Byung Ho Park: Feeling at home far from home

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A Twins employee last week sent Byung Ho Park, via text message, a photo of the Korean slugger celebrating his grand slam against Toronto with an energetic high-five for his translator, J.D. Kim, in the Twins dugout. Came the reply a few minutes later: "LOL. J.D. wanted to hug."

Wait — LOL? Not only does Park read a text written in English, not only can he answer in a language he's barely begun to learn, but he understands online-culture idioms well enough to use them properly?

"I think he knows more English than he lets on," surmises Glen Perkins, whose locker is directly across from Park's in the Twins' spring clubhouse. "He sits over there and takes it all in and understands more every day. He's a really smart guy."

That has become clear as Park's transition from the Korea Baseball Organization to major league baseball has gotten underway in the relaxed atmosphere of training camp. Park may be more than 12,000 miles from his homeland, but he's much closer to feeling at home. In the month he has spent in southern Florida, Park has rapidly evolved from novelty to newcomer to normalcy.

"At TwinsFest [in late January], he was kind of shy around us, didn't say much," said Brian Dozier, second baseman and ersatz welcoming-committee chairman. "But down here, he opened up very quickly. We tried to make him feel part of this, and he's at the point now where he knows he's one of us. He buys into it, the brotherhood or whatever you want to call it. He's funny, he can laugh at himself, he's been awesome."

Park at TwinsFest

Learning to speak and understand English has greatly helped remove any cultural barriers, his teammates say, because it's easy to remain silent in the background if you don't. But Park plainly resolved to avoid that rationalization, and calls upon his translator mostly for media interviews.

"I know I speak broken English," Park said through a translator, using another English idiom. "But I try hard, and I can show them. When I say something, my teammates have been understanding."

The vocabulary of baseball is universal, after all. At TwinsFest, Park chatted amiably with Eduardo Escobar, the Venezuelan shortstop, for several minutes. Asked afterward what language the two had been speaking, Escobar memorably shrugged. "I don't know," he said.

Whatever that conversation was like, it would likely be far more smooth now, as Park adds to his grasp of jargon.

"He's doing remarkably well, in my opinion, as far as understanding and attempting to increase [his answers]," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. "You get a lot more than one-word responses now. He's trying to put things together."

Tom Kelly with Park, Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas

Park accepts coaching, once he understands it, said former manager Tom Kelly, who has spent several workout sessions helping refine his technique at first base. In one clinic, Kelly demonstrated Park's habit of running with his hands in the air as he raced toward first; the Korean smoothed out his approach on the next ground ball. Then Kelly imitated a fielder moving forward to create a better throwing angle to second base, and Park immediately understood, mimicking the adjustment from then on.

"He listens and he figures it out," Kelly said. "You don't have to tell him twice."

Sun Shin Kim wore a Twins cap and a bright red Byung Ho Park jersey as she sat on a chair near third base at Hammond Stadium last week. After a short delay, Park appeared, wearing his full Twins uniform, and sat down beside Kim as technicians attached a microphone to his jersey. It was a meeting of two of the most famous personalities in South Korea: Park, the baseball superstar whose quest to succeed in America has captivated his homeland, and Kim, the charming, telegenic host and reporter for MBC Sports Plus, sort of the Korean version of ESPN.

As they conducted a half-hour interview, Kim grew more animated and enthusiastic, trying to draw out her reluctant subject. Park was cooperative and pleasant as he answered questions about his new life and team but also warily reserved. Kim tried a gimmick, asking Park to draw offbeat "wild card" questions out of a Hello Kitty tin box, but Park appeared more bemused than enthusiastic about the gambit.

What is your favorite thing about America? ("The steaks.") Who is your mentor? ("My parents.") What did you have for breakfast? ("Omelet.")

Getting Park to open up for his fans back in South Korea isn't easy, Kim said afterward.

Park with Sun Shin Kim in Fort Myers

"He doesn't like the attention. He tries to be humble. He talks to us, and he always has a good manner, but I don't think he wants to talk about himself," Kim said. "He wants to cover his private life and his family away from the media. When he had a baby, he didn't say anything about it. But he has a good manner because he knows people love him in Korea."

That they do, Kim said; a two-time KBO Most Valuable Player, Park is the most popular player ever to depart the KBO in his prime, and in his homeland he is viewed something like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is here — a private person who detests attention but accepts it as part of the job.

"When we took him out in Minneapolis, he seemed relieved that he could be in public and not get bombarded, like he does over there," Dozier said. "He's recognized everywhere he goes over there, he said."

That's why, when pitcher Phil Hughes invited Park, along with a few other Twins, to his house to watch an episode of "The Bachelor" last month, Hughes regretted making the event public on Twitter and Instagram. "It became a news story, and then it got picked up and became a big deal in Korea because he's such a superstar back home," Hughes said. "I felt bad about that, to throw him out there like that, because I think he prefers his privacy."

Park's wife, Ji Yoon Yi, and young son, Seung Ri, will join him in Minneapolis next month, but that's a subject that the new Twin, uniformly obliging with the media, has declared off limits. "Please understand, I do not wish to talk about that," he said politely.

His reticence toward attention explains why he has abandoned his Korean habit of flipping his bat away after hitting a home run, a gesture celebrated in other cultures but all but forbidden in America. "He understood that, being a new guy on the block, he was going to have to make a few adjustments in how he responds when he catches one," Molitor said. "He's trying real hard just to be another guy. He's not overly flamboyant."

Video: Click here for a Byung Ho Park bat-flipping montage

Learning the language, meeting new teammates, adapting to a new culture — it's all an ongoing project for the Korean slugger. But none of it matters as much as the baseball.

Park is being paid $12 million over the next four seasons, and the Twins are hoping they got a huge bargain, someone who can crush 20-40 home runs in a season. (He hit 105 over the past two seasons in South Korea.)

It's far too early to tell how Park will perform, of course, but in today's media-saturated world, every strikeout is being declared proof of his imminent failure, and every home run is a eureka moment.

"Let's settle down here," warns General Manager Terry Ryan, putting up both hands to signal "stop." "Let's see when he starts seeing breaking balls and changeups and splits. … Everything is positive, but I don't want to get too carried away."

Neither does Park, who is already actively working to lower expectations. "This season is for learning the major leagues and getting comfortable with the game," Park said. "I will be the real player I am next year and after that."

It might come earlier, though, especially if his comfort level with life in America and on an MLB team keeps growing.

"He just seems comfortable, and so much of baseball is relaxing and not feeling pressure. Not trying harder because of the pressure," pointed out Perkins. "If you're already stressed out because you don't fit in the clubhouse, if you're uncomfortable, it's going to affect you. But he's been like any other new teammate."

Well, mostly. Hughes has another team get-together planned for the finale of "The Bachelor" on Monday, and in honor of his new foreign teammate, he's planning one alteration — to the menu.

"I'm going to make kimchi," Hughes said of the fermented-cabbage dish so popular in Korea, "so Byung Ho feels at home."