Baseball has returned to our TV screens! Just, well, not exactly what we are used to.
Given their fighting of the virus, South Korea was able to start their baseball season this week. (I’m not here to argue whether their methods would have worked here or anything of the sort, so let’s move on.) With ESPN picking up the rights to show one game a day, everyone seems to be very fired up about the whole thing.
I’m glad that they are being shown here and I’m sure they are a lot of fun, though part of the interest in watching foreign baseball was the energy of the fans and, of course, there are none of them in the stands right now. Still, given the late airings, I’ve not watched any of the games and I probably won’t get to do much. I often have trouble watching baseball that’s not the Cardinals anyway.
However, I had nothing else to write about and so I asked for help on Twitter. This is what I got in response:
KBO uniform power rankings!
— Matt Graves (@Matty_ice99) May 5, 2020
I don’t know that I can do rankings–it’s going to be hard enough for me to make sure I find all the teams and uniforms–but here’s my general thoughts on them.
Hanwha Eagles–The orange makes me think of the San Francisco Giants, of course. We don’t get a lot of things that aren’t red and blue in America, it doesn’t feel like, so I like the way the orange stands out. Actually, looking more at it with the gray, I guess it’s more of a Detroit Tigers look, huh? Anyway, I’m on board. Let’s give it four stars out of five.
NC Dinos–This seems to be a popular pick among the folks I follow on Twitter for their KBO team. I assume because they are called Dinos, but I will say this is a pretty sharp uniform. Blue and silver with some gold accents really look nice. I hate to go five stars so early, but I think I’m going to give it to them anyway.
Kiwoom Heroes–If I did Heroes and Goats for the KBO, would this team always have one and not the other? (Man, I just realized how much I missed doing Heroes and Goats. Sigh.) Anyway, a dusty red and some yellow isn’t bad, though I don’t think they really stand out. I’m only three teams deep, rating these as I go, but this is the first one that just seems OK. I’ll say three stars.
LG Twins–These, honestly, look like something you’d see on 50% or more of MLB teams. It’s a classic design but it doesn’t have the real pop that I always expect foreign uniforms to have. There’s nothing wrong with it and I like classic looks, but I think a middle of the road look gets a middle of the road three stars.
Lotte Giants–OK, you know how much I don’t care for powder blue jerseys, so that’s already going to knock it down a bit, especially since that makes no sense with orange again popping up in this color scheme. Without that, this isn’t a bad set. Not sure about the full pinstripe but that might just be how it looks here in the sketches. Overall, though, I’m less than impressed. Two stars seems harsh, but I’m going with it because nobody has read this far.
Samsung Lions–Gotta say, the first thing I thought of here was the Durham Bulls. However, the full blue top with white pants really work and the blue cap helps the all white one stand out as well. This would be a good team to watch, at least visually. Let’s go with four stars here.
SK Wyverns–It’s not quite the right shade of red, of course, but these might be the uniforms that look closest to the Cardinals’ outfits. The alternate is really different and reminds me of generic food packaging. The other two, though, are pretty sharp. I like the way the red contrasts with both the white and the gray. I’ll go with four stars and it might have gone a bit higher without the alternate.
KT Wiz–This feels more like what I’d expect an Asian baseball team’s uniforms to look like. Really not sure why, but that was the first impression. Maybe it’s the lettering. There looks like some real extreme piping going on with the navy blue tops (or is that black? I can’t really tell) but it seems to work. I think I’ll give it three 1/2 stars, because why not.
Kia Tigers–The picture I saw with the uniform being modeled by actual players looked more red than this, more of a Cardinal red, to be honest. But I don’t know that I can really tell much difference in the shading on my computer. I really liked the contrast of the red and the white, though, and it might be just playing on my normal love for St. Louis’s home jerseys but this one really felt like a five star outing as well.
Doosan Bears–I like the home and away of these a lot, though I’m not fond of the font they use on the alternates. Still, that’s a real good navy–reminds me of the Washington Nationals somewhat–and the home is a clean look as well. This one also gets four stars.
I’m a little disappointed that the uniforms weren’t completely colorful and strange compared to what we would normally see. (Honestly, I’d like a little more variation in the MLB ones as well–why is Oakland the only team that uses green? Why did the Diamondbacks give up their purple and teal?) The more restrained look, however, probably does help some people that are tuning in for the first time not give up because everything is so foreign–pun intended–to them.
Which ones are your favorites? Did the look of the team influence your rooting interests? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @C70!