Turner Field

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Turner Field is a baseball stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium was originally constructed as the 85,000-seat Centennial Olympic Stadium and used for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics. Immediately after the 1996 Summer Paralympics, which followed the Olympics, much of the north end of stadium was removed in order to convert it to its permanent use as a 45,000-seat baseball facility. The stadium has hosted the Atlanta Braves since 1997, following a multimillion-dollar renovation to retrofit the stadium for baseball by removing the temporary stands that had made up nearly half the stadium and building the outfield stands and other attractions behind them. It was the site of the 2000 MLB All-Star Game.

Centennial Olympic Stadium, looking due north

Turner Field, also known as The Ted, was named after the then owner, Ted Turner. The stadium was a $200 million "gift" from the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), paid for by revenue from the Olympics. Some questioned the huge gift to the Braves, as well as the wisdom of demolishing nearly half of the stadium, making it useless for other world-class track and field and other large events.

The stadium was built across the street from the former home of the Braves, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, which was demolished in the summer of 1997. From 2002 to 2004, the failed Fanplex entertainment center was located adjacent to the park's parking lot. The stadium contains 59 luxury suites and three party suites.

Because of the need to fit a track within the stadium in its earlier incarnation, the field of play, particularly foul territory, while not large by historical standards, is still larger than most new MLB stadiums.

Since 2003, the NCAA Division I college baseball teams of Georgia Tech and Georgia, which had previously played two games on each school's campus, replaced one of the home and home pairs in favor of a third game at Turner Field. This rivalry game at Turner Field is one of the most attended games in college baseball, with the 2004 game drawing 28,836 -- larger than the College World Series games. There is some speculation in college baseball that the Southeastern Conference is considering conducting their baseball tournament at Turner Field to reflect the large crowds.

Significant renovations to the stadium were put into place for the 2005 season. Among the improvements was installation of a $10 million video display, listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest high definition video board. A 1080 foot long LED was also added to the upper deck for displaying anything from advertisements to statistics.

Trivia

The most popular name choice among Atlanta residents for the new stadium at the time of its construction (according to a poll in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) was Hank Aaron Stadium. After the ballpark was instead named after Ted Turner, the city of Atlanta renamed the section of Capitol Avenue on which the stadium sits Hank Aaron Drive, giving Turner Field the street number 755, after Aaron's home run total.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game by defeating the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on May 18, 2004 at Turner Field.

External links

* Satellite image from [WikiMapia], [Google Maps] or [Windows Live Local]
* Street map from [MapQuest] or [Google Maps]
* Topographic map from [TopoZone]
* Aerial image from [TerraServer-USA]

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Current ballparks in Major League Baseball
National League		American League
AT&T Park \| Busch Stadium \| Chase Field \| Citizens Bank Park \| Coors Field \| Dodger Stadium \| Dolphin Stadium \| Great American Ball Park \| Miller Park \| Minute Maid Park \| PETCO Park \| PNC Park \| RFK Memorial Stadium \| Shea Stadium \| Turner Field \| Wrigley Field		Ameriquest Field \| Angel Stadium of Anaheim \| Comerica Park \| Fenway Park \| Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome \| Jacobs Field \| Kauffman Stadium \| McAfee Coliseum \| Oriole Park at Camden Yards \| Rogers Centre \| Safeco Field \| Tropicana Field \| U.S. Cellular Field \| Yankee Stadium