Bourgo: 1958 St. Louis Cardinals in Korea

From SABR member Patrick Bourgo at My So-Called Research on April 18, 2013:

In October of 1958 the St. Louis Cardinals came to Korea at the invitation of the Hanguk Ilbo newspaper (한국일보) and played a Korean team referred to as the Seoul All-Stars (全서울) or Korean All-Stars.  This friendly match was also sponsored by the Korean Amateur Baseball Association and the game was played on Tuesday, October 21, 1958 at 3:38 p.m. at Seoul Stadium.  Tickets were sold for 2,000, 1,000, 500 or 300 hwan (Korean currency at the time), and according to the Korea Times a total of 1,500 reserved seats were made available for U.S. military personnel.  More than 30,000 spectators turned out for the game, including the then-Korean president Rhee, Syng-Man, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Stan Musial was the most famous player on the Cardinals that made the trip to Asia and Korea.  The Cardinals played many games in Asia during this trip, most of which were played in Japan.  Other notables that came with Stan the Man included, Wally Moon, Don Blasingame and Ruben Amaro (father of the current Philadelphia Phillies GM).  Those very familiar with Japanese baseball and NPB history should also recognize some of the names on the Cardinals team.

Starting Pitchers
Korean All-Stars – Kim, Yang-chon (김양중)
Cardinals – Jim Brosnan (부리스난)

Recap
The Cards got off to a fast start with three straight hits.  The first two were singles by Grammas and Tate, and then a run-scoring double by Musial that brought Grammas home.  However, despite this hot start, they were only able to manage two hits over the next five innings.  It was not until the eigth inning that the Cards got on the board again, with one run on two hits.  They scored one more run in the ninth, for a total of three runs.

Read the full article here: http://koreabaseballhistory.blogspot.kr/2013/07/st-louis-cardinals-play-in-korea-1958.html



Originally published: April 23, 2013. Last Updated: April 23, 2013.