My dad’s a lefty. So when he came to bat the right fielder began measuring the distance to the fence and warning his teammates.
I must have been 5 or 6. My dad, he was still in his late 20s, an ex-Marine with bulging, scarred forearms and a deadly gaze. Leroy Chapman Sr. knew how to pound a softball. The respect he was given, was respect he had earned. He had the kind of swing you had to hear to fully appreciate.
And that’s one of my earliest memories of me, my dad and baseball. Softball isn’t baseball. I know that. But at a certain point in life it’s how my dad stayed connected to the game and it’s one of the ways he introduced me to baseball.
Over the years, we played, we watched, we bonded.
“Monday Night Baseball” on TV. Youth league when I was 8. By 10, annual road trips to see the Atlanta Braves play, a two-and-a-half hour drive from our Greenville, S.C. home.
Once I hit 19, those trips stopped. But in 2014, I started a new tradition. I invited my dad to my home, in my new hometown, to cheer on our team. On my dime. Yep, Junior had finally grown up enough to take care of dad for a change.
As we say goodbye this weekend to Turner Field, I’m certain some of the best stories about fan connection to the ballpark will have a hard time finding their way into the newspaper. It’s because those stories are deeply personal and require a reflection we don’t often take time to exercise.
Until moments like this. Turner Field closes and fans of all ages, from all over the South, are left revisiting their memories about the ballpark experience and appreciating what it has meant to them over the years.
To capture that moment, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff is working hard to create a fitting end for Turner Field as the home of the Braves. In today’s edition, readers can enjoy a stand-alone, 8-page section on Turner Field, its history and its future. That section will be available as an ePaper on Monday. In addition, Monday’s news and sports pages will include coverage of the final game at Turner Field and the sentimental good-bye to the stadium by the team and its fans.
For many years, Turner Field was to me just another character on television as I followed the Braves from afar.
Most of my childhood memories are from Atlanta-Fulton County stadium. It’s Dale Murphy and a sea on No. 3 jerseys. It’s Chief Noc-A-Homa and his teepee in the outfield. That giant billboard advertising Marlboro cigarettes. And the Rolls Royce insignia, with the intersecting Rs, that would flash on the big screen each time shortstop Rafeal Ramirez came to bat.
A day that stood out was the time Murphy and Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt both hit home runs. A fan sitting near us leaned over to his son and told him he’d just witnessed two Hall of Famers hit home runs and to “remember this day.” I looked at my dad and he gave me the nod of approval. That the dads were only half right is beside the point; it’s the reverence for the game and those shared moments that make baseball a connection point for fathers and sons.
For me, the more recent memories in Turner Field are just as meaningful.
A few years ago, I asked my dad if he had ever been to Turner Field. I was stunned when he said he hadn’t. My younger brother, who isn’t a baseball fan wasn’t as interested. After I left for college, my dad stopped going to Atlanta Braves games. He would occasionally catch the Greenville Braves. But he was no longer making the big trip.
So a couple of years ago I brought him down to rekindle our tradition.
My dad was wowed by Turner Field. And not just by the $6 soft drinks. In his view, Turner Field had managed to be nostalgic and modern at the same time, hearkening back to the days of baseball-only parks and employing luxuries both large and small throughout. Turner Field is a place where you can ride an escalator to your seats and eat sushi and pasta in the stands. My dad is unaccustomed to such good living at the ballpark, but he quickly took to our club seats that gave us shade during a hot summer afternoon.
I understand that SunTrust Park, built with nearly $300 million in public funding, will provide many of the same luxuries and then some. We here at the AJC are working hard to chronicle the emergence of the Braves new home, the surrounding development and the parking and transportation situation that will create a new game day experience.
I suspect my father and I will take our tradition over to SunTrust Park.
See you in ‘17.
Deputy Managing Editor Leroy Chapman Jr. is in charge of reporting teams that cover local, state and federal government, the economy and public safety. Email him at Leroy.Chapman@ajc.com.
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