BASEBALL/Mets' AI Taiwan Day held in New York

Taipei/New York, Aug. 18 (CNA) New York Mets' annual Taiwan Day was held in the Big Apple on Saturday, with this year's event rebranded as "AI Taiwan Day."

According to Sam Lin (林慶甫), the chairman of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of New York, the organizers rebranded the annual celebration this year as "AI Taiwan Day" to both celebrate Taiwan's favorite sporting pastime as well as the country's advances in artificial intelligence.

This year's theme was also a pun on "Love Taiwan," because the English word "ai" is the Romanized spelling of the character meaning "love" (愛) in Chinese.

The appellation "AI Taiwan Day" also serves to indicate the country's leading rolein the global artificial intelligence industry.

Lin Ching-yung (林清詠), a pioneer in network science and artificial intelligence as well as CEO at Graphen, was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch.

Unlike in previous years when the team itself organized the event, this year's celebration was jointly spearheaded by the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of New York, the New Jersey Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce and the Taiwanese Junior Chamber of Commerce of New York.

This was because the Mets' recent announcement that it will no longer organize days celebrating specific ethnicities in the spirit of tolerance and appreciation for diversity.

However, not wishing the much beloved and almost-two-decades-old event to disappear, the Taiwanese business bodies banded together to keep the tradition alive.

More than 1,000 Taiwanese attended to celebrate the annual event, which first started in 2005 and traditionally features Taiwan-themed souvenirs, activities and performances celebrating Taiwanese culture and community in New York.

In support of Taiwan Day 2024, the American Major League Baseball team released 1,400 Mets Citi Field tickets specifically to Taiwanese fans -- all of which sold out.

Taiwanese fans who attended the Mets vs. Miami Marlins game seemed pleased by the continuation of annual Taiwan celebration, saying that they hope the organizers will continue to keep Taiwan Day going as it is a meaningful event for Taiwanese expats and Americans of Taiwanese heritage.