Lee embracing Oracle Park, Giants fans' quirks on, off field

Jung Hoo Lee still is getting used to Oracle Park's positive and negative quirks in his second season with the San Francisco Giants.

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Apr 8, 2025 - 00:28
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Lee embracing Oracle Park, Giants fans' quirks on, off field

Lee embracing Oracle Park, Giants fans' quirks on, off field originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Oracle Park is just as quirky and unique as the city it occupies.

Giants fans not only embrace a player’s individuality, but celebrate it in a fun, cult-like manner only they know how. Long gone are the days of Pablo Sandoval panda hats and Brian Wilson beards filling the stands at Third & King – although you still will see some every now and again — but that same quirkiness has manifested itself again with one of the Giants’ most exciting and marketable players: Jung Hoo Lee.

The 26-year-old’s rookie 2024 campaign was cut short due to a serious shoulder injury he sustained in May last year, but through 10 games in 2025, Lee has picked up right where he left off and is playing like the do-it-all star he was in the KBO before he signed a six-year, $113 million contract with San Francisco in December 2023.

And Giants fans are champing at the bit to embrace him.

Lee made two impressive sliding catches in the first and fifth innings of San Francisco’s 2-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday at Oracle Park, which excited a group of Giants fans that call themselves the “Hoo Lee Gans,” a play on “hooligans.”

The new fan club, along with the “Jung Hoo Crew” in section 142, are not alone in expressing their support for Lee, whose name has been turned into a loud chant every time he walks to the plate.

Lee still is just 46 games into his Giants career, and while he felt the love immediately upon his arrival last season, he has appreciated even more support in his sophomore campaign.

“I didn’t play too much [last season], but coming in here right now, I can feel that the love from the fans is amazing right now,” Lee said through interpreter Justin Han postgame.

The Giants, and their fans, likely are just scratching the surface of finding ways to celebrate the former KBO star, and Lee’s teammates are loving every minute of it.

“It’s great. I keep seeing the thing about the fight song. Hopefully everyone learns that. I haven’t learned it yet. Hopefully they play it in the crowd,” Giants pitcher Logan Webb told reporters postgame.

“It was kind of the same thing before Jung Hoo got here, we saw Ha-Seong Kim kind of be embraced in San Diego and when they started yelling ‘Ha. Seong. Kim.,’ it got loud.”

Oracle Park, as many have learned over the years, both can giveth and taketh away, and Lee still is adjusting to his new ballpark’s frustrating quirks.

Lee was a modest 1-for-4 at the plate on Monday night, but the box score did not tell the complete story. Three of the four balls Lee hit had exit velocities of at least 102.3 mph, with the hardest-hit ball of the night, a fly-out in the bottom of the sixth inning that nearly left the yard and gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, registering an exit velocity of 103.7 mph.

Lee, and just about everyone at Oracle Park, thought the ball was headed for the right-center field seats. As did the Korean broadcast, which produced a hilarious call that even non-Korean-speaking Giants fans can relate to.

“Yeah, I felt it was going to go over, but the wind was blowing in, so we can’t do anything about the environment,” Lee said postgame.

That, as Lee is learning the hard way, is called getting “Oracle’d.”

It’s one of the ballpark’s multiple quirks that both Giants and visiting players are aware of, but still bemoan every time a hard-hit ball dies on the warning track.

“Offensively, defensively, I’m still getting used to Oracle Park,” Lee said of his adjustments to the ballpark. “I didn’t get to play a lot last season, so I’m still at that progression where I’m getting more used to it right now.”

While Lee’s adjustment period remains ongoing, that wouldn’t appear to be the case just by watching him play.

“Jung Hoo is playing great baseball, he’s running well, he’s getting good jumps, he’s playing great defense, he’s swinging the bat,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said postgame. “He’s playing really well.”

“He’s only scratching the surface of his abilities,” Webb added. “It’s fun for all of us to watch, because it’s a pleasure to see him keep getting better.”

If Lee really is just “scratching the surface,” Giants fans should have no issues finding ways to embrace and celebrate one of the game’s most unique players this season and for years to come.

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