Many of the Philadelphia Phillies, and professional athletes in general, along with their spouses and families are passionate and active in one particular cause outside of baseball. The team encourages community interaction and charitable work and hopes that residents will benefit from the presence of the team.
For example, Chase and Jen Utley work tirelessly to help area SPCA's, Jimmy Rollins is involved with the Arthritis Foundation and Ryan Howard started Bat Plant-it, a nonprofit that plants trees to replace those used for making MLB bats. Their visibility in the community, not to mention a hefty salary, are key to contributing to, and marketing, successful charities.
Yesterday, in rapidly-growing Montgomery County, adjacent to a four-lane highway with little space for additional automobiles during peak rush hour, a Park and Ride opened. Not just any Park and Ride, but the Chan Ho Park and Ride.
Park is from congested, high tech South Korea, in fact, he is the first Korean-born player in the major leagues. A fact the reliever often brings up randomly during conversations. It is here that Park became interested—some say obsessed—with the idea of smart commuting, particularly carpooling.
In 2006, the pitcher was honored with South Korea's highest possible "Green Award," which marked the 100th Park and Ride opening in the country. Seoul, the capital and largest city is home to the majority of the Chan Ho Park and Rides.
In only his first year with the club, Park wasted no time and began in March studying the area's highways to determine where his signature Park and Rides would most be needed. It did not take long to conclude that U.S. route 422, which snakes its way from King of Prussia to Reading and beyond and crosses the Schuylkill River several times, should be the recipient.
"The Schuylkill River Valley corridor is exploding with suburban sprawl," said Park in the Phillies' locker room while pointing at a wall-sized map of the region's highways. "U.S. 422 had no carpooling lots ... now they do."
From an early age Park saw the value of increasing passengers and reducing the number of vehicles.
"When I was about 13 I developed a detailed carpool for my middle school baseball team's practices," explained Park proudly. "The parents of the children that lived near each other would take turns driving the kids."
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was at the site in Upper Providence Township as four complete strangers, office workers from Collegeville, piled into a car bound for Center City. And thus, embarking on the maiden voyage that was christened when Park shattered a champagne bottle over the commuter's front fender. The awkward, nearly 28-mile trip can take over an hour, but the state and ballplayer hope that number will drop significantly with each carpool registered at the site.
"Pennsylvania is already on its way to becoming a leader in renewable energy," said Governor Rendell. "So when Chan approached me about setting up an authentic Chan Ho Park and Ride here in the state it was an easy decision. Our hope is that we can get a good handful of cars off this road in the next five years."
Park has had little success, however, getting current teammates to carpool to the stadium on a daily basis. The pitcher said that for two days in April JC Romero, Chad Durbin, Eric Bruntlett and himself drove to the field in a Philly Car Share Prius.
Philadelphia is the onetime starter's fifth team since 1994 and left behind in each city—Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Diego and New York—are crammed cars and greater fuel economy. Let's hope this is the first of many of the Chan Ho Park and Rides in the Delaware Valley.
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