The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WELCOME, FANS
Braves fans embrace new home at SunTrust Park opener amid flourish of pregame pomp.
Stan Hauseman is a longtime Atlanta Braves fan. He’s a new Braves season ticket holder.
The Marietta resident sealed the deal when the team came his way.
“We haven’t missed an opening day in 10 years,” he said Friday afternoon at his tailgating headquarters, set up in prime real estate just outside SunTrust Park. “I became a season ticket holder when the park moved here.”
More than three years after the stunning November 2013 announcement that the Braves would move from Turner Field in downtown Atlanta to a new suburban home in Cobb County, opening day finally arrived Friday. A capacity crowd cheered the team in proverbial Chamber of Commerce weather, following a flourish of pregame pomp featuring a salute to longtime Braves heroes including Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones and John Smoltz. Home run king Hank Aaron threw the first pitch to revered former manager Bobby Cox.
“This is a really spectacular place,” Smoltz said during a pregame interview. “As much as I love Turner Field, I’m sure admiration of this new park is going to go a long way. I’m impressed.”
After “American Idol” champ Phillip Phillips performed the national anthem and a slew of SunTrust employees unfurled a giant flag across the field, pregame festivities concluded on a demonstrably friendly note, as the announcer invited fans to stand, high-five their neighbors and greet one another with a “Go Braves” salutation.
The pregame action included a little political pageantry, too,
as team officials presented official jerseys to members of the Cobb County Commission, including Chairman Mike Boyce. His predecessor Tim Lee, who lured the team to Cobb and was drummed out of office by voters outraged at the secrecy of the negotiations and the millions of tax dollars involved, attended as a fan.
Lee told the AJC at the time of Boyce’s victory that the new stadium and development surrounding it would be “the most beneficial economic project for decades to come” for Cobb. Lee is now executive director of the Habersham Partnership for Growth/Economic Development Council.
Former state Sen. Chuck Clay, whose Cobb roots go about as deep as anyone’s (he’s a descendant of U.S. Sen. Alexander Stephens Clay, whose statue stands in Glover Park on the Marietta Square) sees the Braves’ move as a coup for Cobb.
“A lot of folks would like to freeze time, but I don’t see anything but an enormous benefit to Cobb County from this change,” he said. Traffic issues, he said, are “not insurmountable.”
And should the Braves triumph in a future World Series, he predicts the victory parade will roll past the statue of his forefather.
“Are you kidding me? It would be on the square in Marietta,” he laughed.
The Braves’ new digs impressed lots of folks, and fans started lining up well in advance. Shelby Spain and her parents Ruthie and Jimmy Spain left their home in the Nashville, Tenn., area about 7 a.m. Friday to be the first fans through the Third Base Gate entrance. “I am the biggest Braves fan,” she said. “We’ve been planning this since October.”
Although a few finishing touches remain to be completed around the park’s exterior (someone’s probably going to lay sod on those long stretches of dirt along a key parking lot, for example), many visitors were impressed with the facility and its employees. “The parking lots have been very well-managed,” said Denie Khamphoumy of Smyrna.
Ali Gross took Uber from Midtown to SunTrust Park, at Interstates 75 and 285.
“The park is great,” she said. “It’ll be interesting to see how it all works out.”
She’s also enticed by the surrounding restaurants, shops and concert venue at the adjacent Battery. “It’ll be fun to come here and stay the whole day,” she said.
Of course, things weren’t entirely perfect.
An unfortunate financial glitch struck the park named after a banking giant midgame, as credit card processing quit working. Concession workers advised customers their stands were suddenly cash-only and the Sausage Haus restaurant posted a sign saying as much. Some vendors saw their machines come back to life, and it wasn’t clear how widespread the issue was. The park’s Twitter feed said officials were working to fix the problem.
One escalator leading to the stadium’s top level was inoperable, forcing fans to trudge up the steps.
And longtime Braves fan Mike Levin of North Fulton had a tricky time getting to the game. “Parking across from the park was challenging,” he said. “One cop would not let us turn left into our lot and told me to go to the next entrance.”
The officer at that entrance, he said, “told me to turn around and then yelled at us for blocking traffic.”
Once inside the park, he found the security screening process onerous and the lines to concessions long.
Mark Schisler of Acworth wasn’t impressed with the aesthetics. “The Battery is a real disappointment,” he said. “Lots of concrete. Few trees. The place is sterile and will be hot as Hades this summer.”
But most fans seemed thrilled with the new digs. Traffic was moving OK a few hours before game time. A steady stream of pedestrians marched across bridges constructed for their use, and anecdotal evidence suggested many fans got here super early, carpooled or used a car-hailing service.
Jeff McKay left his home in Chamblee about 1:15 p.m., in plenty of time to claim a sweet tailgating spot.
Alli Maykunza, on the other hand, lives nearby in Smyrna and got here in a snap. “We are pumped!” she said of the new location.
Brian Cunha of Brookhaven didn’t have problems but remained cautiously optimistic for future games. “It was easy today, but it’s the first day,” he said. “So who knows.”