Thursday, November 8, 2007

Back In Blue: Chan Ho Park Returns to the Dodgers

After a six-year tour of duty that brought him to the Rangers, Padres, Mets and Astros, Chan Ho Park signed an unspecified (no, really) one-year contract with the Dodgers today.

True Blue fans remember that Park, the first South Korean ballplayer to play in the Major Leagues, pitched for the Dodgers from 1994 to 2001.

The now-33 year old player will show up at Vero Beach in February in hopes of making Joe Torre's team.

While it's true he's pitched his best at the reputed "pitcher's park" of Dodger Stadium, the place he once pitched in is not exactly the same, with a much smaller foul territory than in his Dodger days. But here's hoping he can finish out his career in Blue, like Orel Hershiser and Don Sutton did, with at least some semblance of his old magic. Who knows? Maybe the City can re-name the Dodgers-sponsored baseball field at Seoul International Park in Koreatown after him.

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