Truist Park

• Year Built: 2017

• Primary Tenant: Atlanta Braves

• Capacity: 41,084

• Date Visited: May 23rd, 2022

I usually remain unbiased in my description of each place I visit, but I will say that I'm a Braves fan, which makes me very excited to be able to share my experience of their stadium with you.

Truist Park has several gates in which you can enter. The one displayed above is the Third Base Gate, one of five gates located throughout the stadium. Other gates at Truist Park are located near first base, right field, left field, and the Chop House, which I'll elaborate on later.

Outside the third base gate, you can find this statue of Braves legend Phil Niekro. When I covered Citi Field, you saw the statue of Tom Seaver located near the home plate gate, which looks similar to the Braves' Phil Niekro.

While walking along the concourse behind home plate, you can find the Monument Garden, a large display which honors the likes of many Braves legends, such as Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones, and many others.

Similar to the Phil Niekro statue outside the stadium, this statue of Hank Aaron is located in the center of the Monument Garden. Behind the statue is a repeating video of Hank Aaron's historic 715th home run, making him the new MLB home run king.

Also located in the Monument Garden is the Braves Time Capsule. Originally placed in 2015 during the construction of the stadium, this time capsule holds many items relating to the Braves' history; too many items to name, in fact. I won't go through the task of listing all the items, but here's a link which describes each item.

Another site in the Monument Garden are the many jerseys on display which represent different eras throughout the Braves expansive history. The idea of this is to put into perspective how far the Braves have come throughout the past several decades.

Now that you've seen all I have to show you regarding the concourse area, we can move on to the main portion of the stadium. I suppose I should go about doing this in a similar manner to my Citi Field entry, in which I go from left to right, talking about everything there is to talk about.

Our first and possibly least interesting stop on the Truist Park tour is the backstop. It's made of brick, it has space for advertisements, and it has the name of the stadium on it. Most newer ballparks fulfill these three criteria, which makes the backstop that much less interesting.

Above home plate is the press box, in which the brick area beneath reads "2021 World Champions." As you most likely know by now, the Braves won the World Series in 2021, which, as I write this, the 2021 World Series is the most recent one played. The Braves seem to want everybody to know this, which is why there are many signs showing the fact that the Braves won the World Series last year, which I'll show later.

The Braves have one of the most expansive club seating selections in all of baseball. All seating between the dugouts in the first and second deck is club seating. The club seating behind home plate includes padded seating, four-top seating, and several suites to optimize your gameday experience.

Every MLB team has their retired numbers on display somewhere inside their stadium, and the Braves, of course, are one of those. In the left field corner near the foul pole is where the Braves retired numbers are located. There are eleven retired numbers in total, which means I can't talk about all of them individually. I can offer you a link which tells the names and descriptions of each player; that can be found here.

Just to the right of the retired numbers is the Hank Aaron Terrace. The terrace can be rented out on a group basis, and has both indoor and outdoor seating for every member of your group.

Just above the Hank Aaron Terrace is the Coca-Cola Porch. If you sit in sections 345-347 during certain games, you can buy your tickets for just fifteen dollars and receive a complimentary 20oz Coke bottle.

Beneath the Hank Aaron Terrace and the Coca-Cola Porch is the visitor's bullpen. Located near the far left side of the Home Run Porch, many fans have the opportunity to watch pitchers of the visiting team warm up before and during the game. The six foot tall wall in front of the bullpen also makes it a prime target for home runs.

Another way Truist Park honors the Braves World Series victory is with this large sign beneath one of two scoreboards located within the stadium.

The secondary scoreboard is located in left field and serves the main purpose of showing pitcher and batter statistics during the game. Considering that Truist Park's secondary scoreboard is larger than a number of primary MLB scoreboards, this makes the gameday experience just that much better.

Overlooking the field from center field is the Home Depot Clubhouse. Seating forty people, the Home Depot Clubhouse is one of many designated group areas located throughout the stadium. Located in center field, the clubhouse is elevated, giving groups a great vantage point to watch a game.

Located beneath the batter's eye, this greenery adds a unique touch to Truist Park. With trees, bushes, and even a waterfall, in which water shoots upwards after every strikeout from a Braves pitcher, this area of the ballpark is very pleasing to look at and adds character to an otherwise boring part of any stadium.

Here is the main scoreboard of Truist Park. Located in dead center field, this scoreboard is in an optimal location for fans' enjoyment. This scoreboard is one of the largest in baseball, which makes it even better.

In right-center field, you can find the Braves Bullpen. Ironically located in the Home Run Porch, this bullpen is a primary target for home runs. It isn't all bad though, because fans have an opportunity to get a top down view of their favorite Braves pitchers warm up before and during games.

On the two light towers in right field, the Braves display a pennant for each playoff appearance they've made since the team's first in 1872. The light blue signifies a division win, the dark blue signifies a league win, and the red represents a World Series victory. Only one light tower worth of pennants is shown in this photo, but the Braves continue to add new ones for each successful season.

The final stop on the Truist Park tour is one of the greatest, the Chop House. Located in right field, the Chop House is a prime home run target for left handed batters. With comfortable seating, large railing for food and drink, and even waiter service, this area is one of the best outfield seats in the ballpark.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a big Braves fan, but I'll try not to let that change my opinion on this stadium. Overall, I've enjoyed this stadium during all of my visits. Opening in 2017, this ballpark is the second newest ballpark in MLB. Given the timeframe of the stadium's opening, Truist Park lacks historical significance in comparison to other ballparks. This is made up for in the sheer volume of modern amenities located throughout the ballpark. Unlike Turner Field, Truist Park's predecessor, the park is located in Smyrna, a suburb several miles north of downtown Atlanta. One thing I dislike about this stadium, however, is the parking situation near the ballpark. There are only parking garages right next to the stadium, which makes parking less convenient. The only actual parking lots within a close proximity belong to hotels or the Cumberland Mall, which is, at best, more than a half mile walk to the nearest gate. That doesn't completely ruin the experience, which means this stadium is still great.