Cheol-Sun Bak

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(Redirected from Chul-soon Park)

Cheol-Sun Bak (박철순) (Phoenix) transliterations include Chul-Soon Park and Chel Sun Park

  • Bats Right, Throws Right

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Cheol-Sun Bak is sometimes mistakenly listed as the first South Korean signed to a contract by a Major League team and the first to play in the minor leagues, predating Chan-Ho Park by over a decade. Wong-kuk Lee had pitched in the minors from 1968-1982, easily preceding Bak.

He was on the South Korean national team in the 1978 Amateur World Series; he did not appear as they only used five of their pitchers in their ten games on the way to a Bronze Medal. Bak participated in a 1979 Korean-American University Baseball Championship and was signed to a professional contract by the Milwaukee Brewers. Bak reached as high as AA. He pitched for the 1980 Stockton Ports, going 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP and 32 K in 35 innings. In 1981, he went 5-7 with a 4.22 ERA for Stockton and 3-3, 5.77 for the El Paso Diablos, completing his career in the USA at 11-12.

In 1982, Bak joined the OB Bears of the newly formed Korea Baseball Organization. During that first season, he won a all-time record 22 consecutive games enroute to a Most Valuable Player Award and league championship. He won the league's pitching triple crown with a 24 wins, a 1.84 ERA, and 108 strike outs.

Following his remarkable season, Bak injured his waist and Achilles tendon, pitching only 10 ⅓ innings in 1983 and missing the entire 1984 season. He would recover, and in the process obtained the nickname "Phoenix," but would never be able to match that season, never pitching more than 116 ⅔ innings in another season. Bak spent the rest of the 1980s seeing limited action as he had been converted into a reliever, a continued to be plagued with injuries, missing the 1988 season completely. Bak would pitch for the Bears for 13 more seasons. On August 12, 1994 he set a KBO record for the oldest pitcher to throw a shut-out when he blanked the Taepyungyang Dolphins. The record was broken 11 years later by Jin-woo Song. In 1996 he recorded his only KBO at-bat, striking out. He retired after the 1996 season to become the team's pitching coach. After the season, the Bears retired his uniform number (#21).

In a 2004 interview Chan Ho Park named Bak as one of his childhood heros.

KBO Statistics[edit]

Year Team G CG SHO W L SV HLD IP BF HA HRA BB HBP SO R ER WPCT ERA
1982 OB 36 15 2 24 4 7 0 224.2 871 151 7 67 6 108 60 46 0.857 1.84
1983 OB 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 10.1 43 10 0 4 0 4 4 4 0.000 3.48
1985 OB 9 2 0 1 4 0 0 50.1 193 36 2 14 2 34 19 15 0.200 2.68
1986 OB 13 1 1 5 3 0 0 53.1 220 46 3 22 0 29 23 21 0.625 3.54
1987 OB 5 1 0 2 0 1 0 24.0 97 17 0 9 0 11 7 6 1.000 2.25
1989 OB 12 0 0 1 1 0 0 16.1 74 17 1 9 0 14 11 9 0.500 4.96
1990 OB 18 2 1 4 9 0 0 96.0 420 104 6 41 0 58 53 51 0.308 4.78
1991 OB 18 2 0 7 5 0 0 102.2 444 97 5 47 6 55 48 40 0.583 3.51
1992 OB 30 1 1 7 6 9 0 99.2 411 92 5 34 1 68 35 31 0.538 2.80
1993 OB 25 0 0 7 5 2 0 116.2 469 99 3 39 0 90 30 27 0.583 2.08
1994 OB 20 5 2 7 7 0 0 93.0 369 73 3 29 3 66 31 27 0.500 2.61
1995 OB 20 0 0 9 2 0 0 94.2 425 98 8 42 8 67 54 47 0.818 4.47
1996 OB 21 0 0 2 6 1 0 68.2 302 68 0 34 4 44 26 20 0.250 2.62
KBO Totals 231 29 7 76 53 20 0 1050.1 4338 908 43 391 30 648 401 344 0.589 2.95

Sources[edit]