Day 59/Game 25.5: Greg Maddux’s Number 31 Retired at Turner Field

Today we originally planned to spend the day driving to the D.C. area to be there for the Nationals game tomorrow night. However, I found out that today they were retiring Maddux’s number 31 at the Atlanta Braves and earlier this month we decided to get tickets to see the pre-game ceremony. We never planned to stay the whole game, but we ended up staying until 9pm and seeing 3 and ½ innings of the game before leaving to head to the D.C. area. We got the best handicap seats available for this game and they were way better than last night. They were so good Mik actually did not want to go when we said it was time to go.

We got to the ballpark very early today (3 hours before the gates even opened at 5pm). We got in line and were among the first into the park. As soon as we got in the park we rushed to get in line to get an autograph from Dale Murphy. We then had to wait over 45 minutes for him to show up. He was not supposed to start until 5:30pm, so the wait was not that delayed. Anyways it was worth it and we got our Braves Hall of Fame tickets signed by him since he is in the Hall of Fame. The usher handing the stuff to Dale was like you sure this is what you want signed and not a Braves bumper sticker, which they were giving out. Of course, we did not want a bumper sticker, I had thought long and hard on what to get signed and if I do say so myself I came up with a brilliant thing to get signed.

After getting the autographs we headed to our seats to be ready for when the pre game ceremony began. The pre game ceremony was cooler than yesterday’s Coca Cola Bottle unveiling, but no Hank Aaron, so I really got to say the two things tie in coolness to see in person. Sure seeing Greg Maddux and some other great Braves like Dale Murphy and Phil Nierko was cool and we were closer to the field today, but the unexpected seeing Hank Aaron ranks it up to just as awesome of an experience.

The pre game ceremony began with them introducing the important people up on the stage they wheeled out in front of the pitcher’s mound. They presented Maddux with the last official 31 Braves jersey. They then unveiled the number 31 up with the other retired numbers up near the giant Coca Cola bottle.

Overall tonight was a cool game to go to. It was fun to get the autograph of Dale Murphy even if I never heard of him until I looked him up yesterday when I heard about the opportunity to get his autography today. Seeing a number’s retirement and the retired number unveiled at the stadium was also a great historical event to add to our ballpark road trip experience. Plus the Braves got a great ballpark worth experiencing more than once. It would have been nice to stay for the whole game, but with a Cubs @ Nationals game on the schedule tomorrow I want to make sure we get to the D.C. area for that.

Game 25: New York Mets 3 @ Atlanta Braves 5

Tonight was the highlight of the trip so far with the pre game ceremony that included seeing Hank Aaron, which I already posted about here. Even without that this ballpark was an impressive one. The whole atmosphere is good with the fans really into it even though they do not fill the place while at the same time they are good sports and only did a little booing along with some cheering for Francouer who was recently traded to the Mets. They are a little on the disorganized side, but it does not permeate into ruining the whole experience like at Citi Field or maybe it just is they make up for it with the atmosphere/entertainment.

Getting into the park was a little on the annoying side. First off we had to pick up our tickets at Will Call because they mailed us someone else’s tickets back in April and the solution is you have to pick up the tickets day of game. Apparently it is actually a rather common occurrence for them. Then the park was supposed to open 2 and a half hours before the game, which they kept saying was at 7pm, but the tickets say 7:10pm and that is actually when it started. Giving them the benefit of the doubt for the aim open time being 4:40pm they still failed by almost 15 minutes, as it was almost 5pm before they opened the gates. It had something to do with there needing to be a police officer at every gate before they could open and there was not one at our gate, which I believe is the only one that opens until closer to game time (~2 hours before, I think).

Anyways once we finally got into the park the experience was smooth enough, although the cashier had trouble finding the mini bat in the machine to ring it up since it did not have a barcode on it and the elevators were confusing to find. Anyways those were minor inconveniences compared to just getting into the park seeming harder than it should be. The first place we went was the Braves Hall of Fame and Museum, which I will post about later in its own post. By the way, though, it was worth the $2 admission per person and was a good way to waste almost an hour before the game started.

The game itself had some exciting moments, although the pre game ceremony and watching the different ways the Coca Cola bottle lit up were still the highlight. The bottom of the 2nd inning, however, was definitely up there in the highlights of the whole Turner Field experience for us. The reason it was a highlight was because the Braves had back-to-back homers to end up with a 2-0 lead.

The Mets later took the lead in the top of 4th by scoring 3 runs with the help of 3 singles and a double. The Braves quickly came back to tie it up in the bottom of the 4th with a single and a RBI double. The Braves regained their lead with a walk and two singles in the bottom of the 7th. They scored an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th and were able to keep the Mets from scoring other than the runs in the top of the 4th and went on to win 5 to 3.

Overall tonight was an exciting night of baseball and something we have not experienced since Fenway. Not only was the pre game ceremony awesome because Hank Aaron was there, but the game itself was a good one. Mik still played his DS a lot during the game, but he did get into this game at the end and loved seeing Hank Aaron. Best of all is after we got out of the parking lot he was very well behaved, which is really saying something because he was been a big butthead over the All Star Break when we were not even going to games.

Game 25: New Coca Cola Bottle Plugged In and Hank Aaron at Turner Field

Before tonight’s Braves game at Turner Field the new giant Coca Cola Bottle was plugged in. It was a really cool ceremony with them carrying a giant electrical cord to a giant outlet in the foul territory near 1st base. Then 15 seconds later the Coca Cola Bottle lit up and began shooting off fireworks. This new bottle is a high tech one that lights up in different colors and has a LED ribbon as the Coca Cola label, which says various things throughout the game such as Home Run and has the Tomahawk logo. It would have been cool to see the old Coca Cola bottle made out of baseball gear and I was actually looking forward to that, but this was cool, too, since we were there for its plugging in/unveiling.

The coolest part, though, was not the new Coca Cola bottle, but that Hank Aaron was there as part of the pre game ceremony introducing the new giant Coca Cola bottle. I would not be surprised if he is at tomorrow’s game for the retiring of Maddux’s number, but I was totally surprised that he was there today. Of course, the whole new Coca Cola bottle was also news to us. Even Mik thought it was cool that Hank Aaron was way down there on the field in person right across the street from the site of where he hit his 715 home run breaking Babe Ruth’s career home run record. In Mik’s mind Hank Aaron is still the career home run leader or at least the true non-cheating leader.

I know tomorrow we will see former famous ballplayers as part of the Maddux number retiring ceremony, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Hank Aaron today. Tomorrow may be the highlight historical baseball moment of the trip, but I really think the unexpected seeing Hank Aaron tops that or at least is up there at the top. Of course, right below these two Braves games in Mik's opinion is seeing the star of Burn Notice throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game.

A Second Atlanta Braves Game Added to Itinerary

When I was looking at the Braves schedule about a month ago I noticed they are retiring Greg Maddux's number the day after we already were going to the game on July 16, 2009. It has been annoying me for a while that we were missing the number retiring by one day. I finally decided we should just stay in Atlanta one more day, see the number retire, hit the road for the D.C. area, and the Nats game the next night.

Today Dad called and got us seats for the game. For once we decided to go for the best handicap seats available, which really do not sound all that amazing, as they were only $30 a piece. Should be interesting to compare the two different sections, though. I assume the number will be retired before the game, so we will probably not stay for the game since we will have already seen the game the day before.

Game 14: Atlanta Braves 2 @ Cincinnati Reds 7

Today we encountered our first actual rain delay of the trip. Mik and Dad got really impatient with it and kept nagging to leave, but I made them stay until the game was finished or officially canceled. The first rain delay occurred about 45 minutes into the game at the top of the 3rd and lasted until almost 10pm. They then finished the top of the 3rd before calling another rain delay, which did not last very long (maybe, 30 minutes). The game was then finished out with no more rain at all (it sprinkled between the two rain delays and the first two innings before the first rain delay).

The game did not end until almost 12:30am, but I think it was worth sticking it out. Dad and Mik were not so motivated and did not care if we had even a rain canceled game because we have seen a game here before back in 2004 when Ken Griffey Jr was at 499 home runs and going for his 500th. I kind of thought it was important to try to see the whole game of whatever games we go to that do end up finishing. Plus it ended up being a decent game, especially in the 8th inning.

The Reds got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. They increased the lead with a run in the third and the fifth. The Braves then began to come back with a run in the sixth and a run in the eighth. The Reds then secured their lead with four runs in the bottom of the eighth. The hitting was decent, but there were a lot of walks and the pitching by both teams was not that great. The game kind of dragged on because of the mostly poor pitching. It felt even longer with the rain delay, but I guess if you take out that time it was not that long of a game. Most interesting was there were no home runs at all, which seems a little odd when there was a total of 9 runs scored. Anyways I thought it was a good game and well worth staying until the final out.

Game 6: Atlanta Braves 3 @ San Francisco Giants 6

We were several hours early for the Giants game at AT&T Park. So early that parking was not technically open, but nothing kept you from going in. Ended up with a parking pass from scalpers instead of waiting around for parking staff to come around to collect money. We then went to the Giants team store to get our souvenirs and walked around the outside of the park before waiting another half hour for the gates to open.

We were again in the bleacher section, but this time with specific seats. Mik got another Major League Baseball from someone who caught several during batting practice. The seats were in front of the scoreboard, so not the best in that regards, but pretty cool nonetheless because we were right up against the wall in right field and no fans in front. No cup holders, but Mik did not feel left out because none of the bleachers had them.

Mik rooted for the Braves because the Giants are in the Dbacks division and I rooted for the Giants because the Braves are in the Nats division. Dad just wanted to see Randy Johnson pitch a decent game. It was an okay pitching outing from Johnson, but we have seen better from him as a Dback. So really only I got what I wanted with the Giants winning 6 to 3. The best play to see was the Giants getting a run by stealing home.

Now we are on the road back to the campground in Petaluma. Tomorrow is a relaxed driving day to the campground in Crescent City. Hopefully I can get some catching up on the extra posts then. Mik is hoping for an early evening arrival at the campground, so he can catch up on some of his shows using Dad's computer and the Wifi at the campground and have a campfire to roast marshmallows and have S'Mores.