Heatwave Break Ends: Pro Baseball Returns After a Week

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Professional baseball, which had been suspended due to extreme heat, resumed today, August 11, after a week. Both players and fans reportedly missed the ballpark dearly.

Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the story.


[Reporter]

Ahead of the resumption of professional baseball after a one-week hiatus, KBO Commissioner Huh Koo-youn personally visited Jamsil Baseball Stadium to inspect the conditions.

In the mid-summer weather with daytime highs still well exceeding 30°C (86°F), players shed thick beads of sweat while warming up, but they responded that conditions were much better compared to last week.

[Huh In-seo / Han화 Catchers (Hanwha Catcher): (Last week) just coming out to the ballpark made it feel hard to breathe, and having gone through all of that, I think I can really feel how cool it is now.]

Fans who suffered through a week without baseball also wore expressions of relief, finally quenching their burning thirst for the sport.

[Cho Seo-hyun & Ha Yoon-seo / Doosan Fans: It was so hot that we just stayed home with the air conditioning on, watching dramas and not going out. When there is baseball, we watch it even at home... ((Last week) felt quite empty. We always wait for 6:30 PM, and that week without baseball felt so much longer.)]

There was a largely positive response to the game start time being delayed to 7:00 PM as part of heatwave countermeasures.

[Kang Doo-young & Kim Han-gyeol / Hanwha Fans: We thought the weather was great. 7:00 PM seems a bit better for coming after getting off work. (We came wondering "Would it be okay?", but it is much cooler than expected, and since it starts at 7:00 PM, it actually feels much cooler.)]

The "cooling break," which provides a four-minute rest period after the end of the 3rd and 7th innings to escape the heat, also made its debut today.

(Video by Yang Doo-won | Video Editing by Hwang Ji-young)

※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.