September 16, 1997
Aerial of Turner Field with downtown Atlanta in the distance. In the parking lot just beyond the field they painted lines where the old Fulton County Stadium infield was. A sign marked exactly where Hank Aaron‘s record-breaking 715th home run landed.
Turner Field opened in 1997, replacing one of the several National League concrete doughnut stadiums of the 1970s-80s era. Unlike Veterans Stadium in Philly, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh and old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta never had a fake field. It was always grass. But like all the concrete doughnuts, lacked personality and good sight lines. You were always a long way from the field.
The new Turner Field was built for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics and converted to a baseball park in time for the 1997 season. The name Turner referred to Ted Turner, then-owner of the Braves.
View from the restaurant in center field.
The Braves are the only team to win a World Series in three different cities: The Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Athletics in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves beat the Yankees in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves beat the Cleveland Indians in 1995. Of course, they’re also the only team to lose the World Series in three different cities: The Boston Braves lost to the Indians in 1948, the Milwaukee Braves lost to the Yankees in 1958, and the Atlanta Braves lost to the Twins in 1991 and the Yankees again in 1996 and 1999. The pennant replicas were on display in the concourse.
My Inaugural Season Turner Field t-shirt. It still fits me.
First game: September 16, 1997. I arranged a layover on the flight from Boston to New Orleans going to the NAB Convention. It was sort of a long taxi ride from the airport to Turner Field as Hot-Lanna is not big on public transportation.
Beautiful day, nice new ballpark, very good game. Future Red Sox AL Batting Champion Bill Mueller played 3b for the Giants. Future Red Sox 2b Tony Graffanino played for the Braves. I saw his son, AJ Graffinino (AJ as in Anthony, Jr. just like the Sopranos), play for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2017. Brewster won the CCBL Championship that year. Alan Embree, who pitched for the Red Sox from 2002-2005, appeared in 3 of the 4 games in the 2004 World Series. 4 K’s, no walks, 1 hit, one unearned run. ERA of 0.00, pitched for Atlanta in the game. Braves catcher Eddie Perez hit a grand slam off Wilson Alvarez, who once threw a no-hitter for the White Sox. The Braves won, 6-4.
After the game I cabbed it back to the airport and boarded a flight to The Big Easy.
Second game: Tuesday, June 17, 2015
The Braves had announced that Turner Field, only 18 years old (compared with Fenway, 103 years old at the time), would be replaced by a new stadium “closer to the fan base.” Meaning the suburbs north of the city, where there is even less public transportation than in the Turner Field location near the city center.
When Interleague play was introduced in the 90s the Red Sox used to play the Braves every year, what with the Braves having spent their first 82 seasons playing in Boston. Nowadays they mix it up, so I decided to take my daughters Caitlin and Kara to Atlanta to see what might well be the final Red Sox series at Turner Field, as the new ballpark was set to open in 2017 and the Sox might not go to Atlanta in 2016. Turns out I guessed wrong, as the Sox did play at Turner Field in 2016, but what the hey (or is it hay?). We had a fun trip and had a chance to check out Hot-Lanna.
This was an extreme yo-yo era for Boston. The Red Sox finished last in the AL East in 2012, finished 1st and won the World Series in 2013, finished last in 2014 and again in 2015, then 1st in 2016 and 2017 and 1st and won the World Series again in 2018.
This game was in the middle of the 2nd straight last-place finish. Joe Kelly started for the Red Sox and had an RBI hit (no DH in a National League park). Mike Napoli homered for the other Sox run. Brock Holt went 2-for-4. So did…wait for it…Pablo Sandoval. Former Sox players Jonny Gomes, AJ Pierzinski and Pedro Ciriaco were in the Braves lineup. The Braves won, 5-2. Junichi Tazawa took the loss. The Washington Hall of Stars board includes Red Auerbach, Mickey Vernon, and Eddie Yost (who once stopped me on Oak Street in Wellesley and asked about my “EY” Massachusetts license plate).
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