My Saturday at Atlanta's Turner Field

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Hence the Shea references:

 

So Saturday I go from the Marriott Suites in MidTown Atlanta down to Turner Field to catch Braves and Phillies. Beautiful day, sadly the weather didn't hold, as while it wasn't bad on Sunday, being at a wedding under a tent on an overcast day loses the effect that a tent should have, and a great day for a ballgame.

 

No baseball related gear for me on this day, not that I'd get into serious trouble or anything just didn't pack any Met stuff. Just regular shirt, shorts and shades.

 

First stop, and any baseball historianfan visiting Atlanta should vist this spot, regardless of team you root for, a visit to where 715 landed in old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Had a slight problem locating it as when I asked a security guy "Where is the 715 thing" he thought I was referring to the 755 Club, the Braves Diamond Club equvilant, but eventualy I was able to get the right coordinants.

 

The old sign on top of what is supposed to be the Brave outfield fence circa early 70's. I'm pretty sure the fences were padded by the time the stadium met its demise. In the back there is a wall circumfrence, I'm guessing that is also part of the old ballpark. Standing on the grass I got a nice chill thinking about all the Left Fielders who patrolled that plot of land through the years, and just had to "scale the fence" just for the sheer hell of it!

 

There also is an unmarked monument of home plate at the end of the parking lot, I'm guessing thats where home plate was in the old ball park.

 

Moving on I strolled through Monument Grove on my way to purchase a walk-up ticket. Nice monuments of Aaron, Spahn and Niekro, and of Georgian native Ty Cobb. Picked up a $35 ticket and walked along the retired number monuments of Aaron, Mathews, Spahn, Niekro, Murphy and Jackie Robinson's 42 on the way to the Braves "Hall Of Fame And Museum." Now this puts the Diamond Club lobby to absoulte shame!

 

It has a ton of interesting memoriablilla, representing all three stops the franchise has had. Naturally all the Braves' 1990's success is represented. Tom Glavine's Silver Slugger is residing there, as well as the knee brace Sid Bream wore in his winning slide at home in the 92 NLCS.

 

Also a big updated daily Braves All-Time Leader Board, a display of every Brave in Cooperstown, and a run down of all the Braves in their own franchise hall. That list is:

 

1999

Hank Aaron

Eddie Mathews

Phil Niekro

Warren Spahn

2000

Dale Murphy

Ted Turner

2001

Lew Burdette

Ernie Johnson

2002

Bill Bartholomay

John Sain

2003

Del Crandall

2004

Kid Nichols

Tommy Holmes

Skip Caray

Pete Van Wieren

 

Pretty decent list, not enough of a Brave follower to argue (What no Biff Porocoba or Rafel Ramierez? Wheres the love for Ozzie Virgill?)

 

As I am want to do first time I'm in a stadium (its a yearly thing here with Shea and Yankee) I strolled around each level to soak in the ambivance of the place, for Shea and Yankee its more to see what new stuff has been added since the previous fall. Wandering around the concourse about an hour before game time, I caught a glimpse of a Caribbiean music festival which was cool. Made me realize that I was missing a Jazz festival in Piedmont the same day, but you can't do everything. Walked into a place called "The Chop House" which at first I thought was a clever name for "The Club House" and was a team shop. Nope. I did in fact walk into the sports bar down the right field line! Deciding "Why not" I sat down to chow down on some lunch.

 

Just a plain cheeseburger and fries. For some reason I wasn't in a southern cooking mood. In fact, I didn't eat one barbcued food all weekend. Very strange. Anyway, I soon found out that Turner Field has its very own micro brew. Tomahawk. A very tasty amber brew, brewed by Budweiser especially for Turner Field. Again, if someone is listening at either Shea or Yankee Stadium...

 

Interestingly enough, after eating I noticed on the other side of the concorse there is a kiosk in the form of an old fashioned Southern hickory B-B-Q shack with Skip Carey's and Pete Van Weirn's name on it. Very cool! Too bad I allready ate or I could say I ate at Skip and Pete's HOF BBQ Shack.

 

Walked upstairs after the meal, and ventured to the Coca-Cola pavilion in Left-Center. Now this is a good spot to watch a ballgame! Kind of like being up in Boston's Monster Seats I guess. Also kid friendly sprinting path is up there, as well as large Coke padded chairs. Very cool place.

 

Made my way back down to my seats, right along the right field line, just to the right of the 1st base bag. When Chipper Jones was up I just couldn't help myself and starting saying "LAAAAAAAAAAA-RRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYY!" Couple of young girls in front looked back at me and wondered what I was saying. I said "Thats his real name!" Not sure if they understood what I said!

 

Pretty pedestrian game. Phils took an early lead, couple of Jason Michaels homers. Brave miscues had Brave fans on the agravated side. Actually I was pretty impressed with the crowd. It was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and they had a pretty decent crowd, just a shade under 35,000. Atlanta is suposedly a dead town during the major weekends as most dwellers travel to shores, Florida, the Carolinas, ect.

 

To illustrate that point, I was at a local rock band do an outside gig at a sushi bar in Buckhead and there was no crowd. Not a bunch of stragglers, no crowd. Just patrons eating. I basically had a private concert and had a lenthy conversation with the lead singer the entire night!

 

Unfortunatly I had to leave after the 7th in order to prepare for a rehearsal dinner so I can't tell how Brave fans react after a loss. But overall a pretty decent/knowledgeable crowd that was into the game.

 

Got a kick out of some of the in-between inning stuff, the usual fare, but it seemed like they did more interactive stuff than the Mets and Yanks do. "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" is the post Take Me Out To The Ballgame song by the way.

 

There are alot of games, but since they were all baseball related I'll give them a pass. Major problem with the Cartoon Network stuff though, thats too much "Isn't the game enough entertainment for little ones?" for me (i.e. the Nickelodeon stuff at Shea in the mid-1990's)

 

Well I'll give the ballpark 5 stars. Yankee Stadium is still the place for history though. Something to do with 26 flags I guess.

 

Okay, 3 down, 27 to go...

 

Steve Rogers

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

I liked all those giant baseballs they had outside the stadium. We were down there last summer, but really didn't do much "sightseeing" of the park. Checked out the 715 monument & the parking lot, checked out the aforementioned giant baseballs, and took a quick stroll around the concourse.

 

We knocked out Miami, Tampa, and Atlanta. This summer we're hitting up San Diego, LA Dodgers, and the Angels. Previously, I've done Baltimore, Philly (Vet & Citizen's Bank [i'm from the Philly area]), Yankee Stadium, Fenway, and the Pirates new place. I missed out on a trip to see Wrigley, Milwaukee, and Cleveland.

[Guest Smues]

I love Turner Field and i'll be going back there in September. The museum is really cool and I like the giant coke bottle with all the baseball gear on it. I didn't know about the micro brew, I'll have to try that when I'm there. I also intend to eat at Skip and Pete's HOF bbq. I agree Tooner Field seems a bit excesive, but that's what you get when Time Warned owns the team. I also like how as you walk through the 200 level by the concessions they have team photos of the last 25 years (I think) worth of teams. It's neat to walk by them in order and see the team progress. How impressive was "The world's largest High Defenition screen?" It kind of seems like overkill to me, but who knows maybe in person it's awesome.