La New Corp announced the renaming of its professional baseball team in a press conference in Taipei yesterday afternoon, opting to change their identity from the La New Bears to the Lamigo Monkeys in the upcoming CPBL season.
Company president Liu Pao-yu introduced his new coach, Hong Yi-fong, and three of the players — Chen Chin-feng, Chung Cheng-yu and Tsan Chih-yao — in their new Monkeys uniforms to the local press, stressing the importance of team values despite the change in name.
“Our commitment to placing a winning team on the field will never change, even though we’ve decided to move from Kaohsiung to our new home in Taoyuan,” Liu said at the press conference.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
The brand Lamigo is well represented in the local sports and recreation industry, with a members-only health and fitness club, a health clinic, a wedding plaza and a fully operational travel agency under its wings.
One of the immediate benefits that the baseball team will enjoy under the new name will be a detailed physical assessment of their players by the health clinic to help improve the team’s overall physical condition.
The new team will also have the full support of Taoyuan County officials, which in its recently completed baseball stadium held the highest attendance figures in the 17 regular-season games played there last season.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
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