By: Drayton Hogarth

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The major league baseball regular season is drawing to a close, and with it will also bring to a close the Atlanta Braves playing at Turner Field.

The facility was, of course, originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It was a massive 85,000 seat stadium that held the track and field events. The plan all along was to renovate the venue to become the new home for the Braves, since Fulton County Stadium had become a somewhat outdated cookie-cutter style of stadiums, infamous from the 60’s and 70’s.

1997 was right in the middle of the Braves massive run of division championships as well as a recent World Series title two years prior, but the playoff streak would come to an end, and the last National League Championship Series game was in 2001 while the Braves played at The Ted, as it was affectionately nicknamed.

So despite the last playoff appearance being in 2013, there were some memorable highlights over the two-decade lifespan of Turner Field.

The top moment has to be prior to the Braves ever playing a baseball game at the site. It would be the opening ceremony of the 1996 summer Olympics. The legendary Muhammad Ali would walk the final leg of the Olympic torch and light the Olympic flame to initiate the start of the games.

Ali was able to overcome the ravages of Parkinsons and demonstrated the grace that made him loved as a practitioner of the sweet science.

However, it wasn’t just seeing the former Olympian make an appearance, it was how no one cared about race, creed, or political past at that moment. It helped bring the thousands in attendance and the millions watching around the country together.

As far as the Braves are concerned, the top on-field moment in my mind has to be Jason Heyward’s Atlanta debut. Opening day, the Braves were taking on the Chicago Cubs, and Jason Heyward strIded to the plate with two runners on for his first major league at bat, and promptly blasted a massive home run to right center field.

Heyward had been promoted and hyped for the years coming through the Braves minor league system. He seemed to be the next face of the franchise and a can’t-miss prospect; so the pressure was immense on the 20-year-old outfielder.

While he was eventually traded to the Cardinals, there is no denying that at the time, it gave an amazing boost of confidence to the Atlanta franchise as well as hope that maybe another playoff run was in the works.

If Jason Heyward was going to be the face of the franchise, he would be replacing the future hall of fame member, Chipper Jones. The final memorable moment from Turner Field would have to be in 2012 when Chipper Jones would play his final game as an Atlanta Brave.

It was the National League wild card against the St. Louis Cardinals. The game should have been remembered for one of the all-time greats playing in his final game, or possibly even advancing for one final playoff run; however, in the late innings of a back and fourth game, the umpires ruled on a pop fly to left field that it was an infield fly. The call thwarted a possible comeback by the Braves and took away Chipper’s moment.

The move of the Braves to Suntrust Stadium in Cobb county is not a move of necessity, but more about capitalizing on a possible big money boost. Turner Field being only 20 years old is still a viable professional sports stadium. The worst part is that in those 20 years, there are no world championships to be celebrated or remembered.

Keep Turner Field in your memories, but let’s hope, as Braves fans, that Suntrust Stadium will bring more trophies to the Atlanta franchise, and not see more opponents celebrating on the field after post season contests.