2017 KBO Regular Season Schedule

The schedule for the 2017 KBO regular season was announced on Wednesday. The line-up of games for opening weekend is Hanhwa vs. Doosan at Jamsil, KIA vs. Samsung at Daegu, KT vs. SK at Incheon, LG vs. Nexen at Gocheok, and Lotte vs. NC at Changwon. All games will start at 6:30 pm KST. I can hardly wait to click the button and reserve my tickets.

You can check out the schedules on the KBO English site via the calendar or you can find a spreadsheet on mykbo.net.

With that said, here is a card from the 2015-16 Superstar Baseball Gold Edition set. It's the first card of the set and it is #'d to 60. It was made to commemorate the record breaking attendance of the 2015 season with more than 7,000,000 fans in attendance. On another note, that record was broken again this season with more than 8,000,000 fans showing up in the stands. It's great to see the KBO doing so well and to see teams increasing their numbers of fans.

SBCGE-001-SS (Front)

SBCGE-001-SS (Back)

Card of the Week (Week 5)

This week I decided to go with a card of Ma Il-yeong (마일영). I didn't really know much about him since he was never much of a big name pitcher. However, he has a pretty interesting story that he was a big fan of knuckleballs so he would throw a knuckleball from time to time. I don't really know of any other KBO pitchers that throw or have been known to throw a knuckleball so I thought it was pretty interesting.

He retired from playing in 2015 after being in the KBO for 15 years (2 of those years were spent in mandatory military service) split between the Hyundai Unicorns, Woori/Seoul Heroes, and the Hanhwa Eagles . He is still in the KBO as a coach for his old team, the Hanhwa Eagles, in his hometown of Daejeon.

Ma Il-yeong (2014-15 Super Star Baseball Blue Edition)

Ma Il-yeong Knuckle Ball Video

2014-15 Super Star Baseball Blue Edition Box Break

I ordered a couple of boxes of 2014-2015 Super Star Baseball Blue Edition the other day and I just got them in last night. The blue edition features several different categories of cards. There are gold coin cards, super piece cards, autos, super star cards, all star cards, gold normal cards, normal cards, and team cards.

Each box has 20 packs with 4 cards per pack (80 cards) for a price of about $40 USD. In each pack you will get 1 all star card (unless you get a gold coin, super piece, auto, or super star card), 1 gold normal card, 1 normal card, and 1 team card. Each box will include 1 super star card (#'d card) and there is a chance that you will also get a second special card (gold coin, super piece, or auto) but it isn't common.

I have purchased a few boxes of these in the past and I only pulled 1 auto from them and a lot of duplicates. This time around I was really lucky and pulled a couple of autos (one of them being a really nice Choi Hyoung-woo).

Here is a look at what I ended up with:

Box 1

Choi Hyoung-woo Auto - 1
Kim Tae-gyun Super Star - 1
All Star - 18 (1 duplicate)
Gold Normal - 20 (10 duplicates)
Normal - 20 (6 duplicates)
Team - 20 (5 duplicates)

Box 2

Ma Il-young Auto -1
Kim Tae-gyun Super Star - 1 (duplicate of the the one from the first box)
All Star - 18 (1 duplicate)
Gold Normal - 20 (3 duplicates)
Normal - 20 (2 duplicates)
Team - 20 (2 duplicates)

In the end, I ended up with a total of 14 cards (all star, gold normal, normal, or team) that I needed for my set, 2 autos, and 2 super stars (1 duplicate).

In general you can expect a box to break down as 1 super star card, 19 all star cards, 20 gold normal cards, 20 normal cards, and 20 team cards.

Translation Thursday (2015 Baseball's Best Players Doosan Bears Team Set)

Just above the team logo there is a white box with things written about the player on the card. Using my elementary level Korean, online translators, dictionaries, and my ability to decipher the grabble that comes out of online translators, I have started to come up with some rough translations of what the 2015 Baseball's Best Players sets say on the front.

Here is my first crack at putting them out there and hopefully the translations are not too far off from the actual meaning. If you have better recommendations in terms of the the translations just let me know.

Min Byung-hun #49 (PA01-DO001)

어느 타순이든 투수를 긴장시키며 맹활약.

Challenges the pitcher and can hit from any spot in the line-up.

 Kim Hyun-soo #50 (PA01-DO002)

역시 꾸준한 타격기계, 이제 세계가 주목한다.

A consistent hitting machine, the world is paying attention.

 Oh Jae-won #17 (PA01-DO003)

승부근서의 사나이, 투혼으로 "허슬두"를 이끌다.
The man of the game, the fighting spirit of “Hustle Doo.”

Jung Soo-bin #31 (PA01-DO004)

치고 달리고 막고, 외모보다 빛나는 맹활약.
Hit and run threat, the appearance of a star.

Hur Kyung-min #13 (PA01-DO005)

 

이제 재능이 아니라 성적과 실력이 이슈, 데뷰 첫 3할

Talent is not an issue, skills and results have him starting at 3rd.

Kim Jae-ho #52 (PA01-DO006)

명품 수비는 기분, 리그 최고 공격형 유걱수로 진화
Masterful Defense, evolving into the league’s top offensive player at his position.

Ko Yeong-min #14 (PA01-DO007)

이름에 걸맞는 결정적 활약, 부활하는 "고제트"
A player that suits his nickname, reintroducing “Go Jet.”

Park Gun-woo #37 (PA01-DO008)

이제는 핵심전력, 빼어난 활약으로 자신의 길을 열다.

Core strength is the key to his outstanding performance.

Yoo Hee-kwan #29 (PA01-DO009)

느림의 미학, 제구왕 그리고 강심장, 리그 최정상에 서다.

Beauty of slowness, utilizes his tools and a strong heart at the top of the league.

Yang Eui-Ji #25 (PA01-DO010)

두산 전력의 핵심, 공수에서 이제 리그 최고를 노린다.

At the core of Doosan, aiming to be the best in the league on offense and defense.

Dugout Magazine (December 2016)

Oh Seung-hwan Cover

I recently picked up the December issue of Dugout Baseball Magazine. It features Oh Seung-hwan (오승환) of the St. Louis Cardinals on the cover. It was my first time purchasing a Dugout Magazine and I picked this one up since it has a Korean player of my favorite MLB team on the cover.

The magazine is packed with a lot of nice photos feature stories of different Korean players and some feature stories and photos of non-professional players. I have enjoyed taking a look through this issue and I may have found my next thing to start collecting in Korea, Dugout Baseball Magazine.

Card of the Week (Week 4)

There is something about watching a "big man" play professional sports, regardless of sport. One of my favorites to watch in the KBO is Choi Jun-seok (최준석) of the Lotte Giants. He is known for his ability to hit the ball far, robust waistline, and ability to perform some awesome bat flips (even when the ball is foul). I just love watching a big guy play. I guess it makes the big people, such as myself, feel good to see "one of their own" competing at a professional level in baseball.

Choi Jun-seok

SBC02-063

New Additions to the Collection

I attended the Doosan Bears Fan Festival on December 4th. It was a cold and dreary day, but it was nice to spend some time with people from my fan club and meet some of the players. I ended up getting autographs from 4 players to add to my collection, Min Byun-hun, Lee Yong-chan, Kim Sung-bae, and Kook Hae-sung.

We waited in line from the early morning (around 3 am) to get our tickets and there were people that had been there since 2 pm the previous day. Needless to say, the crowd was crazy and tempers flared a bit from time to time with people trying to cut in the lines.

 The Overnight Campers (My group was at the back left Corner)

The Ticket Line/Mob

Fan Festival Ticket for Tent 6 Autographs

After getting my ticket, I made my way inside with my fan club and we got our seats at the front of the row (just behind the VIP/Players). After that we spent some time roaming around the field and taking photos until the autograph tents opened up. At 12 the autograph tents opened and I made my way over to my selected tent to get my items signed.

 

Tent 6 (Min Byung-hun, Lee Yong-chan, Kim Sung-bae, Kook Hae-sung)

Meeting My Favorite Player Min Byung-hun

 

Here is a look at my autographs to add to the collection. The signatures on the flag and baseballs are Kook Hae-sung (top left), Lee Yong-chan (top right), Min Byung-hun (bottom left), and Kim Sung-bae (Bottom right).

Unsigned Mini-flag From the Korean Series

 Signed Mini-flag and Baseballs

The flag is a great piece to frame and display and I am looking forward to getting it framed and put on the wall of my office/collections room.

Doosan Bears Fan Festival (December 4, 2016)

This coming Sunday I will have a chance to add to my KBO collection at the Doosan Bears Fan Festival. Some of the events for the day are getting player autographs, hearing player introductions, watching highlight videos of the season, and having a chance to tour the baseball grounds.

The event starts up at 11:00 am with the autographs event. However, the 11 am opening is limited to the first 130 "Bears Club Members." I am hoping to get their early enough to be one of the first 130 since there will likely be 1,000s at the time when they let everyone in at 12:00 pm. The whole event runs from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm and the autograph event will end at 1:30 pm for everyone.

My 2016 Bears Club Membership

There will be 23 players and the head coach signing on the day so it will be a great chance to get most of the 2016 Championship Team autos at the same time. The players that will be signing are the following:

Kim Tae-hyung (Head Coach)
Kim Jae-ho (Shortstop)
Kim Kang-ryul (Pitcher)
Ryu Ji-heok (Second Base)
Yang Eui-ji (Catcher)
Oh Jae-il (First Base)
Hur Kyung-min (Third Base)
Jeong Jin-ho (Outfield)
Oh Jae-won (Second Base)
Choi Ju-hwan (Second Base)
Choi Jae-hoon (Catcher)
Lee Hyun-ho (Pitcher)
Chang Won-jun (Pitcher)
Hong Sang-sam (Pitcher)
Park Gun-woo (Outfield)
Park Sae-heok (Catcher)
Yoo Hee-kwan (Pitcher)
Kim Jae-hwan (Outfielder)
Ham Deok-ju (Pitcher)
Jo Su-haeng (Outfield)
Min Byung-hun (Outfield)
Lee Yong-chan (Pitcher)
Kim Seong-bae (Pitcher)
Kook Hae-seong (Outfield)

2017 WBC: Team Korea (Update)

The 2017 World Baseball Classic roster for Team Korea was announced a few weeks ago. Since that time there have been some changes in players due to off season surgeries. The first official change came in the form of relief pitcher Lee Yong-chan (이용찬) of the Doosan Bears. He is underwent elbow surgery on November 15th and he is expected to be out of action for up to 6 months.

His replacement was announced yesterday, November 30th. He will be replaced by Shim Chang-min (심창민) of the Samsung Lions. During the season, he appeared in 62 games and posted and ERA of 2.97, 25 saves, and 4 holds.

Shim Chang-min

Another player, Jeong Keun-woo (정근우), of the Hanhwa Eagles is underwent surgery on November 29th and he will also be out of the 2017 WBC. His replacement has not been announced. There are possibilities for more changes over the next 1 or 2 months since the finalized roster isn't expected to be submitted until sometime in February.