Chan Ho Park, the legendary Korean MLB (Major League Baseball) pitcher had his official retirement ceremony on the 17th of July at the Gwangju-KIA Champions Field. The ceremony took place during the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) All-Star event right before the game between the Korean Eastern League and Western League.
Park was the first Korean-born baseball player to play for an MLB ball club. After pitching for the Korean national team while in high school at the Dodgers Stadium, Park was scouted by Los Angeles Dodgers authorities. Despite a difficult first season, during the 6 years as a Dodger, Park earned on average 15 wins per season, and even became the first Korean MLB All-Star player.
Later, Park pitched for several other teams including the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees and Pittsburg Pirates. In the end, Park accumulated a total of 124 wins in the MLB, and to this day, this number is the Asian record, followed by the Japanese titan Hideo Nomo (123 wins). After pitching one season with the Osaka Orix Buffaloes in Japan, Park decided to end his baseball career in his home country and signed a contract with the Hanwha Eagles in 2012, his last career season.
Park is considered by many sports experts as the pioneer of Korean baseball, opening the doors for other Korean and Asian players to join the MLB, including Shin-soo Choo (Texas Rangers) and Hyun-jin Ryu (L.A. Dodgers). Even all the current KBO star players often shared how they grew up watching Park pitch on television.
Because of Park’s accomplishments while pitching for MLB, KBO and even NPB (Nippon Pro Baseball), Korean baseball authorities decided to have his retirement ceremony during an event where all the current Korean star players and baseball fans will be present. The ceremony ended with Park doing the ceremonial pitch, signaling the start of the KBO All-Star game.
Many baseball fans have become curious about Park’s future plans. After the ceremony Park told reporters how he felt so depressed that he is no longer able to play for a team, but he will continue to work to further develop Korean baseball. In 2012 on a popular Korean talk show, he shared how he wanted to build more baseball fields for Little League players, and after his last season with the Eagles, donated 600 million won (600,000 USD) in order to search for better players and expand amateur baseball.
Chan Ho Park was also a great symbol of hope for both Koreans and Korean-Americans during his prime in the late 1990s. During the IMF Crisis of 1997, many South Koreans looked up to Park (L.A. Dodgers) and received a great deal of encouragement. Even Park shared he wanted to pitch for the KBO for those old fans in Korea who never got to see him pitch live.
