Dodgers' Chan Ho Park: Glory, A Fall, Near Death, and Now...?

Last Feb. 18, I did something rare: while flying between Los Angeles and Washington DC, I was so pleased with a newspaper article that I clipped it out and saved it. No, it wasn’t about Barack Obama… It was a sports article by Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times about the first Korean born star in major league baseball, Chan Ho Park. This was the part that jumped out at me, describing how he almost died 2 years ago while pitching for the San Diego Padres:

"Finding massive amounts of blood in his stool in late July, Park had a stint on the

disabled list but returned to action without discovering the source of the bleeding.

The bleeding returned on a day Park was scheduled to pitch and only an angry phone

call from teammate Woody Williams convinced him to go to the operating table

instead of the mound.

As it was, Park said, he lost half of his blood.

"[Williams] was yelling," Park recalled. "He said, ’Think about your family. You have a

daughter on the way.’ If I was single, I probably would’ve pitched. My wife and baby

probably saved my life."

Backing up a bit.... I’m a life-long baseball fan -- my grandfather was a professional and I still play the game today -- but I was beginning to lose interest in the Major Leagues until Hideo Nomo and Chan Ho Park came to the Dodgers in the mid 1990’s. For the next 10 years, Dodgers baseball was more than a spectator sport for me; it was about identity. It was about Asian pride in a way that I related to even more than movies and TV (believe it or not). Each summer for the next decade, I would time the purchase of Dodger tickets to watch only those games that Nomo or Park were scheduled to pitch.

Although there are many sports heros today for Asians and Asian Americans, Nomo was the first to rise to the top of his profession, starting in the All-Star game in his rookie year and winning the Rookie of the Year award at season’s end. Unlike Nomo, who had already established himself in the Japanese Major Leagues, Park was a high school draftee who had to compete in the Dodgers’ minor league system for a chance to prove himself in the Majors. Seeing Nomo leave Japan to dominate the best hitters in baseball was exciting and empowering. But with Park, it was more than that, because it was like watching a kid, filled with big dreams, joy and wonderment, growing up before your eyes. He battled nerves in his first few outings, pitching with, not only the pressure of competing at baseball’s highest level, but also the pressure of being a national obsession in South Korea. At only 22 years of age, he was also faced with the psychological obstacle of competing in a team sport in a foreign country -- where cultural differences can cause you to feel isolated and uncertain rather than backed by your teammates. To top it all off, Park faced a looming, mandatory 26-month stint in the South Korean military. The Dodgers had drafted him in spite of this law, but no one, least of all Park, wanted to see his promising career interrupted just when he was hitting his stride. In 1998, the Dodgers worked out a deal with the South Korean government: Park could be exempted from military service IF AND ONLY IF he led South Korea to a gold medal in baseball at the Asian Games that December. So, he went out and did it allowing only 1 run in the Gold Medal game.

By 2002, Park had become one of the best pitchers in baseball. That’s when he left the Dodgers to do what most successful Major League ballplayers do – sign a big free agent contract and go where the money is. Feeling pressure to perform for his new team (the Texas Rangers), he played through a serious injury, leading to other injuries and a string of sub-par seasons.

Most people thought Park’s career was over after 2007 season in which he languished in the minors for the New York Mets. For 2008, he told his agent to get him back in Dodger Blue (regardless of salary) for one last attempt at redemption. Provided a minor league contract, it looked like Park had a slim chance of cracking the starting rotation for the pitching-rich Dodgers.

But with his health in tact and renewed zip on his fastball, Park has pitched unexpectedly well in spring training -- he didn’t even give up an earned run in his first five outings (that’s good) including a stellar performance when the Dodgers played an in Beijing, China after which he clashed with Chinese police trying to stop him from signing autographs.

Right now, Park is competing with Estaban Loaiza for the fifth and final starting spot in the Dodgers rotation. Even though Park has pitched much better this spring, Loiza is said to have the edge because the Dodgers have agreed to pay him $6.5 million this season whether he makes the team or not. Park would be paid half a million, only if he makes the team.

According to the Dodgers website, Loaiza and Park will both pitch this Saturday against the Red Sox at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum -- the final tune-up for both pitchers before the start of the regular season.

So if you’re in Los Angeles, in Asia, or wherever you are, please root with me for Chan Ho Park to pitch well on Saturday, make the team, and have an awesome season in Dodger blue. Baseball needs a story like this, and so does America.