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Turner Field / Atlanta Braves

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Year Opened	1997
Capacity	49,583
Architect	Atlanta Stadium Design Team
Dimensions	335L, 380LC, 401C, 390RC, 330R
Playing Surface	Grass
Last Visit	2006
Web Site	mlb.com
Online Broadcasts	Yes
Online Ticket Sales	Yes
Phone	800/326-4000
Ticket Prices (2006)	Dugout, $53/$50; Lexus Level, $37/$34; Field, $35/$32; Terrace, $35/$32; Lexus Pavilion, $29-$26; Terrace Reserved, $27/$24; Field Pavilion, $23/$20; Terrace Pavilion, $22/$20; Upper Box, $15/$12; Upper Reserved, $11/$8; Upper Pavilion, $5; Skyline, $1
League	National League
Parking	Those of us who remember Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium have fond memories of the of parking surrounding the old stadium, but much of that parking has been lost to development. Today there are only 1,200 or so parking spaces surrounding Turner Field available to the general public. The price: $12.
Address/Directions	755 Hank Aaron Dr., Atlanta. If you’re coming from the north on I-75/85, there are two exits serving the ballpark. From exit #248A (marked as the Martin Luther King Dr./State Capitol/Turner Field exit), turn right onto Martin Luther King Drive and then turn left onto Pryor Street, noting the State Capitol to your left. Stay on Pryor until you hit Fulton Street; turn right onto Capitol Avenue/Hank Aaron Drive. This is a scenic, albeit slow-moving route; there are signs to point the way. You can also take exit #246 and make a left on Fulton Street. Stay on it until hanging a right on Capitol Avenue/Hank Aaron Drive. Again, if you follow the signs you’ll be OK. From the south on I-75/85, take exit #246 and make a right on Fulton Street. Stay on it until hanging a right on Capitol Avenue/Hank Aaron Drive. If you follow the signs you’ll be OK.
Written by:	Kevin Reichard
Rating

We’re not quite sure we’d write off Turner Field as just another retro ballpark, as some fans seem to have done. The Braves even advertise the ballpark as having “the nostalgia and the atmosphere of old-time baseball,” but that’s not totally true: while there are some retro elements in the ballpark, from the seats Turner Field is pure business, a circus and plenty of sideshows surrounding an immaculately groomed playing field.

In fact, from the seats Turner really isn’t retro at all. It’s not an exceptionally intimate ballpark unless you’re in the lower seating, and if anything the ballpark is on the modern side, with a high-tech scoreboard looming over the action and plenty of fireworks when a Braves player hits a homer.

Still, for many, retro represents pure nostalgia, and there’s more than enough of it at Turner Field.

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Turner Field began life as the main stadium for the 1996 Summer Olympics, constructed next to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. In that configuration, Olympic Stadium stretched out to accommodate a full track; the current grandstand was one end of the oval, while the other end was torn down (you can see the pillars from the original stadium entrance at the Ralph David Abernathy side, with the rest of the old Olympic seating used as the Entry Plaza). After the Olympic games ended, it took eight months to retrofit the stadium to a baseball-only facility.

The designers did a pretty good job of hiding the ballpark’s roots; you can stand almost anywhere in the stands and you won’t be able to tell Turner Field began as an 85,000-seat track-and-field stadium. It could be argued that these roots contributed to a certain blandness, however. Despite some brickwork, Turner Field isn’t retro, but you can’t really pin down any other distinctive style, either. It lacks any great places for fans to stand around and watch the game; the whole notion of exposed concourses and public spots is almost totally absent at Turner Field.

If you’ve not spent a lot of time going to baseball games in the South – and by that we mean basically anything south of the Mason-Dixon Line, excluding Florida – you need to know that fans treat attending a game in those areas a little differently than the rest of the country. To wit: It’s a great Southern tradition to stand around and chew the fat while keeping an eye on the game; a baseball game is really an excuse for community interaction. The best ballparks in the South contain plenty of places to mingle and chew the fat.

If you look at the great retro parks – starting with Oriole Park at Camden Yards and going through Citizens Bank Park – you’ll see they all have tons of places where fans can stand and watch the game. In Philadelphia, for example, most of the concourse ringing the field is wide-open; the opposite is true in Atlanta. When you walk away from your seats to grab a beer and a dog, you won’t be able to see the game or just stand and stretch your legs.

Sadly, there’s only one space at Turner Field that truly fills this need, and because of its location in the upper deck in left field, it won’t be used by most Braves fans. Too bad, because it’s a great space. The Coca-Cola Sky Field may be quite a distance from the action – 435 feet from home plate and 80 feet above the field – but it’s the perfect family space. There’s a miniature diamond for the kids to run, and on a hot day the large row of misters will definitely be appreciated. Plus, the giant Coca-Cola bottles blast fireworks after a Braves home run; any kid who won’t think it’s cool to be close to an exploding Coke bottle isn’t worth bringing to a ballgame. But we’ve never really seen a lot of folks gathered up there for the simple pleasure of talking during a game. Maybe it’s the practice doesn’t scale to the major-league level; maybe it’s because Atlanta is now a city with such a heavy influx of outsiders many of the old Southern ways have been lost.

Indeed, we could have use a little more South – old or new – at Turner Field. We are fans of Atlanta and welcome every opportunity to spend time there. But you don’t feel like you’re in the South when you’re at Turner Field. No, we don’t mean we expect the Dukes of Hazzard to come barreling through the infield or see the Confederate flag waving in center field. But the lack of any Southern food specialties at concession stands is troubling: your food choices are pretty much the same as in any big-league ballpark, sans anything local – no local microbrews, no local foods (save boiled peanuts), no local vendors, no soul food, no meat-and-three.

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This gets us to back to our central complaint about Turner Field: during the course of a game, you could be anywhere. The Braves complain about having a hard time attracting an African-American clientele – the racial balance in Atlanta is not reflected by the mostly white crowds at a Braves game – but in the end there’s just nothing to attract them. Local is always good: a ballpark should be a place for a community to gather, but we see little of that at Braves games.

Which is too bad, because overall Turner Field presents a decent, if not generic, game-day experience. Most fans will enter the ballpark via the Grand Entry Plaza, located in center field. As mentioned, it was part of the stadium’s track and field configuration (the pillars close to the street show the original boundary of the Olympic stadium), but today it’s a celebration of Atlanta and Southern baseball with statues of former Braves greats Henry Aaron and Phil Niekro and local legend Ty Cobb, originally installed at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Also in the Plaza: a ceremonial magnolia tree and plaque honoring the minor-league Atlanta Crackers and a statue of Phil Niekro, the winningest pitcher in Atlanta Braves history, but not franchise history – both Warren Spahn and the largely forgotten Kid Nichols won more games for the Braves.

It’s designed to be a self-contained universe once the game starts, with a large-screen television showing game action. Also in the Entry Plaza: a Kids Zone featuring Cartoon Network characters (Tooner Alley), concession stands, pitching and batting cages (branded here as Scouts Alley), and a retail store. Tooner Alley is a rather shameless attempt to push the Cartoon Network brand with activities like Puffy Ami Tumi Karaoke and the Kids Next Door Treeehouse.

In the end, we had a great time attending Phillies games, and much of that had to do with Citizen Bank Park. It’s a ballpark where all the little touches shine through, from the historic displays in Ashburn Alley to the emphasis on local offerings in the concession stands. There’s nothing generic about Citizens Bank Park -- which should make it a prime stop for anyone wanting a great ballpark experience.

There is much to like at Turner Field. We just wish there was more Southern flavor to the ballpark.

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Food and Drink
We’ve already complained about the concessions. Let’s just say one more thing: the most unusual food item at Turner Field is bison. Not because bison is especially big in Atlanta, but because former owner Ted Turner is big into bison and runs a chain of restaurants featuring bison. Can’t get a meat-and-three at the ballpark, but you can get bison at the West Pavilion concession stands, along with notable food items from other ballparks.

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For the Kids
There are plenty of distractions for kids uninterested in baseball. We’ve already mentioned the two most prominent ones: Tooner Alley and Coca-Cola Sky Field.

Though we were a little cynical about the Tooner Alley branding earlier in this chapter, the fact is kids love Cartoon Network characters. In Tooner Alley (especially on a Sunday), you can find Cartoon Network characters like Scooby-Doo and Johnny Bravo wandering around, interacting with the younger set. The activities are a welcome diversion, and you’re never too far away from a TV screen showing the game action.

The Coca-Sky Sky Field provides a diamond for kids to burn off energy, and the misters are welcome on a hot, muggy Atlanta day. Parents can watch the game from a picnic table while their kids build up a sweat running the bases and then cool down under the mister.

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