Baseball is a game of stories. As fans, most of the time we focus on the stories on the field, but sometimes another fan inserts themself into the narrative in a way that captures the attention of everyone, including the players.

In August 2014, Sungwoo Lee was one of those fans.

Who is Sungwoo Lee?

Sungwoo Lee is a self-described Kansas City Royals superfan from Seoul, South Korea with the online handle Koreanfan_KC. He started following the Royals in the 90s and credited baseball with helping him learn English. He even managed to watch many live broadcasts despite the significant time difference

Lee dreamed of traveling to KC and watching a game at Kaufman Stadium.

His dream became a reality in 2014, when he arrived in the United States for a 10-day visit to Kansas City. Looking at his itinerary, he had the baseball trip of a lifetime. While in KC, he took in a Chiefs game, ate KC BBQ, attended 5 games at Kauffman, and even got to throw out a first pitch. Chris Kamler, columnist for the Platte County Landmark captures the spirit hole adventure in The Silence, The Series, and The Season of SungWoo.

Not every Royals fan gets a chance to eat BBQ with a local favorite like Billy Butler.

Sungwoo Lee Brought Good Luck from South Korea to KC

Baseball fans are a superstitious group. Lee arrived in Kansas City on 5 August 2014. That night, the Royals won 12-2 at Arizona putting them 5 games over .500 (58-53). When he boarded a plane to return home, the Royals were 11 games over .500 (65-54). They ended the month of August 12 games over .500 and closed out the year at 89-73, which was good enough to put them in the 2014 World Series.

While the Royals ultimately lost game 7 to San Fransisco, it was their first World Series appearance since 1985. Who knows? The ending might have been different if Sungwoo Lee had been in the crowd. KC did return to the World Series in 2015, defeating the New York Mets in 5 games.