Georgia Magazine - April 2010 - (Page 18)
Georgia baseball fans can see tomorrow’s stars today
BY BILL SHANKS
T
he Atlanta Braves have been very successful for the last two decades. And while many people make a trip to Turner Field part of their summer plans, there are four minor league teams in Georgia that also offer great entertainment. Major league baseball is an event. Minor league baseball can be a vacation, a good night out, not only watching stars you may see one day in Atlanta, but simply enjoying the entire experience of minor league baseball. A trip to a minor league park is more personal. You can talk to players and interact with them more easily. It’s not all about watching winning baseball in the minors, but more about the experience. You may see an Elvis impersonator, or mascots who make you laugh. You might be invited down on the field for a dizzy bat race, or even asked to throw out the first pitch. You will be treated individually, from the moment you pull into the parking lot until the time you walk out of the stadium. Baseball in Georgia has a rich history, and the four cities here with minor league affiliates have different stories and different goals.
Rome Braves (Low-A, South Atlantic League)
About a decade ago. Mike Dunn, then general manager of the Macon Braves, was sitting in his office at Luther Williams Field, a broken-down ballpark that was the second-oldest stadium in the minors. There had been rain in Macon a few days earlier. But the pathetic field drainage system caused water to gather in right field, forcing two straight rainouts. With the sun shining brightly outside his office, Dunn found that hard to accept. “The field was just dangerous for our players,” Dunn recalls. The Braves wanted to stay in Macon. But when improvements to the old park didn’t materialize, a city in Northwest Georgia said they’d build a new stadium. Rome is much smaller than Macon, but within a
Above: A great family outing at the ballpark often includes evening fireworks as seen at the newly named Coolray Field, home of the Gwinnett Braves. Inset: Kids, some of whom may one day play on a minor league field, enjoy all the action—including this lad at the Rome Braves’ State Mutual Stadium, who made a hat out of his popcorn bucket.
GEORGIA MAGAZINE
18
www.georgiamagazine.org
COURTESY THE GWINNETT BRAVES
Major league fun at the ‘minors’
COURTESY THE ROME BRAVES
http://www.georgiamagazine.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2010
Georgia Magazine - April 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
Major League Fun at the "Minors"
Remarkable Rivers
Southern Graces
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot
Georgia Magazine - April 2010
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