02 October, 2016

Goodbye, Turner Field, we hardly knew ya

Goodbye, Turner Field, we hardly knew ya:

Despite his hands shaking because of Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali dramatically raised the Olympic torch above his head, then lowered it to light the cauldron and open the 1996 Olympics to thunderous cheers from the sellout crowd. Twenty years later, that moment stands out as probably the most memorable one in the stadium to which the Atlanta Braves will soon say goodbye.
After those 1996 Olympics, Olympic Centennial Stadium was quickly converted to baseball and renamed Turner Field, with Hank Aaron and Tom Glavineputting the home plate from Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium into place. Over 20 seasons, the ballpark has hosted 11 division series, four NLCS, the 1999 World Series and the 2000 All-Star Game. Unfortunately, Atlanta fans have never seen their team win the World Series there ... and they never will. The Braves will play their final game at Turner Field this weekend and move to a new ballpark -- SunTrust Park -- in the city's suburbs next year.
The new ballpark will be the Braves' third stadium in just 22 seasons.


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