EX-MLB All-star Park retires
Wright, Mets strike 8-yr deal
SEOUL, Nov 30, (Agencies): Former Major League Baseball All Star Park Chan-ho, who holds the record for the most wins by an Asian-born pitcher in the majors, announced his retirement on Friday and said it was time to give something back to the sport in South Korea.
The 39-year-old, who finished up his playing days with South Korea’s Hanwha Eagles, won 124 MLB games in a career that included stints with the LA Dodgers, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies.
The first South Korean to play in the majors, Park struggled to contain his emotions at a news conference in Seoul as he talked for more than an hour about his career, the 13 uniforms he wore over his 30 years in baseball displayed proudly in front of him.
“A kid from a tiny countryside Korean town ended up enjoying a long, illustrious career in Major League Baseball,” said Park, who hails from the small town of Gongju, South Chungcheong province, about 130km south of the capital Seoul.
“I think I am the luckiest person ever in the history of Korean baseball.”
Wearing a National League Championship ring and with his signature ‘lucky’ orange tie around his neck, Park said he decided to call time on his playing career after the 2012 season as he had achieved what he planned to do when he came home.
“After pitching at the Hanwha Eagles for the previous season, I now have specific ideas as to what I can contribute to advancing Korean baseball,” said Park.
He added that he planned to go to the United States at the end of the year to improve his baseball administration and management skills.
“I also hope to have hands-on experience in America’s commercialized baseball and strengthen the commercial aspect of Korean baseball.”
Looking back on his career, he said baseball was like school to him.
“I learned many things I would otherwise never have learned through textbooks. It has also taught me how I can contribute to my country.
“Although I won’t be pitching as a professional player any more I hope to be a bridge between baseball and the community, and I want young players to think how they can affect our society through baseball.”
Third baseman David Wright and the New York Mets agreed to a $138 million, eight-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The deal, the richest in franchise history, replaces Wright’s $16 million salary for next season and includes $122 million in new money, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not yet final.
A homegrown fan favorite and the face of the franchise, Wright is the club’s career leader in several major offensive categories including hits, RBIs, runs and walks.
Wright is to attend teammate Daniel Murphy’s wedding in Florida this weekend, then travel to New York for a physical. The contract with the six-time AllStar probably will be announced at next week’s Major League Baseball winter meetings in Nashville, Tennessee, the person said.
Wright, who turns 30 on Dec. 20, would have been eligible for free agency after next season.
He batted .306 with 21 homers and 93 RBIs last season as the Mets went 74-88 and finished fourth in the National League East for the fourth straight year.
Teammate Johan Santana signed a $137.5 million, six-year contract with New York after being acquired in a trade from Minnesota before the 2008 season.
Wright made his Mets debut in July 2004 and has earned two Gold Gloves, compiling a .301 career average with 204 home runs and 818 RBIs in 8 1/2 major league seasons. He has often expressed his desire to play his entire career with the Mets.
Wright appears poised to sign a contract comparable in total compensation to the big deals handed out this year to star third basemen Evan Longoria and Ryan Zimmerman. bogey at 18. The American, whose 2011 PGA Championship triumph made him the first player to win one of golf’s major titles using a long putter anchored on his midriff, admitted he was fired up by the reaction to the announcement on Wednesday by global governing bodies the Royal & Ancient and the US Golf Association that they proposed to ban the technique in 2016.
“I’ve been catching such flak on Twitter and these other places, it would be good to kind of quiet them a little bit,” Bradley said.
He was pleased to have a chance to show there was more to his game than the long putter.
“I had a guy yesterday telling me to send my application in to Burger King for 2016,” Bradley said of the type of blasts he’s been getting via Twitter, although he added he’d had support on the social networking site and from the Southern California galleries as well.
Bradley said he felt the timing by the R&A and USGA, with no actual rule change anticipated until 2016, put him and others who “anchor” putters to their bodies when they putt in a difficult position since for now it remains legal.
“I feel like the USGA has really put an X on our back,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s exactly fair.
“When we started putting with it, they were legal and they still are. It’s a sticky situation and I hope people Keegan Bradley holds his long putter as he lines up a putt on the first green during the first round of the Tiger Woods World Challenge Presented by Northwestern Mutual at Sherwood Country Club on Nov 29, in Thousand Oaks,
California. (AFP)