`YOU'RE NOT INVINCIBLE' PARQUE TO GIVE LESSONS ON LIFE, AT CLINIC.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

It's summer and Jim Parque is watching baseball.

``This is my first summer I've had off since I was 12 years old,'' said Parque, a former Crescenta Valley High and UCLA standout whose season with the Chicago White Sox ended in April because of a partial tear in his left rotator cuff.

He was coming off a career-high 13 victories and expectations had soared for Parque.

``It's a realization you come to that you're not invincible,'' said Parque, whose rigorous work ethic that evolved from his youth kept him in superior physical condition.

``As hard as I've worked ... 90 percent of everyone who pitches goes through one time when you're hurt.''

That's a message Parque wants to deliver when he plays host to a pitching clinic for experienced high school and college players Monday at Glendale's Stengel Field.

Mechanics, conditioning and pitching strategy are among the topics he plans to cover. But his current plight provides a lesson he can relay to the future Jim Parques of the San Fernando Valley and environs.

``Baseball, especially at the major-league level, is 90 percent mental,'' he said. ``You have to be strong. Going through the minor leagues and all the ranks, it mentally wears on you.''

His rehabilitation routine includes exercising his hips more than the arm, another timely topic he intends to share at the clinic when he flies in from Chicago for a short stay at home.

``We've all got that football mentality, that you have to lift weights to be strong and take andro and all that stuff,'' Parque said.

``That's not what pitching's about. Or baseball. The more power that you want hitting or the more velocity you want pitching-wise is all in your hips and your abs. A lot of people neglect that.''

Parque, 25, believes his shoulder problem first surfaced while starting Game 1 of last year's American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners. An 0-3 record and 8.04 earned-run average convinced the White Sox to shut him down for the year May 1.

``I'll turn on the TV, and (the White Sox are) playing,'' he said. ``I remember driving by (Comiskey Park) and the lights were on. They were playing a game and I felt guilty. I should be there. I feel like I'm playing hooky almost.''

A shade under 6-feet-tall now, Parque was never the best athlete on the field. But he spent endless days throwing baseballs.

``My work ethic when I was a kid, I look back on it and just laugh. Because I did some stupid stuff just trying to get better,'' he said. ``We'd put up boxes I'd throw through. I just threw all day long.''

His father was greeted almost daily by a teen-aged son eager to get some extra work in after his regular Crescenta Valley baseball practices.

``Most kids do not understand what it will take to get where they want to go,'' Richard Parque said. ``Jim knew what it would take. He had his eyes on a goal and went after it.

``He is (a big-leaguer) because of his hard work. He is there because of his mental toughness.''

Jim Parque wants to convince someone else he can do it that way, too.

``If you do have a dream, whether it's to be a major-league pitcher or just get somewhere better from where you're at, if you really want to, you can get there,'' he said.

JIM PARQUE PITCHING CLINIC

When: Monday, 10 a.m. at Stengel Field, Glendale

Details: Open to experienced high school and college pitchers only. Clinic is free.

Reservations are required; space is limited. Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Chicago White Sox pitcher Jim Parque, a Crescenta Valley product, plans to be back at Comiskey Park next season.

Ed Andrieski/Associated Press

Box:

JIM PARQUE PITCHING CLINIC (see text)