Chan Ho Park proud of Korean win over Israel, excited for team's future

Korean baseball legend Chan Ho Park said he was “very proud” of the Korea national team’s stunning opening Tokyo Olympic win over Israel on Thursday. Commentating on the game at Yokohama Baseball Stadium for Korea broadcaster KBS, Park witnessed a dramatic 10-inning 6-5 walk-off win, after Jeremy Bleich, with bases loaded, hit Euiji Yang to score Kunwoo Park.

“It was a great game, it was so exciting to watch,” Park told the WBSC. “I commentated but I feel like I stood pitching on the mound. There were a lot of scores from home runs, which is bad for pitchers but Korean pitchers they all pitched well except for the three pitches for three home runs. I’m very proud of the team and proud of the Korean pitchers.

“We had high expectations with the two starting pitchers, Taein Won and Wonjoon Choi, and they pitched very well but also the veteran shortstop Ji Hwan Oh had a home run and defensive wise he was massive, I think he was MVP of the game.

A phenomenal pitcher in his heyday, Park is Korean baseball royalty having been the first Korean to play Major League Baseball, when he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994. He still holds the record for the most MLB wins by an Asian-born player, with 124.

And while Korea are missing some experienced stars such as Ryu Hyun-jin and Kim Kwang-hyun, Park believes Korea has a bright future on the pitch mound.

“We have young pitchers but they’re not sure if they’re the best in the world but they showed it tonight. We had a few pitches missed but I saw they made some great pitches, the last strike outs especially so that’s bright for their future. That’s Korea’s future.”

Korea are the 2008 defending gold medallists going through the tournament unbeaten, overcoming USA, Canada, Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba and the Netherlands in pool play before beating Japan again in the semifinals and Cuba in the final for their first Olympic gold. They’re in the middle of a 11-game Olympic Games winning streak starting with their bronze medal win Athens 2004. Park says these heroics is inspiring this current Korean team to aim for a repeat.

“Many kids in this team would have been watching Korea’s win at the Bejing Olympic Games when they were younger..Seunghwan Oh (the last pitcher in the Israel game) and captain Hyunsoo Kim (left field) played in 2008 so I’m sure the team chemistry is very strong since coming together one week ago. Korea teams traditionally gel quickly, we have great team chemistry that’s why we had a great game today.

“I was also impressed how Korea remained composed for the last score thrown by the Israel pitcher, we didn’t move anything but we just wanted to win, we then got a ball and that’s a very hustling play of the game, which Korea is good at.”