With glove from landmark debut, Park tosses first pitch in Seoul

SEOUL -- Chan Ho Park was brought to the Gocheok SkyDome on Wednesday to throw the ceremonial first pitch before Opening Day in the Seoul Series, but his focus was never going to be on the baseball he held in his right hand as he stood on that mound.

It was all about the glove in the other hand.

Park retrieved it from a museum specifically because he needed it with him for this pitch, given the significance of this day. It was the glove he wore for his debut with the Dodgers on April 8, 1994, when he flung open the doors of Major League Baseball for the nation of South Korea.

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He marveled how much has changed in the 30 years since then -- to the point that a Korean player, Ha-Seong Kim, was among the most popular to his fans in the U.S. as he led two Major League teams in a historic trip across the Pacific Ocean to play games that mattered in Seoul.

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“Thirty years ago, I could never have imagined everything that has occurred to this point,” Park, 50, said in Korean. “Every day was really hard, starting from when I was in the Minor Leagues. I had to experience and learn a lot of things and persevere. Those things were very hard for me. … The expansion of Korean baseball over 30 years -- to keep adding to that history, I think of that meaningfully.”

Park was the logical choice -- and, frankly, the sensical choice -- to throw out this historic first pitch. He played for both the Dodgers and Padres as he endured in the Major Leagues for parts of 17 seasons, blazing the path for Kim, Shin-Soo Choo, Hyun-Jin Ryu and other Korean standouts of the recent past and the modern day.

He wore a combined jersey of the Dodgers and Padres -- Los Angeles on his left half, San Diego on his right half -- as he threw a firm first pitch to Kim before MLB formally opened its 2024 season with the first game of the Seoul Series on Wednesday, a 5-2 Dodgers win.

“For me, I'm not rooting for a team in today's game,” Park said. “I think as much as today's and tomorrow's games are a continuation of history in Korea ... Today, being Opening Day, and tomorrow, I hope that these are just the best Major League victories that can be impressive to the Korean people.”

It’s particularly meaningful for Park to see Kim here as part of this series, in the building that Kim used to call home while he established himself as a star for the Kiwoom -- formerly Nexen -- Heroes.

Park, now a baseball operations advisor in the Padres’ front office, was involved in Kim’s recruitment to the Padres, and he was there to watch Kim push through the challenges of the transition to become the beloved figure he is in San Diego today.

“When the Padres went out to eat, Ha-Seong Kim gave a speech and brought his teammates together and gave them motivation,” Park said. “To see that image, it made me so proud. Truthfully, 30 years ago, I couldn't speak English, but I didn't have a voice. To be a team leader or a mentor, I couldn't have done that.”

In a way, that’s something that Park sees as emblematic of the advancement of Korean baseball as a whole since he debuted three decades ago. He grew up in the small city of Gongju, not even knowing that the Minor Leagues existed before he played in them, unable to even see images of MLB players.

That’s no longer the case as more and more Koreans like Kim and Jung Hoo Lee pour over to the States, continuing to expand the influence and voice of Koreans in the league.

“[Kids] know what Chan-Ho Park did. They know what Hyun-Jin Ryu did, Ha-Seong Kim, Shin-Soo Choo, Ji-Man Choi,” Park said. “They know how those players did it. It's not just the Dodgers. … All the kids here know teams' colors, their uniforms. They're used to those things. So in attempting things and finding success, they come from a closer place to it already.”

And it’s never felt closer than it did on Wednesday, when Park ushered Major League Baseball into the lives of Koreans once again -- but this time, in front of their very eyes.

“As more kids start playing baseball with Major League dreams, they can continue the legacy of Korean baseball and become famous, admired players,” Park said.