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[Anchor] This season’s professional baseball has reached fever pitch. It has especially drawn younger fans to the ballpark, and its influence has spilled into variety shows, dramas and books. This is Ittakkeum reporting. [Reporter] \”Blazing Baseball 2\”: past records, names and honors don’t matter. We’ll see who the team needs most. The baseball variety show Blazing Baseball 2, led by manager Kim Sung-geun, made headlines after opening public tryouts and revamping its format. Since its launch, it has drawn as many as 200,000 simultaneous viewers on YouTube. KBS2’s new variety series Our Neighborhood Baseball Boss features legendary players coaching youth teams in their home regions to attract local fans. Channel A’s Baseball Queen, which foregrounds the growth stories of its female cast members, has begun production on a second season. The pro baseball craze has also reached the publishing world. Guidebooks that analyze team strength and player data have gained popularity, and baseball-related book sales have risen steadily over the past five years. This year, sales are nearly 30% higher than during the same period last year. In 2024, when total attendance reached 10 million, baseball titles climbed from 18th to 9th in Kyobo Bookstore’s hobby and sports annual sales ranking; they were fourth the previous year. The drama industry is riding the same wave. MBC’s Your Ground, SBS’s Full Count and tvN’s Gift — three series about player development, competition and youthful romance — have moved into production. [Ha Jae-geun / pop culture critic] \”Those shows reveal human drama and moments of real feeling. That makes pro baseball appealing not just as a sport or game but as source material for storytelling.\” Streaming broadcasts have lowered the barrier to entry, and as fan culture has grown — particularly among women in their 20s and 30s — baseball’s cultural footprint has expanded across the wider market. This is Ittakkeum from Yonhap News TV. [Video sources: YouTube Studio Siwon; KBS2 Our Neighborhood Baseball Boss; Channel A Baseball Queen] [Video reporting: Shin Jae-min] [Video editing: Kim Dong-hyun] [Graphics: Kang Seong-hoon, Nam Jin-hee] Yonhap News TV story inquiries and tips: KakaoTalk/Line jebo23 Ittakkeum (ouch@yna.co.kr)
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