As a lifelong baseball fan, Philip Goldberg, the United States ambassador to South Korea, thinks it is "fantastic" that Major League Baseball (MLB) has decided to bring its regular season games to Seoul this week. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will open the 2024 regular season Wednesday as part of the two-game Seoul Series, a historic occasion that Goldberg was able to attend. "I think it's fantastic," Goldberg told Yonhap News Agency before the game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. He has been to several Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) games and an All-Star Game, but watching an MLB game in person in Seoul is on a different level. "To have Major League Baseball here, have two West Coast teams, part of the Pacific Rim with a Korean player, Japanese players is really special," Goldberg said, referring to the Padres' South Korean player Kim Ha-seong, and Japanese stars for both clubs, including the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani. "And it highlights something that our countries have in common: the love of baseball. As the ambassador to Korea, that's especially important to me to have this common interest in baseball that just expands out our relationship that is so strong in so many areas." Goldberg said baseball can help further strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance thanks to its unifying force. "It's a people-to-people kind of alliance," he said. "I'm sure when they travel to California, they will go to games or to other parts of the United States. I know my American friends, when they come to Korea, several of them have asked me to come to KBO games. So in that sense it's just a shared interest, a shared love. But what sports does is it's unifying. It just means that people have a great love for sports." With many American fans in the stands for the monumental game, Goldberg said he hoped they would learn about the unique cheering culture of Korean baseball fans. "It's fun. It's different," Goldberg said. "The atmosphere is different but the fundamentals are the same and the game is the same. And I think there's something we can learn." As much as he enjoys KBO games, Goldberg said he has "stayed away from trying to pick a team" in the KBO because he felt it was "a diplomatic thing to do." His loyalty remains with his hometown team, the Boston Red Sox. Goldberg is such a devoted fan that he is able to recite key moments of the team's history with stunning ease. It also happens that Dave Roberts, current manager of the Dodgers, was an integral part of the 2004 World Series-winning Red Sox squad. It was Roberts' steal of second base in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees that sparked an improbable Boston rally. They came back from a 3-0 series deficit to claim that series in seven games, and then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. It was their first title in 86 years. "Dave Roberts is a hero in Boston," Goldberg gushed. Asked if he'd had a chance to meet Roberts, Goldberg said, "I haven't. Some of the Dodgers' peopl e said maybe I'll meet him but we'll see." Source: Yonhap News Agency
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