The New York Mets are on Sunday to host their 17th annual Taiwan Day at Citi Field, where the leaders of Major League Baseball’s National League East division are to play the Colorado Rockies at 1:40pm.
In an announcement on their Web site on Tuesday, the team said they had sold all 4,000 promotional tickets for the game with purchasers eligible to receive a free Mets replica jersey with the word “Taiwan” and the number “1” on the back.
The team also said they had invited Taiwanese former CPBL player Peng Cheng-min (彭政閔) to throw the game’s ceremonial first pitch.
Photo: CNA
Peng, now an assistant manager of the Taiwanese league’s CTBC Brothers, flew to the US last week to watch Taipei Municipal Fulin Elementary School compete in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwanese team were yesterday to play Mexico in the series, which ends on Sunday.
The Mets have hosted a Taiwan Day event every year since 2005. They lead their division with a 79-46 record.
Last year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) addressed the Taiwan Day crowd by video, while Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) threw the first pitch.
Other Taiwanese to throw the first ball at the annual celebration include Oscar award-winning film director Ang Lee (李安), golfer Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and YouTuber Tsai Aga (蔡阿嘎).
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