all wore face masks. Cardboard cut-outs, and banners were used to replicate the presence of spectators.

To minimise physical contact - as advised by the league - players celebrated runs with forearm bumps, rather than high-fives and handshakes, with spitting prohibited.

All involved will be subjected to regular temperature testing.

Major TV networks, starved of live sports content, have snapped up the chance to air KBO games, with ESPN among 10 foreign broadcasters penning deals.

To mitigate the lack of an atmosphere in the stadium, Wiz and SK Wyverns also aired videos of cheering fans on stadium scoreboards, while LG Twins live-streamed cheerleading on its YouTube channel and invited fans to participate in its social media events.

Players and fans alike have welcomed the return of baseball, South Korea's most popular sport.

Mookie Betts, an outfielder for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, shared on social media a video celebrating the KBO's opening and introduced some players.

"We've been stuck at home long enough but I'm so excited to see the game," said Kim Su-hong, a firefighter and SK Wyverns fan, who watched the match against Hanwha Eagles in his Incheon home.

"If not for the coronavirus, I would've been in the stadium with my wife and daughter. But for now, we're going to make a bet for beer after the game."

There is even an upside to the increased attention.

Reflecting on the rise in online viewership, Lee In-song, a Wyverns official, said: "This no-audience period hopefully won't last long, but looking on the bright side, there could be more new baseball fans, from abroad, watching the games from home like never before, thanks to the technology."

Widespread testing, intensive contact tracing and tracking apps have enabled South Korea to limit the impact of Covid-19 compared to the months-long lockdowns seen elsewhere. As such, the country is becoming a rare hotspot for live sport.

Friday will see the delayed start of its K-League football competition, and on May 14, some of golf's leading women players, including world No. 6 Kim Sei-young and 10th-ranked Lee Jeong-eun, will tee off in the KLPGA Championship, a marked change with fans elsewhere having to make do with repeats of past events on TV.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS