The Ted

Entrance to Turner Field, the former Olympic Stadium, Aug-1997.

The seating bowl is in line with other parks built during the 1990s. This photo and the next are from Jul-2003.

The outfield is lined with fan attractions.

• Location: Capitol Avenue and Abernathy Blvd., Atlanta, Ga. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1996 as Centennial Olympic Stadium (1997 for baseball)
• Additional names: Turner Field (1997)
• Home team: Atlanta Braves, National League (1997-present)
• Capacity: 50,528

Chronological Tour: Stop 118

Rating: 4 baseballs

The most notable, and distracting, feature of Turner Field, aka “The Ted”, is the “fan fun zone” in the outfield. Sure, an exploding Coke bottle for a home run is OK (Coca-Cola is the largest employer in Atlanta outside of the state government), but there is no real reason for a full arcade to dominate the landscape out there.

On the other hand, sightlines are reasonable at the park, and it’s a fairly pleasant place to watch a game, the tomahawk chop notwithstanding. It is a baseball-only park, with the NFL Falcons having moved to the Georgia Dome several years before Turner Field was completed.

I returned to the park in July 2003 and found it a lot more palatable than I had on my initial visit. For some reason, though, it took me nearly seven years to revisit my photos and upgrade the park’s rating. The Ted deserved better.