In this file photo from Nov. 8, 2023, Park Chan-ho (C), former South Korean major league pitcher, watches Game 2 of the Korean Series between the KT Wiz and the LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Park Chan-ho, the first South Korean ever to play in Major League Baseball (MLB), will throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a historic MLB game in his native country next week.
MLB announced Friday that the South Korean baseball icon will have the honor before the opening game of the MLB Seoul Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres next Wednesday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. It will be the first MLB game to take place in South Korea.
The two clubs will play another game the following day to complete the two-game, season-opening series in the South Korean capital. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.
Park, 50, made his MLB debut with the Dodgers in April 1994, becoming the first South Korean-born player to appear in a big league game. He later pitched for the Padres, too, and has been a special adviser in their front office since 2017.
Park remains the winningest Asian-born pitcher in MLB history with 124 career wins.
Park’s MLB debut was only three months after he signed with the Dodgers as an amateur free agent while attending Hanyang University in Seoul.
Park only made two appearances that year, and two more again in 1995. Then in 1996, Park pitched in 48 games, including 10 starts, and posted a 3.64 ERA.
He became a full-time starter in 1997. And from 1997 to 2001, Park went 75-49 with a 3.79 ERA, while recording nine complete games. Park led the Dodgers with 18 wins in 2000, and earned his first and only All-Star nod in 2001.
In the late 1990s, Park’s emergence as a big league pitcher coincided with South Korea’s financial crisis. With each of his outings televised live, Park became a beacon of hope and inspiration for struggling South Korean people.
Park, who ended his MLB career in 2010, later played for the Texas Rangers, the Padres, the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a second tour of duty with the Dodgers in 2008.
He spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Padres, going 11-10 with a 5.08 ERA in 34 outings.
(Yonhap)
