No More Cabbage Pitching

Cabbage for salad doesn’t seem to have anything to do with baseball, but the cabbage that brought turmoil to Korean baseball has now come to find its original place.

A rules committee meeting of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) was held at the baseball hall in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, on June 21.

After a two-hour heated debate, the 11 attending members including Chairman Heo Gu-yeon decided to regard the frozen cabbage that Doosan pitcher Park Myung-hwan wore inside his hat during the match against Hanhwa a foreign substance, forbidding it from now on.

The committee decided to ban the cabbage as ruled, saying that in the case of Park Myung-hwan, it is hard to say that there was any violation but that the cabbage might affect the game since its falling on the ground might disturb batters, or its moisture might wet a player’s hands.

However, the committee did agree on some exceptions. With a doctor’s prescription and advanced authorization from the KBO chairman, it can be used. Items that aren’t deemed to affect the game, such as necklaces, earrings, and eye patches will be allowed. If the other team objects to an item, the decision is up to the umpire.

About the decision that came out, Park Myung-hwan said that going to a doctor to get a prescription to wear a cabbage leaf would be a laughable thing. He added that it was a fuss over a minor issue, but he was glad that he served a role to make the rules more concrete.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com