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During the two home games of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field last October, the crowd was electric and Ji-Man Choi was the greatest beneficiary, as the fans started chanting to nearly unheard decibel levels when he came to bat in the domed masterpiece we call Tropicana Field.
It was truly an incredible thing to behold, but unfortunately with the pandemic, that level of fan interaction doesn’t seem like a possibility during the 2020 campaign. Although, stadiums across the league have been flooding their PA systems with crowd noise and MLB has even started to give the option of allowing fans to applaud, cheer, and boo live games.
The ever jubilant Ji-Man Choi has been missing the crowd’s involvement, as he seems to feed off the energy the fans emit. Choi went to the Rays front office and requested the infamous chant from the ALDS be played for him during the 2020 season and thus far, the results have been encouraging.
#Rays Choi asked team to start playing the fan chant of his name because he missed the interaction and felt it has helped him
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) August 9, 2020
PS — Despite not being able to attend the games in person, you can still show your support for Ji-Man Choi by donning the “Ji-Man Choi” T-Shirt.
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Thus far in 2020, Ji-Man Choi has played in 14 games and is hitting .211/.311/.395 with 1 home run over 45 plate appearances, and seems to have been breaking out of the slump over the weekend.
The chant might be the key!
Fun piece of history: The Trop was specifically designed in 1986 to cater to “Ji-Man Choi” chants
— The Identity Tampa Bay (@TheIdentityTB) October 9, 2019
#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/Q05woTsffT