Blackout leads to suspension in game

By Yoon Chul

Buildings in Daegu began to light up as the sun went down Saturday but from 7:28 p.m. the Daegu Stadium went dark.

The second game of a three-game series between the Doosan Bears and the Samsung Lions started at 5 p.m. With a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning, Jung Soo-bin of the Bears ran to first base after he surprised Lions reliever Lim Hyun-joon with a bunt. Then the stadium blacked out.

Over 10,000 spectators and players at the ground were surprised by the unexpected incident.

“I heard a big sound just before the blackout. I thought there had been an accident,” one of the spectators said.

“It is one of top-10 news in the 29-year-old KBO history,” Bears manager Kim Kyung-moon said.

A Lions official revealed that all power in the stadium was out because the transformer broke down.

About 15 minutes later power was restored to the stadium but the right light tower remained dark.

After the game was delayed for 48 minutes and the umpire suspended play. The game restarted at 3 p.m. on Sunday just before the scheduled game for that day and the Bears held on to win 3-2.

This was the first suspended game in 12 years since the game between Ssangbangwool Raiders, the predecessor of the SK Wyverns, and the LG Twins on Oct. 6 in 1999 at Jeonju Stadium was halted for the same reason.

The incident occurred due to the stadium’s age.

The Daegu Stadium was built in 1948. In a safety test in 2006 the visitors’ locker room was evaluated as unsafe but after being reinforced by steel bars is still in use.

“We are very sorry about this incident,” a Daegu city official said. “Some people say that the government didn’t do anything but we have spent about from 500 million won to one billion won every year to maintain the venue. For this season we repaired the light tower.”

Despite growing call for a new venue, there has been little progress due mainly to financial problems.

Most baseball venues in Korea are owned by municipal governments. This means the cities are responsible for the maintenance of the facilities.

Daegu and the Lions signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)in March and they plan to construct a new stadium by 2014 at the cost of 150 billion won.

The Lions will pay 50 billion won and they will get the rights to the stadium for the next 25 years. The other 100 billion won will come from the central government (30 billion won) and Daegu city (70 billon won).

“We want to build a new venue,” a Lions official said. “If the new stadium is constructed based on MOU, we have full responsibility for its maintenance.

“We hope that this incident will help spur efforts to build the new venue,” added the official.

What if the blackout happened as soon as the pitcher throws the ball and what if the ball wasn't controlled perfectly, that could be followed by any tragic accident.