High school

Jim Parque grew up poor in Southern California. His father made less than US$20,000 per year and his mother, a Vietnamese immigrant, worked at a textiles factory in Chinatown, Los Angeles. On this income, Parque's parents struggled to provide for Parque and his brother. Parque himself had to work in a sweatshop in Los Angeles as a young boy.

Parque attended Crescenta Valley High School where he was mentored by former All-Star pitcher Jerry Reuss. As a senior, Parque compiled a 12-3 record and was voted the Pacific League Player of the Year and MVP. He also broke the school's strikeout record. Parque began his high school baseball career at 5'1" tall and roughly 110 pounds; the school was unable to find a jersey small enough to fit him. By the time he graduated, he still stood at only 5'5" and weighed 132 pounds. Although he was recruited by such college baseball teams as the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins and Miami Hurricanes, professional scouts showed little interest in him because of his size. Parque was not selected until the 50th round of the 1994 Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

College

From 1994 to 1997, Parque attended UCLA and led the Bruins to the College World Series in 1997. Parque earned second-team Smith Super Team honors in his sophomore season in 1996. In his junior year, Parque was voted first-team All-American by Baseball America, first-team All-Pac-10 Conference, second-team by the Sporting News, second-team by the American Baseball Coaches Association, and third-team by Collegiate Baseball. Parque is one of the most decorated pitchers in UCLA Baseball history. He currently ranks second in career games started with 50, second in career total innings pitched with 3342⁄₃ innings, second in career strikeouts with 319, third in career pitching wins with 25, and seventh in career complete games with 10. In terms of single season pitching records for the Bruins, Parque ranks third in wins with 13 in 1997, ninth for games started with 19 in 1997, ninth for innings pitched with 1252⁄₃ in 1996, fourth in strikeouts with 119 in 1997, and fifth in strikeouts with 116 in 1996.

Major League Career (1998-2004)

In the 1997 supplemental draft he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 1st round. Parque made his major league debut the following year, pitching in 21 starts for the White Sox. He had an ERA of 5.10 with a 7-5 record in 113 innings.

In 1999, Parque finished the season with a 9-15 record in 30 starts.

He enjoyed his best season in 2000, going 13-6 with a 4.28 ERA in 33 games (32 starts). The 2001 season saw Parque pitch in 5 starts only after suffering a shoulder injury, which sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Parque began the 2002 season in the minors building up arm strength after his 2001 shoulder surgery.

Parque was not the same after shoulder surgery, his 2002 season saw him pitch to an ERA of 9.95 in 8 games (4 starts) while walking 16 batters in just 25 innings. Parque was let go after the 2002 season.

After numerous shoulder injuries between 2001 and 2002, Parque signed a minor league with the Devil Rays in 2003. He was released after posting a whopping 11.94 ERA in 5 starts.

In January, 2004, Parque signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks.

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

Jim Parque

Medal record
Representing United States
Men's Baseball
Summer Olympics
	1996 Atlanta	Team

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. In a July 23, 2009 article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Parque admitted using human growth hormone while rehabbing from a shoulder injury in 2003. At the time, HGH had not yet been banned by MLB.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]