A retired Korean baseball legend is returning to the mound for the primary sport of the Main League Baseball common season — and the primary ever held in South Korea.
Former pitcher Chan Ho Park, the primary Korean-born athlete to play in MLB, is scheduled to throw the ceremonial first pitch on the season opener in Seoul on Wednesday between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Park made his debut with the Dodgers in 1994 and performed with the Padres from 2005 to 2006.
“I feel that it’s kind of a end result for him,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts, a former teammate of Park’s, instructed The Athletic about Park’s first pitch. “He was a pioneer as a Korean-born participant to come back to the States and to be a star participant.”
Park will kick off a two-game “Seoul Collection” between the groups on the Gocheok SkyDome, marking not solely the primary video games of the common season but additionally the primary common season video games ever performed in Korea.
Park’s debut as a reliever towards the Atlanta Braves solid a brand new path for different Korean baseball stars, together with former MLB gamers Byung-Hyun Kim and Hyun Jin Ryu and present Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. Throughout his 17 years within the league, Park, generally known as “The Korean Categorical,” additionally frolicked with the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His profession within the U.S. concluded with the Pirates on Oct. 1, 2010, with a win towards the Florida Marlins that helped him clinch the MLB file for many wins by an Asian pitcher.
“I grew to become a messenger to the individuals for lots of constructive,” Park instructed The Athletic, reflecting on the strain he skilled representing Korea. “And so they have been cheering me up, however I needed to pitch effectively to cheer them up, the entire nation.”
In the present day, Park, who retired from taking part in baseball in 2012 with the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea, continues to be concerned within the sport as a baseball operations adviser with the Padres.
Whereas Park’s look is extremely anticipated, Korean followers have additionally been awaiting the return of Kim, a former favourite within the nation’s Korean Baseball Group League, who in November grew to become the primary Asian-born infielder to win MLB’s Gold Glove Award. Two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani may even make his debut with the Dodgers throughout the collection after he clinched the most important contract in North American sports activities historical past and signed for $700 million over 10 years.
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