Star pitcher to marry after one-year courtship

Park Chan-ho, who set a career milestone as the first South Korean pitcher to pile up 100 Major League Baseball wins, will mark another important event, this time personal, when he marries Nov. 29 in Hawaii.
Park’s bride-to-be is Park Ri-ae, 29, the Korean-Japanese daughter of Park Chung-seo, who runs a real estate company in Tokyo. The pitcher began dating Ms. Park at the end of last year after she graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with a major in French cooking. Park’s agent, Kim Man-seop, said yesterday the wedding will be open to family members only as the couple want a quiet ceremony.
This season Park revived a career that had been going downhill due to injuries in recent years. He posted a 12-8 record, but recorded a high ERA of 5.74 at the end of the season. Starting the season with the Texas Rangers, Park was then traded to the San Diego Padres. In 1994 he became the 17th player since the overseas draft began in 1965 to make a direct debut in the major league without playing in the minors. He was also the first South Korean player in the major league.

by Brian Lee