Chan Ho Park (born June 30, 1973 in Kongju, South Korea) is a Korean baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Major League Baseball Texas Rangers.
A popular player in Korea, Chan Ho Park has not proven to be as popular in the United States. Chan Ho Park was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1994. A flyball pitcher, Chan Ho Park had good success with the Dodgers who played at the pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium. He had his best season with the Dodgers in 2000, when he went 18-10 with a 3.27 ERA and 217 strikeouts.
Following a 15-11 season with the Dodgers in 2001, Chan Ho Park was granted free agency and was picked up by the Texas Rangers later that year with a 5-year, USD $65 million contract. However, during his time with the Rangers, Chan Ho Park was hampered by injuries and a home ballpark that notoriously favored hitters at Ameriquest Field in Arlington. In his first season with the Rangers, Chan Ho Park only went 9-8 in 25 starts, with a 5.75 ERA. The following season, he only started seven times, going 1-3 with a 7.58 ERA.
Chan Ho Park proved to be largely unpopular with the local crowds and Dallas-area media, considering the underperforming pitcher and his large contract to be a waste of money that hampered the team. However, they generally didn't consider Chan Ho Park to be a poor player, but rather a player that would never fit the Rangers organization, which traditionally focuses on batting and prefers power pitchers that throw strikeouts like Nolan Ryan and Kenny Rogers, not flyball pitchers that try for fielding outs. Nevertheless, Chan Ho Park remained a popular player in his native Korea, with many Koreans following Texas Rangers ballgames where Chan Ho Park pitched.
