Editor's note: This story on bat flips in the Korea Baseball Organization was originally published on Oct. 4, 2016. The KBO is scheduled to begin playing games Tuesday (overnight Monday in the U.S.) on ESPN.
The videos started to appear in America a few years ago, crossing the Pacific and landing on our digital doorsteps like mysterious gifts. Their contents were joyously unfamiliar: Korea Baseball Organization sluggers walloping balls and then flipping their bats with abandon, sending them spiraling through the air. Montages surfaced on a website called mykbo.net, gifs hit social media, and ecstatic headlines soon followed:
Korean Baseball Player Flips Bat Like a Champion
Now This Is a Righteous Bat Flip
This KBO Bat Flip Will Rock Your World, Free Your Soul
When I first saw the clips, I was astonished.