SunTrust Park - Game Day

On Saturday (8/17/19), my nephew and I walked to the park to take in the game.

My initial impressions of traffic were reinforced by the way Cobb Parkway turned in a four lane parking lot.  The hotel had a free shuttle bus to the park that was waiting in front of the entrance for any guests that wanted to use it.  When I asked the driver if we’d get there faster by walking, he hesitated long enough to tell me the answer would be, “Yes.”  So we went on foot.

I’m glad I did.  Because the area outside the park was filled with people and excitement.  Everyone was wearing their colors.  Mostly white, red and blue for the Braves, but plenty of Dodger blue for me to not feel alone.  In the space right in front of the ticket gate, there were even bands playing, adding to the rock festival feel of the environment.  It was very cool.  

Interior

SunTrust’s insides matched its fresh out of the wrapper exterior.  Very new and very clean looking.  

We entered on the first base side by mistake, but I didn’t mind.  It would give me a chance to walk around the park and see as much as I could before the game started.  Unfortunately, I found out that the concourse on the 2nd Level, where our seats were located, doesn’t go all the way around.  It is blocked by a private club house, which you need a special ticket to enter, in the middle.  This means that we had to go back down to the first level, walk until we were under our section, then climb back up.  Stairs and elevators are set back from the concourse, and as such are difficult to spot.  We had to back track a couple of times to find a place where we could climb up and find our seats.  

The views were pretty good.  Once more, I was reminded of Petco, where the San Diego skyline provides the backdrop to the game.  Obviously it was Atlanta this time, with its own unique appearance.  We had a clear, unobstructed view of the playing field.  Given the modern construction, it looked like any seat in the house would give you a pretty good view of the play.  We were sitting in the sun when we got there, but it feel behind the top deck seats by the time the game started, and cloud cover kept it from peeking at us in levels after that.  

Add clear blue skies above, and you had a perfect day for a ball game.  

Food & Services

The available food items were a disappointment to me.  Not because there was anything wrong or bad, but because I was expecting so much more.  

After buying my tickets, I read up online about the Braves stadium and read that it had a reputation for having some pretty outlandish food.  One place listed was an Asian noodle place called, “Intentional Wok,” a name I love.  Another item I read about was something called a “Burgerizza,” a 20 ounce bacon cheese burger, which used two 8 inch pepperoni pizzas as buns.  My body cringed at the idea of eating something like that while my taste buds were more than intrigued.  I decided that it was going to be my game time meal, though I did tell my nephew that he was going to be conscripted to eat at least half of it.  

We never got the chance.  I looked around and didn’t see any signage for it.  When I asked a stadium attendant, he gave me a blank look and shook his head.  He used an app on his phone that told him where all the food service stalls were located, but “Burgerizza” didn’t come up.  I ended up asking someone at one of the food stalls I went to and was told that it had been one of the items discontinued from “Mercedes Benz,” which is what they called the old park.  Too bad.  By this time, it was getting close to the first pitch, so I bought a regular personal pizza instead.  They didn’t sell it with a slice missing by the way.  I ate that pizza while walking back to my seat.  

I will say that the restrooms were also clean and well appointed.  AND, there was no line to get in to use the facilities.  In fact, the lines throughout my section at least, for food, drinks, or restrooms, were very short and moved quickly.  I was able to get back to my seat each time without missing a pitch.  

The Game

Part of the reason for intense atmosphere was the situation itself.  The Dodgers and the Braves are the top two teams in the National League this year.  Everyone I spoke with agreed with me that these same two teams had the best chance of meeting in the NCLS in October again this year.  It was a sellout crowd, with people buying standing room at the back of the seating sections.  

The game matched the crowds expectations, a closely fought, back and forth affair.  I didn’t care of the ending, the Braves won 4-3, but it was exciting and fun to watch.  

Another thing I’ll have to give to the Braves and SunTrust park is the Tomahawk Chop.  I’d heard about it before, the hand gesture Braves fans make like their hacking at something in time with the music.  But when the dim the lights, turn up the volume, and add a giant neon tomahawk chopping at something on the big screens, and the crowd turns on their cell phones and swing them in time with the beat, it is an impressive spectacle.  An expression of communal support for their team that I’d have to go to Japan to match.  

I would have taken a picture or video of it, but I was too busy hoping a Dodger player would hit a home run to shut them all up.  

Leaving the game, the area outside the park was once more jumping.  Braves’ fans celebrating, Dodgers’ fans commiserating.  But definitely a hopping place to be.  I did take a short video of that as I was leaving.

Overall, I liked the experience of SunTrust Park, my 12th MLB park, and 26th Professional park overall.  It would be nice to come here again during a playoff game.  

Though I will be expecting a different final score then. 

Go, Dodgers!

SunTrust Park - First Impressions

I’m here in Atlanta to see the Dodgers play the Braves at SunTrust Park.  This will be my 12th out 30+ MLB Parks that I want to visit, and the 26th Professional Baseball park I will have seen a game in after tonight (12 in the MLB, 11 in the NPB or Nippon Professional Baseball League, and 3 minor league parks in Reno, Spokane, Rancho Cucamonga).  

This morning, I decided to use my daily morning walk to go from my hotel to the stadium and check it out a bit before the game tonight.  These are my impressions.  

A Nice Urban Stadium

As I approached the park walking along Battery Avenue, I found myself reminded of Petco Park in San Diego, where the Padres of the NL West play.  Like Petco, SafeTrust Park has this area of restaurants, stores and bars that are nestled right up next to it.  In San Diego this area is called the Gaslamp District.  The area next to SafeTrust might be called “The Battery,” I think from the many multi-colored capital B’s I see in the area, but I can’t say that for certain.  What I can definitely assume is the area, the restaurants and bars especially, are likely havens for fans before before and after the game.  

I like these sorts of areas near the stadiums.  It gives fans a place to go after the game to celebrate their team, or commiserate depending on the score, and continue the “baseball feeling” they got from the game itself.  AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco and Wrigley Field in Chicago also have the advantage of a neighborhood that their a part of, though I did feel more like an outsider around Wrigley since so many of those places had the feeling of being long established local places.  Whenever I encounter areas like this it makes me wish that Dodgers Stadium had something other than the huge parking lot that surrounds it (Kauffman Stadium where the Royals play is another park with a parking lot for a neighbor).  

The side of the stadium where the park butts up against this

area is a fun-looking area.  There’s a big hanging baseball that has a screen surrounding it.  Plus a baseball field shaped area of artificial turf for people to play on.  When I got there people were filing in for tours they give of the park.  I was tempted to join them.  But since I’ve not taken a tour of Dodger Stadium yet, I decided not to.  You gotta remember where your loyalties are.  

 As I walked around the stadium, starting along the first base side, I found that at first the park is covered by a hotel that is right next to it.  This is also just like Petco, where you have to go all the way around to the left field side before you can see the stadium’s structure.  Once you pass the hotel at SunTrust, you get to see the exterior of the park itself.  It’s on this side, which faces a street, where you find a couple of statues of celebrated Braves, like Phil Niekro, the Hall of Fame knuckle-baller that played for the team both in Milwaukie and Atlanta, and Bobby Cox, the former manager that took them to World Series wins in 1977 and 1995.  

The park’s facade has a nostalgic, brick facing, though not as complete as Oracle Park in San Francisco.  It is very new looking, which makes sense since they’ve only been using it for two years.  The Lyft driver that picked me up at the airport said that its newness shows off on the inside as well.  

Walk There If You Can

Which brings me to the one negative thing I’ve seen about the stadium so far, and that’s traffic.  The stadium is not quite tucked into a corner between two major thoroughfares, the 285 Freeway and Cobb Parkway, which is four lanes in both directions, with a huge island in-between preventing drivers from making turns anywhere but at the traffic lights.  I saw what it’s location does to traffic, as my ride was approaching my hotel just before the game was about to start.  After crawling up the off-ramp we were physically located across the street from my hotel.  But because of three solid lanes of traffic at a standstill, and the big island in the middle, the driver had to go around the stadium to get to the intersection to turn left and go back down to the hotel’s entrance.  A trip that took about an hour (which I walked in about twenty minutes this morning).  I always thought the situation at Dodger stadium was bad (one reason why I always try to take the free shuttle bus from Union Station when I can), but the area around SunTrust was about as bad.  I don’t know if it’s any better coming from the opposite side of the stadium.  I’m glad that it’s only a ten minute walk to get there tonight.  

I’ll write up a follow-up posting after I see the insides of the game tonight.  

Go Dodgers!