Actor Yang Kyung-won is heating up the baseball scene with a 'doppelgänger first pitch.' Though he couldn't be a good-luck charm for a win, he made players and fans, who had been in a losing streak, smile for the first time in a while.
Yang Kyung-won appeared as the ceremonial pitcher at the 2025 KBO game between Kia Tigers and Hanwha Eagles held on the 18th at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. He, who won great love for his role as Pyo Chi-soo in the drama "Crash Landing on You," is already famous among baseball fans for resembling KIA Tigers outfielder Kim Ho-ryeong.
Even Kim Ho-ryeong drew attention last summer at the 2025 KBO All-Star Game with a performance imitating the Pyo Chi-soo character. Through that connection, Yang Kyung-won's first-pitch event was arranged, and Yang Kyung-won ran from Seoul with joy to stand before Gwangju baseball fans.
He warmed up the atmosphere with a special event even before the first pitch. Yang Kyung-won put on a KIA uniform and first took a place in the outfield with Na Sung-bum and Oh Seon-woo in place of Kim Ho-ryeong. After the national anthem, a "substitution performance" followed in which Kim Ho-ryeong ran out of the dugout and high-fived him, drawing laughter from the fans.
Yang Kyung-won took the mound and said, "Every game is precious and important, and I sincerely thank you for inviting me to this occasion as a ceremonial pitcher. Today I will try to throw my luck to the Kia Tigers along with my first pitch," and then threw the ball vigorously. Commentators and the caster did not spare praise for his stable pitching, and Kim Ho-ryeong, who watched from the outfield, could not hide his surprise.
After the pitch, Yang Kyung-won, as if possessed by the Pyo Chi-soo character, gave Kim Ho-ryeong a salute, and Kim Ho-ryeong, known to be introverted, responded, turning the stands into a sea of laughter. Players in the dugout also smiled and applauded the chemistry between the two.
Regarding this, an on-site official told OSEN, "Na Sung-bum escorted actor Yang Kyung-won to the center of the stadium and asked him how it felt to be standing here. I understand Yang Kyung-won said he was 'very nervous and feeling great.' He felt a lot of gratitude toward the kind and warm Na Sung-bum," the official hinted.
About the meeting between the doppelgänger Kim Ho-ryeong and Yang Kyung-won, the official said, "Actor Yang Kyung-won had only seen player Kim Ho-ryeong on TV, so meeting him in person made him feel amazed and glad. He really liked Kim Ho-ryeong's boyish vibe. The salute performance was an idea proposed by Kim Ho-ryeong, and on that wide field, Yang Kyung-won seemed proud and reassured by the salute Kim Ho-ryeong gave him."
Thanks to how remarkably similar the two looked, the atmosphere at the site was cheerful even before the game started. After finishing the first pitch, Yang Kyung-won stayed in the stands to passionately enjoy the game and exchanged another salute ceremony when Kim Ho-ryeong got a hit. But despite Yang Kyung-won's enthusiastic cheering, the Kia Tigers unfortunately lost the game.
An on-site official said, "Actor Yang Kyung-won received baseball coaching for the first pitch and practiced separately. He reportedly carried a baseball every day trying to get familiar with it. On the day of the first pitch, Kim Ho-ryeong personally coached Yang Kyung-won," and added, "He watched the game with nail-biting tension through the bottom of the ninth but felt great regret about the game result. He expressed a wish that if his luck is upgraded, he would like to visit again."
On the Kia Tigers' official social media, several on-site photos were posted with the message, "Today's good-luck first pitch. Actor Yang Kyung-won. Kim Ho-ryeong on the ground... two people..? Before the game cheering and after the national anthem, he even showed a substitution performance with center fielder Kim Ho-ryeong, presenting a wonderful first pitch to wish for the Tigers' victory!"
The Kia Tigers, in a three-game losing streak, are far from postseason play despite being last year's champions. Still, thanks to Yang Kyung-won's first pitch, players and fans smiled for the first time in a while.
Meanwhile, Yang Kyung-won, who debuted in 2010 in the musical 'Broadway 42nd Street,' won the public's warm love by playing Pyo Chi-soo in the 2020 tvN drama "Crash Landing on You." He later showed a distinctive presence in High Class, Vincenzo, One Day, Big Mouth, Welcome to Samdal-ri, Sejak, The Bewitched, The Judge from Hell, and Love, Take Two.
[Photo] provided
[OSEN]