The Cultural Soundscapes of Baseball: How USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Dominican Republic Experience the Game Through Sound
A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Stadium Audio, Fan Participation, and National Identity
Chien Min Kuo
Baseball Innovation League Associaton, Houston, USA.
Abstract
This article examines baseball sound cultures across five nations—the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Dominican Republic—through a cultural lens. Unlike equipment or rule innovations, baseball sound is not a universal language but a collection of local dialects shaped by each society’s relationship with performance, community, and national identity. Drawing on ethnographic research, media analysis, and historical musicology, this article demonstrates how sound reveals deeper cultural values: American baseball prioritizes spectacle and nostalgia; Japanese baseball emphasizes collective discipline and ritual precision; South Korean baseball transforms the stadium into a K-pop concert of synchronized dance; Taiwanese baseball represents a hybrid “transnational cultural appropriation” that fuses Japanese, Korean, and American elements into something distinctly local; and Dominican baseball creates a continuous carnival of Latin rhythm. The article concludes that baseball sound is not merely entertainment but a profound expression of how each culture understands community, celebration, and the experience of sport.
Keywords: baseball soundscape, cultural hybridity, fan participation, national identity, stadium atmosphere
1. Introduction
A baseball game sounds radically different depending on where you are in the world. In the United States, the crack of the bat competes with organ riffs, walk-up songs, and the seventh-inning stretch singalong. In Japan, synchronized brass bands and taiko drums create a wall of sound that never stops during the home team’s offense. In South Korea, electronic dance music and professional cheerleaders transform the stadium into a party. In Taiwan, a hybrid sound has emerged—part Japanese brass discipline, part Korean electronic energy, wholly “Taiwanese.” In the Dominican Republic, merengue and bachata rhythms create a continuous street carnival.
These differences are not accidental. They reflect each country’s unique cultural values, social structures, and historical relationships with performance, community, and national identity. Sound is not merely background noise at a baseball game; it is a primary vehicle through which fans participate, express identity, and experience belonging.
This article argues that baseball sound is a cultural artifact. To understand why each country sounds different, we must understand how each culture conceives of fandom, participation, and the role of music in public life.
2. Theoretical Framework: Sound as Cultural Expression
Before examining each country individually, it is useful to establish three analytical concepts that organize cross-cultural comparison.
2.1 The Organ as “Signature Sound”
Musicologist Matthew W. Mihalka, in his foundational 2012 dissertation, argues that the baseball soundscape is a “heterogeneous” mix of organ music, recorded popular songs, and communal singing. The organ, introduced to ballparks in the 1940s, became baseball’s “signature sound” —not because it was inevitable, but because early organists established archetypes that later generations followed (Mihalka, 2012).
2.2 Communal Singing and Social Bonding
Mihalka’s (2024) research in The Oxford Handbook of Community Singing demonstrates that collective singing at baseball games allows spectators to “reinforce their interpersonal bonds, thereby transcending their divergent experiences, ethnicities, or socioeconomic statuses.” Singing transforms a crowd of strangers into a temporary community.
2.3 Cultural Appropriation and Hybridity
Lin Ting-Yeh’s (2022) master’s thesis introduces the concept of “transnational cultural appropriation and hybridization” to explain how Taiwan’s baseball sound emerged from Japanese and Korean influences while remaining distinctly Taiwanese. This concept—that cultures borrow, adapt, and transform foreign elements—is central to understanding global baseball sound.
2.4 Fan Participation Styles as Cultural Indicators
Each culture exhibits a different model of fan participation. These models, summarized in Table 1, provide the analytical framework for the country-specific analysis that follows.
Table 1: Fan Participation Models Across Five Baseball Cultures
| Dimension | USA | Japan | South Korea | Taiwan | Dominican Rep. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary fan role | Consumer | Trained participant | Dancer | Hybrid participant | Celebrant |
| Sound source | From above (PA, DJ) | From below (oendan band) | Mixed (PA + cheerleaders) | Mixed (PA + cheerleaders + optional band) | From below (fan percussion) |
| Participation requirement | None (spontaneous) | High (memorize songs) | Medium (follow choreography) | Medium-high (learn moves) | Low (spontaneous dance) |
| Training needed | None | Yes (song lyrics) | Minimal (follow leader) | Yes (choreography) | None |
| Cultural value expressed | Individualism | Collectivism | Catharsis | Adaptability | Joy |
For Table 1, The five countries arrange along a spectrum of fan participation intensity. Japan requires the most training (memorizing dozens of player-specific songs). South Korea and Taiwan require medium training (learning choreography). The USA and Dominican Republic require no formal training, but the nature of participation differs: American fans consume entertainment; Dominican fans create it spontaneously. The sound source also differs: Japan and Dominican Republic generate sound from below (fan-led); USA generates sound from above (stadium-led); South Korea and Taiwan use mixed models.
3. United States: The Heterogeneous Soundscape of Spectacle and Nostalgia
3.1 Cultural Context
Baseball is “America’s pastime” —a title that carries both pride and anxiety. The sport has long been associated with American identity, patriotism, and nostalgia for an idealized small-town past. This cultural positioning shapes how sound is used at American ballparks.
3.2 The Organ as “Signature Sound”
The Hammond organ entered baseball in 1941 at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. According to Mihalka (2012), the organ became “baseball’s signature sound” because of several converging factors: the increased use of organs in secular settings during the early 20th century, new technologies like PA systems, and the archetypes established by early organists in the 1940s and 1950s.
The organ was “mostly uncontested as the producer of music at ballparks” for several decades. It provided punctuation for key moments—the four-note “Charge!” fanfare after a strikeout, the swelling chords during a close play, the playful riffs between batters.
3.3 Communal Singing as Transcendence
The seventh-inning stretch singalong of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is America’s most participatory baseball tradition. Mihalka (2024) notes that this practice offers spectators “an opportunity to reinforce their interpersonal bonds, thereby transcending their divergent experiences, ethnicities, or socioeconomic statuses.”
What is remarkable about this tradition is that fans sing a song about wanting to go to a baseball game while they are already at one. The lyrics express desire for an experience they are already having—a moment of meta-awareness that, as Mihalka observes, seems to escape most participants.
3.4 The Shift to Recorded Music
Organs began giving way to recorded music during the 1970s, due to “the increasingly spectacular nature of baseball games and changes in the music industry” (Mihalka, 2012). The introduction of large video boards accelerated this trend; popular music became the natural accompaniment to visual spectacle.
However, the organ did not disappear. When “retro” stadiums were constructed during the 1990s and 2000s, organs were often included—not because they were the most efficient technology, but because they evoked nostalgia.
4. Japan: The Oendan and the Brass Battalion
4.1 Cultural Context: Collectivism and Discipline
Japan’s baseball sound culture reflects broader Japanese values: collectivism, discipline, ritual precision, and group harmony. The oendan (応援団) —organized cheering squads with brass instruments, taiko drums, and exacting choreography—embodies these values in sonic form.
4.2 The Oendan: Organized Fan Performance
Japanese baseball cheering “never stops” when the home team is batting. The oendan leads the crowd through continuous brass-and-drum performances, with fans singing complex, pre-composed songs for each player.
This stands in stark contrast to the American model, where cheering is event-triggered. In Japan, cheering is state-triggered: the moment the home team takes the field to bat, the cheering begins and does not cease until the third out.
4.3 Linguistic Structure of Chants
A 2019 linguistic study by Ito, Kubozono, Mester, and Tanaka analyzed the phonological structure of Japanese baseball chants. They found that chants follow a tightly regulated rhythmic pattern: two measures of four beats, each composed of three notes plus one pause. This structure is grounded in Japanese linguistic rhythm itself, explaining why Japanese chants sound distinctively precise and disciplined.
4.4 Silence as Respect
One of the most distinctive features of Japanese baseball sound is silence—during the opposing team’s offensive half-innings. When the home team takes the field to pitch, the oendan stops playing, and fans remain quiet, allowing the visiting team’s fans to cheer. This practice reflects Japanese cultural values of respect and turn-taking.
5. South Korea: The K-Pop Stadium and the Cheerleader Revolution
5.1 Cultural Context: Expressive Release
South Korea’s baseball sound culture reflects a society that, until relatively recently, offered few public spaces for loud, uninhibited expression. Baseball became an outlet—a sanctioned space for otherwise inappropriate behavior.
5.2 The Electronic Transformation
South Korean baseball sound is defined by electronic dance music, professional cheerleaders, and continuous fan dancing. Unlike Japan’s acoustic brass bands, Korea uses pre-recorded EDM played through powerful stadium speakers.
Each player has a theme song, but unlike Japan’s original compositions, Korean theme songs often adapt existing popular songs with new lyrics. A professional cheerleader leads the crowd through synchronized choreography while fans pound “thundersticks” (inflatable noisemakers).
5.3 The Social Function of Noise
For Korean fans, the baseball stadium serves a specific social function: stress release. The New York Times described it as “a place to escape daily life, where no one watches one’s back and you can shout and relieve stress” (Chosun Ilbo, 2014).
This stands in contrast to the American stadium, which functions as family entertainment, and the Japanese stadium, which functions as ritual performance. Korean baseball sound is cathartic—a collective scream disguised as sport.
6. Taiwan: The Hybrid Heart of Asian Baseball Sound
6.1 Cultural Context: The Colonized Ear
Taiwan’s baseball sound culture is best understood as a story of borrowing, adaptation, and creative synthesis. Having experienced Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945), American cultural influence during the Cold War, and contemporary Korean pop culture diffusion, Taiwan has developed a baseball sound that is simultaneously derivative and original.
Lin Ting-Yeh’s (2022) research identifies two distinct periods in Taiwanese baseball sound.
6.2 Period One: Japanese Brass Band Era (1990-2012)
During this period, Taiwanese baseball sound “referenced the marching bands (namely brass band) of Japanese high school.” Cheering band members “performed with trumpets, gongs and Chinese drums, whose cheering sounds were surged with great momentum” (Lin, 2022).
6.3 The 2013 Watershed: The Korean Electronic Revolution
In 2013, Lamigo桃猿 (now Rakuten Monkeys) created “猿風加油” (“Ape Style Cheering”) , adding an electronic music element “originated from Korea Professional baseball cheering culture” (Lin, 2022).
6.4 The Hybrid Result
The result is what Lin (2022) calls a “Taiwanese framework” of baseball sound— “appropriated and hybridized elements from the Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and American baseball culture.”
Taiwan’s sound is neither purely Japanese nor purely Korean. It is Japanese in its brass band foundation (still present in some teams’ traditional sections), Korean in its electronic EDM and cheerleader-centric performance, and Taiwanese in its specific song choices and choreographic complexity.
Table 2: Cultural Values Expressed Through Baseball Sound
| Cultural Value | USA | Japan | South Korea | Taiwan | Dominican Rep. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary value expressed | Nostalgia & spectacle | Discipline & collectivism | Catharsis & release | Hybridity & adaptability | Joy & national pride |
| Sound aesthetic | Heterogeneous mix | Precision & power | Energy & dance | Fusion & creativity | Rhythm & spontaneity |
| Temporal pattern | Event-triggered | Continuous (offense) / Silent (defense) | Continuous (offense) / Silent (defense) | Continuous (offense) / Silent (defense) | Continuous throughout |
| Who controls sound | DJ, organist, PA | Oendan (fans) | Cheerleaders + DJ | Cheer captain + DJ | Fans (spontaneous) |
| What silence means | Normal game state | Respect for opponent | Respect for opponent | Respect for opponent | No silence (game is continuous celebration) |
In Table 2, Table 2 summarizes the core cultural values expressed through each country’s baseball sound. The USA values nostalgia (the preserved organ) and spectacle (video-board-accompanied pop music). Japan values discipline (precise chanting rhythms) and collectivism (fans moving as one). South Korea values catharsis (permission to scream in public). Taiwan values hybridity (creative borrowing from multiple sources). The Dominican Republic values spontaneous joy (continuous dancing and drumming). The temporal pattern column reveals a fundamental divide: Asia follows a “continuous offense, silent defense” rhythm; USA follows an “event-triggered” rhythm; Dominican Republic has no silence—the game is a continuous celebration. The control column shows that sound comes from above (professionals) in the USA, from below (fans) in Japan and Dominican Republic, and is mixed in South Korea and Taiwan.
7. Dominican Republic: The Latin Pulse of Street-Level Carnival
7.1 Cultural Context: Music as Identity
Baseball is the Dominican Republic’s national sport, but merengue and bachata are its national heartbeat. At Dominican baseball games, these two cultural forces merge into a continuous celebration of Dominican identity.
7.2 Live Music Throughout
Unlike the United States, where music is between-inning entertainment, Dominican baseball features “live music throughout, in Caribbean rhythms” (Los Angeles Times, 2009). The band plays continuously—not just between innings, but during at-bats, between pitches, throughout the action.
7.3 The Fan as Participant
In the Dominican Republic, fans do not passively consume entertainment. They bring their own drums—congas, hand drums, makeshift percussion—and play along throughout the game. This is music from below, not from above.
The Los Angeles Times (2009) noted that during the 2009 World Baseball Classic, “the old ballpark shook… from the first pitch to the last, four hours of joyful noise.” Unlike American stadiums, which instruct fans to “Make Some Noise” via scoreboard prompts, Dominican fans “made plenty of noise without being told to, when they wanted to, as it should be.”
This spontaneous, organic sound-making distinguishes Dominican baseball from even the most participatory Asian models. In Japan, cheering is organized and disciplined; in Korea, it is choreographed; in Taiwan, it is rehearsed; in the Dominican Republic, it is improvised.
8. Comparative Analysis: Five Models of Baseball Sound
The five countries examined in this article represent five distinct cultural models of baseball sound. Each model reflects a different philosophy about the relationship between fans, players, and the game itself. Understanding these models helps explain why baseball sounds so different across the world.
8.1 The Spectator Model: United States
In the United States, baseball sound follows a spectator model where fans are primarily consumers of entertainment provided by professionals. The sound comes from above—from the stadium’s PA system, the DJ’s turntables, the organist’s console. Fans react spontaneously to game events: they cheer a home run, groan a strikeout, participate in the seventh-inning stretch singalong. But there is no expectation of continuous, organized participation. The temporal pattern is event-triggered: sound occurs in response to what happens on the field, not according to a preset schedule of who is batting. The cultural values expressed are individualism (each fan reacts as they wish), nostalgia (the preserved organ), and spectacle (video-board-accompanied pop music). This model treats baseball as family entertainment—a product to be consumed, not a ritual to be performed.
8.2 The Ritual Model: Japan
In Japan, baseball sound follows a ritual model where fans are trained participants in a disciplined collective performance. The sound comes from below—from the oendan’s brass band and taiko drums, from the fans singing memorized player-specific songs. The temporal pattern is state-triggered: when the home team is batting, the cheering is continuous and never stops; when the home team is fielding, the cheering stops completely, allowing the visiting team’s fans their turn. This reflects Japanese cultural values of collectivism (fans moving as one), discipline (precise chanting rhythms that follow linguistic rules), and respect (silence for the opponent). The cultural value of silence is particularly important: silence is not absence of sound but active respect. This model treats baseball as ritual performance—a shared, disciplined practice that reinforces group identity.
8.3 The Performance Model: South Korea
In South Korea, baseball sound follows a performance model where fans are dancers who follow professional cheerleaders in synchronized choreography. The sound is mixed: electronic dance music comes from the stadium PA system, but the energy comes from the cheerleaders and fans. The temporal pattern follows the Asian norm: continuous during home offense, silent during home defense. But the aesthetic is different: instead of brass bands, Korea uses pre-recorded EDM; instead of disciplined singing, Korea uses thunderstick pounding and choreographed dance. The cultural value expressed is catharsis—baseball as permission to scream in a society that otherwise restricts public noise. This model treats baseball as stress release—a sanctioned space for otherwise inappropriate behavior. As one Korean fan told the New York Times, “The only public place where women could shout loudly was the baseball stadium” (Chosun Ilbo, 2014).
8.4 The Hybrid Model: Taiwan
In Taiwan, baseball sound follows a hybrid model that fuses elements from Japan, Korea, and the United States into something distinctly Taiwanese. The sound is mixed: electronic EDM plays through the PA system, but some teams retain optional brass band sections. The temporal pattern follows the Asian norm (continuous offense, silent defense), but the participation style is distinct. Taiwanese choreography is famously more complex than Korean choreography—requiring fans to learn full-body movements, not just arm gestures. The cultural value expressed is adaptability and creative synthesis. Taiwan’s baseball sound is a living museum of cultural borrowing: Japanese foundations (brass bands, fan singing), Korean superstructure (EDM, cheerleader-led choreography), and Taiwanese finishing touches (specific song choices, “Chance” rally music). This model treats baseball as transnational cultural expression—a space where Taiwan negotiates its identity through appropriation and hybridization of foreign elements (Lin, 2022).
8.5 The Carnival Model: Dominican Republic
In the Dominican Republic, baseball sound follows a carnival model where fans are celebrants who create sound spontaneously rather than following pre-arranged scripts. The sound comes from below: fans bring their own drums—congas, hand drums, makeshift percussion—and play along throughout the game. The temporal pattern is continuous throughout the entire game: there is no “offense” versus “defense” distinction in sound; there is no silence. The band plays live music “in Caribbean rhythms” (Los Angeles Times, 2009) continuously—not just between innings, but during at-bats, between pitches, throughout the action. The cultural value expressed is joy and national pride. Dominican players and fans use baseball to showcase “what our music is and everything we have to offer” (Hernández, 2024 WBC coverage). The rallying cry “Plátano Power” (Plantain Power) represents how Dominican baseball culture proudly displays food, music, and national identity beyond just the sport. This model treats baseball as continuous carnival—a celebration that never stops, a party in which everyone participates.
8.6 Summary of the Five Models
These five models arrange along several dimensions. The spectator model (USA) is professional-controlled, event-triggered, and individualistic. The ritual model (Japan) is fan-controlled, state-triggered, and collectivist. The performance model (South Korea) is mixed-control, state-triggered, and cathartic. The hybrid model (Taiwan) is mixed-control, state-triggered, and adaptable. The carnival model (Dominican Republic) is fan-controlled, continuous, and spontaneous.
What unites the Asian models (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) is the shared temporal pattern of continuous offense and silent defense—a pattern that reflects a cultural understanding of baseball as turn-taking, where each team’s fans get their own half-inning to cheer. What unites the USA and Dominican Republic is the absence of this pattern—but for opposite reasons: the USA because cheering is event-triggered rather than state-triggered, the Dominican Republic because cheering is continuous rather than interrupted.
The most fundamental divide is between cultures where sound comes from above (professionals controlling the experience) and cultures where sound comes from below (fans creating the experience themselves). The USA represents the extreme of the “from above” model; Japan and Dominican Republic represent different versions of the “from below” model; South Korea and Taiwan occupy middle positions.
9. Conclusion
Baseball sound is not a universal language. It is a collection of local dialects—each shaped by history, technology, and the unique relationship between fans and their game.
The United States developed a heterogeneous soundscape of organ, recorded music, and communal singing. The organ survives not because it is efficient but because it evokes nostalgia. The seventh-inning stretch singalong transcends social boundaries.
Japan transformed baseball cheering into a ritual of collective discipline. The oendan’s brass-and-taiko performances never stop during home offense, reflecting cultural values of collectivism and precision. Silence for the opponent’s at-bat reflects respect.
South Korea turned the baseball stadium into a K-pop concert. Electronic dance music, professional cheerleaders, and synchronized fan dancing create cathartic release in a society that offers few other public spaces for loud expression.
Taiwan created baseball’s only hybrid sound: Japanese brass foundations overlaid with Korean electronic energy, Taiwanese choreography, and a cheerleader-centric performance model. This reflects Taiwan’s position as a cultural crossroads and its creative capacity for “transnational appropriation” (Lin, 2022).
The Dominican Republic approaches baseball as continuous carnival. Live Latin bands, fan percussion, and spontaneous dancing transform the stadium into a celebration of Dominican identity. Music is not between-inning entertainment; it is the game’s heartbeat.
These differences are not mere curiosities. They reveal how each culture conceives of community, participation, and the role of sport in public life. As Tables 1 and 2 demonstrate, the sound of a baseball game is never just noise. It is a cultural artifact—a sonic expression of who fans are, how they relate to each other, and what they believe the experience of sport should be.
10. References
Ito, J., Kubozono, Y., Mester, A., & Tanaka, S. (2019). The phonology of Japanese baseball chants. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 28(3), 211-245.
Lin, T.-Y. (2022). Sonic Connections among Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea: Constructing the Taiwanese Cheering Sounds at the CPBL Game [Master’s thesis, National Taiwan Normal University].
Mihalka, M. W. (2012). From the Hammond Organ to “Sweet Caroline”: The Historical Evolution of Baseball’s Sonic Environment [Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota].
Mihalka, M. W. (2024). “Take Me Out” to “Sweet Caroline”: Collective singing in the ballpark. In K. Norton & E. M. Morgan-Ellis (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Community Singing. Oxford University Press.
Chosun Ilbo. (2014, November 5). [World View of Korea] The joy of baseball for Koreans. Chosun Ilbo.
Shaikin, B. (2009, March 24). WBC final was a joy ride you didn’t want to end. Los Angeles Times.