Hank Aaron played right field for the National League and went 1-for-3 with a two-run homer when Atlanta Stadium, later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, hosted the MLB All-Star game in 1972. Chipper Jones played third base and went 3-for-3 with a home run when Turner Field hosted the All-Star game in 2000.
Aaron, Jones and eight other former Braves all-stars will be on hand for an announcement Wednesday that the All-Star game will be played at SunTrust Park in 2021.
It’ll be the third time in metro Atlanta for baseball’s Midsummer Classic, each in a different stadium.
The other former Braves All-Stars scheduled to participate in the announcement include Tom Glavine and Andruw Jones, both of whom played in the 2000 game at The Ted. Also participating in Wednesday’s event: Phil Niekro, John Smoltz, Terry Pendleton, Brian Jordan, Gary Matthews and Dan Uggla.
The announcement, which will be hosted by Braves broadcaster Chip Caray and televised live on Fox Sports Southeast, is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Georgia Power Pavilion stage just outside SunTrust Park in The Battery Atlanta. It’ll be preceded by a “Braves Walk” through The Battery by the former all-stars at 5:45 p.m.
The 2021 All-Star game will continue an extraordinary run of sports mega-events drawn to metro Atlanta by two new stadiums that opened in 2017 at a combined cost of more than $2 billion. Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted college football’s national championship game in January 2018 and the Super Bowl in February 2019 and will host college basketball’s Final Four in April 2020. It also hosted the MLS All-Star game in August 2018.
The Braves long have lobbied MLB for an All-Star game at SunTrust Park. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last year that the Braves' ballpark and adjacent mixed-use development have "literally revolutionized the process of stadium development."
