We selected the furthest corner parking spot for the "big ol' brown truck" and walked up and over the walkway to the park.
Only since 1966 have the Braves called Atlanta home. Prior to that they were in Boston for many years and then Milwaukee. We will talk more about that later. From 1966 until 1996 they played at in downtown Atlanta at the Atlanta Fulton County Stadium and then from 1997 until 2016 they played in Turner Field. In 2017 the Braves moved into SunTrust Park which was further renamed Truist Park.
There is actually a "big ol' brown truck" way down there!
The walkway over the highway.
We made our way to the park entrance and had to shuffle Doreen's clear tote as no bags were allowed into the park. We spread the contents between the two of us and rolled up her tote and stowed it in her jacket. No worries! Due to the low attendance capacity, we made it through security in minutes and headed for Fan Services where she got her MLB Ballpark Passport stamped and our certificate of first attendance, something that most of the ballparks do. The passport is a booklet you purchase for a nominal fee, and then when you visit a major league baseball park they stamp it to prove you attended. She has a similar passport for lighthouses. There is also a passport for minor league baseball parks and even a national park service passport I believe.
A little history and so why MLB ballparks? Well, it is not just about the destination but also about the journey. We love traveling around the United States seeing the sights and we love the game of baseball. I grew up playing baseball and was pretty good in my day. So was my father, where I got my inspiration. He was a great left-handed pitcher before World War II, hence his nickname of "Lefty". After a fabulous stint playing high school baseball he played in several Midwest teams including the Cedar Rapids Iowa minor league team. Then he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians D league farm team in Appleton Wisconsin, the Appleton Papermakers. He played up there until the Japanese decided to bomb Pearl Harbor when nearly every able-bodied American male joined the military to fight for their country. Lefty and his brother (my uncle) Bernard both joined the Marine Corps and so much for Lefty's baseball career. Lefty did play some baseball in the Marine Corps during his training and my son Dan has his old uniforms - all 100% wool of course and his glove!
Lowell "Lefty" Schellhase high school baseball picture
Baseball continued in our family after I joined the Air Force, got married and had a family as all three of our children were active in sports. Our son Dan was the baseball player and pitched a perfect game at 8 years old. He went on to play at Fort Des Moines, played on a national championship team, an international team in St Maarten island, and the Norwalk junior high and senior high teams. He was a first team all state catcher but rightfully chose his fire career and family over any further baseball. From these writing and our previous blogs I bet you cannot tell we are just a little proud of all of our children and all their accomplishments!! Just a little...!!!
So back to Atlanta! As we searched out fan services we passed the heritage area where the Braves history displays are set. If you ever get to Truist Park you need to spend some time here are read the displays. Wow, what a history. I was not aware how long the Braves were in Boston -82 years, from 1871 to 1952 winning 14 pennants there! Then they moved to Milwaukee and played there for 13 years, winning two pennants!
A few more pictures from their displays:
A couple of my fav's from recent history were John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, a Cubbie!
So once we finished at fan services we cruised around the outfield terrace area just looking over the park and then made our way to section 242 where our seats were located.
Very sparsely seated. Attendance today will be only 11,739
A panoramic video, if it will load:
Today, April 15th is Jackie Robinson day throughout the country
The first pitch Miami vs Atlanta
Doreen and Atlanta's new mascot - Blooper!
Ballpark margarita!! It was massive!
In between one of the innings Doreen and I were shown in the "fan cam" on the big screen, which was pretty cool! I continued my tradition of sampling the hotdogs, but it was not too good compared to many I've tried. Atlanta and Miami played well with neither team having any errors, but Atlanta won 7-6. We are so glad to have been able to attend a game here. Sunday we are scheduled to tour the ball park and we will see many areas we could not access today.
Tomorrow's plan is to visit Dobbins Air Reserve Base and the battlefield near Marietta.
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