Truist Park

 

Truist Park!  Maddie was here just last season, but this was the first time Mom and I have been to a game in the new Braves ballpark.  We've been to a game at Fulton County Stadium, and then later Turner Field.  This new ballpark is pretty awesome.  Both this stadium and Turner Field are great, but the surrounding area by Turner Field was pretty iffy.  That being said, this experience parking and walking to the game was pretty amazing.  

Here we are in front of the Phil Niekro statue at the 3rd Base Gate.  We know we'll be back, so we didn't spend really any time at the Battery today, or outside the park on the other side.  Part of that reason was the extreme heat.  It was brutally hot today, and I was wanting to be very careful about things.  

We did get there early enough to do a few things we set out to do, and the first was see Monument Garden, where you can find all kinds of Braves memorabilia and historical items.  It's a look back at the entire history of the Braves and many of its more famous players, along with some of their personal items and awards.  It's pretty awesome. 

That's Greg Maddux's number - my favorite Brave from the 90's!  The number is retired, along with the other numbers you see here and elsewhere.

Okay, here's a name I don't know - but I have to learn more about!

Ah, the good ol' days of the knuckleball!

These bats have names of players and coaches in the Hall of Fame.

We were standing there looking, and along beside us came two cows from Chick-Fil-A, both acting as if they were looking at the same thing, as nonchalant as a couple giant cows could be.  It was hilarious - and of course we stopped to pose with them!

Ah, lunch!  We got wings from Coop's, and look at these little cars the wings come in!  They're pretty awesome!

We were in the shade, but it was pretty warm out there still.  I got myself a hot dog with a gluten free bun, and we got some water bottles, and of course Cracker Jacks!

So here we are at our seats, which were in section 12, row 13.  Really close to the field!  Also, along the first base line is a good bit of shade, which we were very grateful for.

Ah, look!  Michael Harris II got a single!

Check out our view!  You can see the clouds out there towering overhead.  There were threatening pop-up storms, but they were south of us.  We were grateful for a bit of cooler temperatures as they approached, but it was still very, very hot.  I seriously don't know how people could sit on the other side of the stadium where there was direct sunlight.  It was so hot outside.  

Fortunately, we had access to something called the Jim Beam Lounge, where there was air conditioning, a private food area (where we had $10 vouchers to), plus free popcorn.  And after the second inning, there was free ice cream there too!  Yes, we took advantage of that immediately, along with a pretty huge line of other people.  The weather was really hot out there.  But the perks of this location up front were pretty neat. 

This is one of our favorite commercials on BravesVision, the one advertising for Alan Jackson Night, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee... We hadn't seen the commercial in a while, so it was fun to see it on the really big screen there.

We had our handheld fans, but they didn't do much.  It was just so hot out there.  Again, at least in the shade.  We had cups of ice and just kept drinking water and other items.  We used our vouchers to get these collectable cups for Sprite, and then refills of just plain ice!

The game itself was fun.  We wound up winning this series with the Texas Rangers, but not today's game.  Still, it was close, just 7-6.  We saw Eli White and Michael Harris II get a home run each, and we also saw Drake Baldwin get a few hits, someone Mom is cheering for a little more loudly now that she has a signed jersey from him.  It was just great seeing all these iconic locations like the Chop House, or that BravesVision wall, or the location of the broadcasters up top.  We saw a lot of the players up close too!

Some of that free ice cream!

Fireworks go off from time to time for great strike outs or home runs!

It was a nice time!  We got home later because of a lot of traffic on I-285 and I-85 (lesson learned!), but we got home safely afterwards, and it was a nice time.  Really, even though the Braves lost it was a great time at the ballpark!

We read tonight, and then we prayed - and sleep came pretty quick!