It’s Braves home opening day, y’all! And the weather forecast calls for a chilly start to the morning, followed by highs in the low 60s and plenty of sun.
Thank goodness it’s Friday, right? In the news: 911 hold times are failing Atlanta and some of the metro’s biggest counties, officials expect Port of Brunswick cargo shipments to surge because of Baltimore bridge collapse and, of course, there’s that little home opener baseball game in Cobb County.
Let’s get to it.
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50 YEARS OF BRAVES HOME OPENERS
Credit: Photo contributed by Joe Sturniolo
Credit: Photo contributed by Joe Sturniolo
It’s the home opener for the Atlanta Braves today, and Joe Sturniolo has been here before. And before. And before. And before.
In fact, when Sturniolo turns up today, it will be his 50th Braves home opener day. That’s some gold worthy commitment there! (Get it. Gold. For the 50th anniversary. Anybody? ... OK, moving on.)
Sturniolo, a football and baseball assistant coach at Westminster Schools, is so committed to Braves home openers that in 2020, when fans were barred from entering Truist Park because of the pandemic, he rented a room on the top floor of the Omni Hotel overlooking the outfield. It allowed him to watch from above.
“We had a great view,” he said. (As an added bonus, Chipper Jones, whom Sturniolo saw in each home opener of his career, was in the adjacent room.)
Sturniolo moved from Southern California to Atlanta his senior year in high school, beginning his long, unbroken relationship with the Braves. He began attending home openers as a tradition with friends. But he also on occasion attended first home games of the season by himself when the weather was less than hospitable.
“There have been nights I literally went by myself,” he said. “Some of these cold, rainy, miserable nights you sit through, I’m like, ‘I don’t care. It’s opening day. I have to be here.’ Opening day should be a holiday.”
Holiday indeed. Here are just a few things to know about today’s opener:
Who: Braves vs. Diamondbacks
When, where: 7:20 p.m., Truist Park
Starting pitchers: Spencer Strider (Braves), Tommy Henry (Diamondbacks)
Coming schedule: Saturday (7:20 p.m.) and Sunday (1:35 p.m.) vs. Diamondbacks; Monday through Wednesday (7:20 p.m.) and Thursday (12:20 p.m.) vs. Mets.
P.S. If you’re a Braves fan and not yet an AJC subscriber, now’s a great time to get access to the AJC’s unsurpassed baseball coverage all season long. Subscribe to the Baseball Season Pass here.
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Keep scrolling for more news.
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AROUND THE STATE
Georgia authorities expect a surge in cargo shipments in the Port of Brunswick as a result of March’s collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after a ship collided into the structure’s supports. The long-term impact of the diversion to Georgia, however, is unknown.
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Georgia hopes to catch up on vaccinating children against human papillomavirus (HPV). About 61% of the state’s adolescents ages 13-17 have been vaccinated compared to 63% in the U.S. overall.
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A partnership between Georgia Tech and the cities of Atlanta, Decatur and Savannah will receive $500,000 to develop green energy innovations. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm announced the win Thursday in a visit to Atlanta.
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METRO ATLANTA
First they removed the iconic 5,000-pound red-and-white aluminum CNN letters from downtown Atlanta’s CNN Center. Now the building has a slightly new but familiar name: The Center.
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AJC investigation: Several metro Atlanta jurisdictions are failing 911 callers. The city of Atlanta and DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties are not meeting industry standards on hold times, and the consequences could be dire.
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NATION AND WORLD
The calendar may say spring, but a nor’easter hammered the Northeast with snow, high winds and rain Thursday. A woman in a New York City suburb was reportedly killed by a falling tree.
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Their relationship strained, President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Thursday, days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza.
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VIDEO, DATA AND A SWING
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olsen, MLB’s reigning home run champ, talks about how technology, data and listening to a friend improved his performance.
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Speaking of the Braves, AJC reporter and longtime fan Bill Rankin takes us back to April 8, 1974, the day Hank Aaron created magic at Atlanta Stadium. (Hint: That’s the day he broke Babe Ruth’s record.)
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LIVING AND ARTS
Atlanta native Steve Yockey opens up about all things cosmic, creative and carnivorous onstage. The playwright’s “Mercury” opens Saturday at Actor’s Express, marking a homecoming for the now-Los Angeles resident.
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Athens-based Creature Comforts Brewing is throwing a party Saturday to celebrate its 10th anniversary. But what do you give a company that had Thor drink its beer in one of the biggest movies of all time — 2019′s “Avengers: Endgame?” Hmmm!
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» Terra cotta pipes, old sewers add complexity to rebuilding Atlanta’s Gulch
» Suspect in FBI gate crash to remain in custody until Monday hearing
» PrizePicks to add 1,000 new jobs and expand Atlanta HQ
» Cleanup underway at South Fulton illegal dump
» Where to eat and drink at The Battery Atlanta at Truist Park
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ON THIS DATE
April 5, 1968
The Atlanta Constitution delivered the news of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at a Memphis hotel.
Legendary editor Ralph McGill summed it up like this: “White slaves killed Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis. At the moment the trigger man fired, Martin Luther King was the free man. The while killer, (or killers), was a slave to fear, a slave to his own sense of inferiority, a slave to hatred, a slave to all the bloody instincts that surge in a brain when a human being decides to become a beast.”
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
AJC photographer Hyosub Shin captures the mixture of emotions felt by the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as they lay a wreath Thursday at his tomb at the King Center in Atlanta.
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ONE MORE THING
Spring break may be coming to an end, but don’t fret. There is still time to squeeze in a number of fun outings before heading back to school and work.
There’s of course, the Atlanta Braves home opener today with plenty of activities and food to keep that spring in your step.
There’s also “Shrek the Musical” this weekend at the Fox Theatre, a Daffodil Dash on Sunday in Dunwoody, Stepp Stewart’s Motown Motor City Review beginning today in Cobb County, and Pow Wow: A Native American Celebration on Saturday in Lawrenceville.
So get out there and make these last three days count!
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Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at leon.stafford@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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