A baseball pitcher's best friend?

The Korean Baseball Association met in special session after cabbage leaves twice fell from Park Myung-Hwan's cap live on television.

After two hours, the committee ruled that cabbage was a "foreign substance" and therefore banned from the field.

Players may now only wear cabbage by presenting a doctor's note in advance.

Mr Park, who plays for Doosan, is currently ranked as the second-best pitcher in the eight-team South Korean baseball league.

He began keeping cabbage leaves in his cap last year after hearing that US baseball legend Babe Ruth used them to keep cool on the field.

"In common sense, it is difficult to consider that wearing a cabbage leaf will affect pitches," a KBO spokesman said.

"But since it has become a controversy, we decided to set a limit on the boundaries of foreign substances."

Mr Park said he was glad he helped to clarify a rule, but that he was planning to stop using cabbage anyway.