A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME : O'MALLEY TAKES FATHERLY PRIDE IN PARK.

Byline: Tim Brown Daily News Staff Writer

There are more than a dozen baseballs on Dodgers chairman Peter O'Malley's desk. They are haphazardly arranged, and perhaps perfectly so, because the one for which he reached and then held before him had Chan Ho Park's signature on it.

That morning, the baseball was on his desk when he arrived for work at his wood-paneled office hard against the left-field foul pole at Dodger Stadium. The night before, on the occasion of Park's first victory in Los Angeles, it was left with a note: Chan Ho had asked that it be delivered there.

``Chan Ho's been like a son to me, and to all of us in the organization,'' O'Malley said with a smile.

``We encouraged him and supported him. I told Chan Ho's father when I met him in Korea that I would look after him as a son. I spent a lot of hours with Chan Ho, corresponded with his parents. I'm really happy for him. He's a very special young man.

``He's worked hard. He's made the adjustment - the culture, the language, everything. He deserves the success that he's had.''

The achievements have come in fits and starts. Three starts, actually, one at the end of last season, and two in the past week in place of injured staff ace Ramon Martinez. He is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in five appearances, including Wednesday's two-inning wonder in San Francisco, where his mercurial youthfulness provided for six strikeouts and five walks.

At 22, he finds himself the object of attention half-a-world away, in his native South Korea, which televises and broadcasts his every start. Park also has caught the eye of the approximately 500,000 Koreans who live in Los Angeles. They shout ``Park Chan Ho'' when he pitches, and gobble up the free Dodgers tickets a Korean radio station and community groups offer for his starts.

O'Malley might have adopted him two years ago, when Park signed with the Dodgers out of Hanyang University, but Park's Korean family grows with each strikeout and each victory.

Tae Hee Park, the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles, and no relation to Chan Ho, sat with O'Malley and Park's agent, Steve Kim, on the night of Park's first home start. It was his first time at Dodger Stadium.

``I'll try my best to be a fan of this sport,'' said Park, who prefers basketball, ``especially now that we have Chan Ho.

``Most of the Korean people here in Los Angeles are very happy with the way he plays. They are very excited.''

John Cho is the executive director of the Korean Federation of Los Angeles and spends much of his time in Koreatown, an area in Los Angeles roughly defined by Fifth, Olympic, Western and Vermont.

``When Chan Ho was picked up by the Dodgers, people in Seoul thought it was a really big thing,'' Cho said. ``They still feel like that.''

And the Korean population in Los Angeles?

``I wouldn't say all of them are baseball fans, but a lot of them are,'' he said. ``Koreans are like the Japanese and Chinese, we all love baseball. We love baseball more than football.

``A lot of young people are excited about Chan Ho. Well, I'm not that young, but I feel it's great.''

As Park's pitching matures, his popularity is sure to grow. As it is, his mid-90's fastball is somewhat erratic, and according to his catcher, Mike Piazza, Park must learn more about the game at the major-league level.

``You can't peak too soon, too early,'' Piazza said of Park's insistence on throwing every pitch as hard as he can. ``You have to cruise to a certain extent. Then, when you get in a jam, turn it up a notch.''

Most agree that it will come. In the meantime, he seems to be enjoying his celebrity.

Unlike Hideo Nomo, with whom he is most often compared, Park has a lively personality that he eagerly shares. He enjoys the company of the rapidly growing media contingent that surrounds his success. In order to learn English, he said, he quit listening to Korean radio stations two years ago and often calls his former minor-league teammates, purely to practice his new language.

``He is carrying on his shoulders a tremendous amount of pressure from his supporters in the Korean community and in Korea,'' O'Malley said. ``We know that, but he is very special. He's strong and smart, and he's prepared himself physically and mentally to become a major-league pitcher. He just looks so much more mature, more experienced when he stands on the mound now than he did a year ago.''

O'Malley has the baseball to prove it.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: (color) Chan Ho Park, whose first win at Dodger Stad ium came April 11, is a source of pride for Korean-Americans.

Michael Owen Baker / Daily News