 Park Chan-ho, left, shakes hands with his new team manager, Hanwha Eagles’ Han Dae-hwa, during a press conference at the Plaza Hotel, Seoul, Tuesday. Park has formalized his contract with the club and will play for the Eagles next season. / Yonhap |
Former MLB veteran and Hanwha to help develop Korean baseball
By Cho Mu-hyun
Korean baseball legend Park Chan-ho has agreed a contract with the Hanwha Eagles and will play for 24 million won a year, the minimum salary required by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
In a press conference Tuesday at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, Park stated his intention to donate his pay and the additional offer of the 400 million won for wages and 200 million won for performance bonuses Hanwha had set aside for Park to the Korean amateur baseball league.
During the conference attended by Hanwha manager Han Dae-hwa and CEO Jung Seung-jin, the 38-year-old donned an Eagles uniform with 61 on it, the pitcher’s number throughout his 17 year career in the Major League.
The veteran was greeted by new teammates Kim Tae-kyun, Han Sang-hoon and Park Jung- jin with bouquets, and expressed his joy at being able to play on home soil.
“Today is a special day. I felt a strong affection for my home country for 18 years (while overseas). I pictured myself playing in Korea someday. Today is an emotional day that the dream came true,” he said.
Upon being asked if Hanwha was his first choice, he answered that it was his wish to wear the Eagles’ orange uniform from his student days, and that when he wanted to play in Korea it was “of course Hanwha.”
Han expressed his expectation for the pitcher, saying “it will be a great help if (Park Chan-ho) becomes a pivot for the first team. It will be an attraction for Korean fans as well.”
Park smoothed out the negotiations that could have procrastinated when he expressed his wish to forgo all rights for his contract with Hanwha and gave the team full authority in deciding the terms when they first met Monday.
Hanwha promotional team’s Oh Song-il confirmed the donation over the phone with The Korea Times, saying “The 24 million won and the 600 million won will be donated to whatever foundation Park Chan-ho wishes,” while also confirming the formalization of the contract.
The pitcher has been on the forefront of the development of Korean baseball throughout his career, the most recent contribution being the launch of ‘Camp 61’ for youths in Goyang with other baseball stars such as Lee Dae-ho and Lee Seung-yeop last month.
During his time with Japan’s Orix Buffaloes last year, he requested an additional term in the contract that automatically donated 100,000 won to Korean baseball per earned run.
Park was cleared to play next season when the KBO decided to exempt him from a regulation that obliges any players who went overseas prior to 1999 to enter the Korean league through a rookie draft in August in a board meeting on Dec. 13.
The pitcher, who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994, returned in October from a stint in Japan with the Buffaloes and was ineligible to play next season prior to the special exemption.
