Jim Parque

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Olympic medal record
Men's Baseball
Bronze Atlanta 1996 Team Competition

James Vo Parque (born February 8, 1976 in Norwalk, California) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1998 to 2003.

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[edit] High school years

Parque attended Crescenta Valley High School, where as a senior, he compiled a 12-3 record and was voted the League Player of the Year and MVP.

[edit] Later career

Parque attended UCLA, and was the Bruins' top starter. He earned All-Pac 10 Honorable Mention, leading his school with 84 strikeouts in 14 starts. In 1996, he was the only left-handed pitcher on the Olympics baseball team that won a bronze medal in Atlanta.

In 1994, he was drafted in the 50th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the 1997 supplemental draft he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 1st round. Parque spent his first five seasons with the White Sox. He enjoyed his best season in 2000, going 13-6 with a 4.28 ERA before being beset by arm problems (torn labrum).

On June 24, 2004, he announced his retirement after playing seven seasons of professional baseball due to his recurring arm injury from 2000.

[edit] Return to baseball

After being out of baseball for three years, Parque announced his willingness to return to the game of baseball. The Chicago Tribune reported that he threw his fastball in the range of 90 mph. On February 2, 2007, he signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners. He was released by Seattle on May 31, 2007. He has since been linked to steroids in December 2007, though he denied the account in the Seattle Times newspaper.[1]

[edit] External links