MLB’S 30 Stadiums: An Odyssey/#24 — Atlanta Braves

Part 7 of 30: Atlanta — Truist Park

24. Atlanta — Truist Park

Atlanta’s Turner Field is more or less a victim of its own environment. Far from being the “Jewel of the South” that Atlanta may have aspired to in its old Gone with the Wind days, Atlanta has devolved into a massive social experiment determining how long people can live in a perpetual state of urban crime, decay and humidity before they admit their city hasn’t had a good year since Rhett Butler told Scarlett O’Hara, roughly, to go screw herself. I think my daughter captured the feel of the City best when walking around downtown our first night in Atlanta. She said it felt “murder-y”.

Turner Field, despite being a relatively new stadium with some modern conveniences, just doesn’t have the style of panache of its even newer cousins — probably because the team knew that any decent accoutrements would’ve been shoplifted by the local citizenry before the first game was played. The field sits far from the urban core of Atlanta which, normally, at least gives them enough space to build a large and convenient parking lot. Unfortunately, the space planners for Turner Field decided that “large” was good, “convenient” was not, choosing (just like Kansas City) to put the entire parking lot on one side of the stadium, thus requiring a majority of the people to run a half marathon to reach the gate.

Once inside, again, Turner Field just doesn’t inspire. What makes many stadiums interesting is when they incorporate some local flair into the design and offerings. If I’m in Texas, I want barbeque. If I’m in Miami, I want Cuban food. If I’m in New York, I want to be mugged. I would expect Atlanta to bring some of its Southern charm into its environs. Unfortunately, you don’t get much of that in Turner Field; rather, it’s just another stadium offering just another hot dog with just another light beer in just another murder-y environment.

Other than that Turner Field was great. I mean, OK.