San Francisco Giants

The Great Ballpark Chase: A Cool Spot in Hot-lanta

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Henry Aaron Statue
Despite having never played a game at Truist Park, Henry Aaron’s presence looms large. (Photo by Tim Russell)

Doing these bus tours, there can be a lot of returnees, so you see a lot of the same faces.

It’s natural since most people are chasing ballparks. And it’s nice to reconnect with people you met on previous tours, but it’s also nice to meet new people as well.

On the Coast 2 Coast Sports Tours Southern Slam tour this past summer, I was able to do just that. I met Tara and Rodney, both Milwaukee Brewers‘ fans. The Brewers currently have the best record in Major League Baseball just recently became the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

Tara and Rodney are veterans of Coast 2 Coast tours. They live about an hour from Milwaukee’s American Family Field.

If you remember from Miami, Tara was the one that won the score contest, picking the exact score and beating me in the process.

So, we move on to the third leg of the trip: Atlanta’s Truist Park.

Truist Park just hosted the most recent All-Star Game in July after opening in 2017. It replaced Turner Field, which was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The remnants of now-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium still offer some nostalgic reminders of its history. (Photos by Tim Russell)

Part of the reason the Braves wanted to leave Turner Field was Atlanta’s traffic congestion, making it tough to get to games on time. They also said most of their fan base comes from the suburbs, so they built Truist in Cobb County, about 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta.

Turner Field was converted to Center Parc Stadium, home of the Georgia State Panthers.

There are cool features inside Truist, which we will get into, but one of the better features is The Battery, which is a mix of shops, dining, and livable space around the park. It is part of the trend to create huge entertainment districts, like Ballpark Village in St. Louis, Texas Live in Arlington, and Stateside Live in Philadelphia. Metropolitan Park in Queens, NY has been proposed, but not built yet.

Truist Park
A look at the exterior of Truist Park from The Battery. (Photo by Tim Russell)

Around the outside of the stadium are statues of former Braves players: pitcher Phil Niekro, pitcher Warren Spahn, and manager Bobby Cox.

But the nicest area would be Monument Garden, inside the stadium behind the home plate area. It is highlighted by a huge Hank Aaron statue and a 755 sculpture made out of baseballs. Aaron hit 755 career home runs which stood as the record following his retirement in 1976 until Barry Bonds broke it with 762.

Some more of the Henry Aaron mementos found in Truist Park’s Monument Garden. (Photos by Tim Russell)

Around the statue is a two-tiered walkway with Brave memorabilia on both sides, including uniforms, trophies, and the Braves’ Hall of Fame.

Inside the stadium, you have a more intimate feeling with the seating configuration. They have placed a higher percentage of seats closer to the action than any other stadium in MLB. The middle and upper bowl seating is pushed closer to the field.

More importantly, though, there is air conditioning on each level, as well as overhead fans, to help deal with the oppressive Atlanta heat.

Another cool feature inside the stadium is the batter’s eye area, which is similar to Coors Field, with boulders, three evergreen trees, and a fountain. The fountain activates during Brave home runs and victories, shooting water 50 feet in the air.

An interesting fun event only happens during weekend games. The Freeze will race a random fan for a prize package worth $100. The race is 160 meters, from left field foul pole to right field foul pole. The contestant gets a head start and The Freeze tries to catch them, which usually happens.

Some shots of the interior of Atlanta’s Truist Park. (Photos by Tim Russell)

Dimension-wise, the stadium is 335 feet down the left field line, 385 feet to left-center, 400 feet to center field. It is 375 feet to right-center and 325 down the right field line.

While Turner Field is still in use, the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium site is just a parking lot. Although the outline of the park is marked and the piece of wall where Aaron’s 715th home run (breaking the previous record of 714 established by Babe Ruth) still stands.

  • Game Result: It was all San Francisco in this one. The Giants roughed up Atlanta starting pitcher, Davis Daniel, for four runs in the second inning. San Francisco starting – and winning – pitcher Landen Roupp and three relievers combined to shutout Atlanta, 9-0. The offensive stalwarts for the Giants were designated hitter Wilmer Flores (four RBIs), thirdbaseman Matt Champan (two hits, including a run-scoring first inning triple), and Rafael Devers (two hits and two runs scored).

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Conversations with Sports Fan – John Yandle

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John Yandle
John Yandle in action. (Photo by Andy Kuno/SF Giants)

My guest in this episode is 70-year-old John Yandle who, rather remarkably, has been throwing batting practice to the San Francisco Giants for 41 years.

Yes, you read that correctly, a septuagenarian has been a left-handed BP specialist for a Major League Team since well, before every current player – and even current President of Baseball Operations and Giant great, Buster Posey – was born.

John regales me with stories about his time as a pitcher for the Stanford Cardinal, his time in the minors playing with an against some future Baseball Hall of Famers, what life was like playing for the Hawaii Islanders, and why he gave the life up (he has a Hall of Famer to thank for that as well). Of course, he shares some of his highlights pitching to Barry Bonds and how he even worked his way into a Cactus League game once upon a time.

If I do say so myself, it’s 50 minutes well spent listening to John share his journey as both a fan and 3-time World Series ring recipient.

The Great Ballpark Chase: Oracle of Baseball

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Oracle Park
The view from high atop Oracle Park behind homeplate.

There is always one sad moment when you take a baseball bus trip – the last day.

You’ve spent a week or so traveling with fellow baseball fans, making new friends, and having a great time. And then … it comes to an end.

But this year, it was a little different as we completed the West Coast Swing tour with Coast 2 Coast Sports Tours in July.

Oh, it was still a little sad, but this was also a time to celebrate.

Two of our travelers, Todd and Tina, finished the quest to see all 30. San Francisco’s Oracle Park was the last one.

The couple, who live in a small community in northern Missouri, had a busy summer travel season. Before the west coast trip, they completed the Hall of Fame trip with Coast 2 Coast less than month before. After the tour ended, Todd and Tina were going to hit three minor league games in northern California before heading home.

Todd & Tina
Todd and Tina completed their quest to visit all 30 MLB stadiums at Oracle Park in July.

During a lunch stop earlier in the tour, Todd – who will be starting his 33rd season as a high school basketball referee this year – went on a chase on his own. We stopped for lunch in Surprise, AZ, which also just happened to be the spring training homes for the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers. The teams have their own back fields, but share the main stadium, which was about a mile walk from the In-N-Out burger joint we stopped at.

Oracle Park is a fitting one to finish one’s chase. There are plenty of fun activities, in addition to one heck of a view along the upper levels of the stadium.

No matter which direction you walk toward the stadium, you’re going to see a statue and some Giants’ history. The Willie Mays statue and plaza is at the main home plate entrance. At the right field entrance, you have a statue of Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal. Across the China Basin, which is dubbed McCovey’s Cove, is a statue of former first baseman Willie McCovey. There is also a statue of a California seal, in honor of the minor league San Francisco Seals that played before the Giants, outside another entrance. Statues of Gaylord Perry and Orlando Cepeda round out the homages around the stadium.

At left is the Willie Mays statue and, at right, is the Willie McCovey statue with McCovey Cove and Oracle Park in the background.

During games, kayakers and boaters will float in the cove, hoping to catch a home run that clears the stadium. There have been 157 splash hits in the history of the park, 103 of them by Giants players. Of those 103, 54 were hit by former outfielder Barry Bonds.

In a corner of the right field wall is a counter, which tallies the number of “splash hits.” In order for it to be classified as a splash hit, it must be hit by a Giant. And it must hit the water on the fly, not bounce off the walkway.

On the other side of the wall, the right field wall is 24 feet high, in honor of Mays, who wore that number. The wall was designed to look like the Polo Grounds, with archways that allow people to look into the stadium from outside the stadium.

The Powell-Mason Cable Car and the giant Coke bottle and baseball glove are among the sights at Oracle Park.

As you move along the outfield concourse, you will come across a Powell-Mason Cable Car, an iconic site in San Francisco. It makes a good meeting point or photo opportunity as you sit inside the car.

In the left field concourse, you will see two of the most prominent items. A giant Coke bottle and baseball glove. The Coke bottle has two slides for kids to slide down. The glove is a replica sculpture of an old-time four-fingered baseball glove. No player has hit the glove yet, as it is more than 500 feet from home plate.

You’ll also see plenty of references to the Giants’ all-time greats, both from New York and San Francisco.

By Willie Mays Plaza is the Giants Wall of Fame. Forty-eight players are inducted on the wall, based on longevity and achievement.

Inside the park, down the left field line, are the retired numbers of Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Monte Irvin, Will Clark, Mays, Barry Bonds, Marichal, Cepeda, Jackie Robinson, McCovey and Perry. Christy Mathewson and John McGraw, who played or managed in the non-number era, have retired uniforms with NY on them.

Retired Numbers
Some of the retired Giants’ numbers.

When I was there in early July, two of their greats had recently passed away. To signify that, both Cepeda and Mays had gold rings around their numbers in left field. The Giants also hung the two numbers in right field on gold circles as an additional honor.

When attending a game here, the weather can vary in different areas of the park. In the stands behind the dugouts, it may be a quite comfortable 75 degrees or so. But being so close to the water, the outfield seats and concourses may have temps 15-20 degrees cooler.

Food-wise, there is plenty to partake in. The garlic fries are a well-known delicacy, as well as the crab sandwich. There are also different types of lumpia, which is a type of spring roll. For those with a sweet tooth, be sure to try a Ghirardelli sundae.

  • The Game: Toronto scored nine times in the fifth and sixth innings and cruised to a 10-6 victory over the Giants. The Giants held a 2-0 lead until the fifth inning. The Blue Jays took a 3-2 lead before San Francisco tied it in the bottom of the inning. In the sixth, Justin Turner, Davis Schneider, Alejandro Kirk, and Ernie Clement all had RBI hits in the six run inning. Blue Jay pitcher Chris Bassitt allowed three runs on five hits in his five innings to take the win. Giant Michael Conforto had two RBIs to lead San Francisco.

Clockwise from upper left, the Oracle Park sign at night, giant Peanuts bobbleheads, the scoreboard in straightaway centerfield, and the Coast 2 Coast Sports Tour participants.

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