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| Responding to an increasing demand for information about Korean baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization launched an English-language service on its website this week. / Yonhap |
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Responding to an increasing demand for information about Korean baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this week launched an English-language service on its website.
The league has operated a site in Korean for 18 years, but aside from a short-lived attempt in 2003 has offered little online information in English.
"We felt the KBO needed to keep up with the times and with the increasing demand from foreign fans," Choi Won-jun, the KBO official in charge of the project, told The Korea Times. "It's a meaningful improvement for fans who do not read Korean but want to know more about Korean baseball."
The service (eng.koreabaseball.com) provides information about the league, game schedules and player statistics. Choi said in the future, it would evolve to include news articles and information about purchasing KBO-related merchandise.
Sports agency Sports2i began work on the project early this year under a contract with the league. Choi declined to reveal how much the site construction cost.
So far, the reactions have been welcoming.
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| This is a screenshot of the KBO's English website. |
"The more English KBO resources the better," said Dan Kurtz, operator of independent English website MyKBO.net. "It is quite a welcome surprise.
"I am happy that after all these years of the league not recognizing their English-speaking fans, they finally recognized that there is a market in Korea and outside of Korea for English-language KBO information."
Especially welcome for Kurtz is that the the English page contains the same amount of statistics as the Korean version.
are identical to those on the Korean version.
The service provides team and individual statistics as well as a player search function. In addition to basic data such as batting average and earned run average, it has a number of "advanced" statistics such as OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging average) and WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched).
The earlier attempt at an English-language page offered rudimentary information about the teams as well as new foreign players, but was taken down after a year.
Lotte Giants pitcher Shane Youman, an American who has been in the league since 2012, said the site would be a "big time" help not only for international fans, but for the players themselves.
"All of us here playing will definitely be able to share this with everyone that we know back in the States, or wherever else we may be from. They can keep up with us, or whoever else they may know playing here."
He added that site could benchmark other league sites such as MLB.com and provide video clips, player interviews and feature stories to promote players, both Korean and foreign.
Content about foreign players could "not only (be) about the games, but they can also include adjusting to a new culture, the food, people, teammates, the language, etc. Players that have been here multiple years can reflect on how they adjusted, and how they feel now."
Kurtz added that more resources about buying tickets and merchandise could be a boon for the league.
"I know a lot of English-speaking fans would appreciate an English KBO ticket site, as the current options are only in Korean and only those with registration numbers can sign-up," he said.
"Also, I am always asked by fans from around the world, how and where they can buy KBO merchandise, so maybe the KBO can add an English-language shop as well."
In an interview with The Korea Times in December, Kim Chong, vice minister of culture, sports and tourism, promised that English websites would be created for all major sports by the end of 2014.
