Chan Ho Park, the first Korean player in Major League Baseball, is checking off a few more firsts. According to NBC News, Park will throw the first pitch at the first game of the Major League Baseball regular season. It will also be the first MLB game held in South Korea.
On April 8, 1994, Park made his professional debut as a relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game against the Atlanta Braves. At the time, Park spoke little English and his coaches did not speak Korean. According to The Athletic, they held up large cue cards with pre-written Korean phrases to communicate with Park.
Park ultimately spent 17 years in the league, playing for the Dodgers as well as the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was known as “The Korean Express,” NBC News reports.
In 1994, when then-Dodger’s manager Tommy Lasorda handed Park his first strikeout ball, Park told The Athletic he was indifferent to it.
“It’s all meaningful for me since then,” Park said. “So every new ball or home run ball, base hit ball, all were firsts, right? So I started collecting the balls. That’s all in a museum in my hometown in Korea.”
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Park’s presence in the MLB meant a lot to Korean Americans and South Korean citizens.
“I became a messenger to the people for a lot of positive,” Park said in a 2023 interview with The Athletic. “And they were cheering me up, but I had to pitch well to cheer them up, the whole country.”
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