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ROAD TRIP

From Rome to Atlanta to Gwinnett, Fans Connect the Tomahawks for a Special Birthday Extravaganza

EDITORS NOTE: The following article was written by Lynn Seldon, a freelance travel writer based in Oak Island, North Carolina. He was named the 2006 Travel Writer of the Year by the Southeast Tourism Society.

I grew up a huge baseball fan in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, thanks to my father and two older brothers, Greg and Steve, who were passionate about America’s pastime and passed it on to me one pitch at a time (including quite a few curves, if I recall correctly). Due to our location near Baltimore, we were all Orioles fans back when the “Orioles Way” led to pennants and World Series championships in the late 1960s, '70s and early '80s.

When my parents moved to Richmond, Virginia, and I followed after a far-flung stint in the Army, my dad and I bought season tickets to the Richmond Braves (then the long-time Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves). We enjoyed many great seasons and players from our seats behind the third base dugout, as the likes of Chipper Jones, Javy Lopez, Ryan Klesko and many more passed through Richmond on their way to success in Atlanta.

With my father’s 80th birthday approaching, my family came up with the unique idea of taking him to Georgia in August to attend three Braves games in three days -- the Rome Braves, the Atlanta Braves, and the Gwinnett Braves (who replaced the Richmond Braves as Atlanta’s Triple-A club for the 2009 season).

The trip evolved to include all three sons, grandchildren Megan, Gregory and Abbey, and several extended family members who had grown to love my father like Braves fans love Bobby Cox. Some people couldn't make all three stops, but we had nine people at most games.

To say that the trip was a hit would be underestimating the smiles, the laughs, the memories (including more than 500 pictures), and the victories (the Braves won every game!).

It started in Rome (romebraves.com) on Aug. 21, where we enjoyed premium Yacht Club food, beer, and seating (all at a great price). An interview of my dad played on the huge outfield screen, and the Rome Braves staff and the locals couldn't have treated us better. A downpour between the first and second games of a doubleheader couldn’t dampen our “opening night” enjoyment, even though the second game was rained out.

After a day exploring busy downtown Atlanta on Aug. 22, Saturday night’s game at Turner Field (braves.com) will certainly be an evening my dad and everyone else in our group will remember. Great all-you-can-eat and -drink seats down the left field line, a gift bag from the Braves, a hilarious interview with “Mr. Double Talk,” and birthday greetings on the big screen all made for a special night for all involved (and another Braves win didn’t hurt). By the final out of a 4-3 victory over Florida, everyone in our seating area knew our group in the red t-shirts and wished my father a hardy happy birthday.

A Sunday afternoon game Aug. 23 at the new Gwinnett (County) Stadium (gwinnettbraves.com) included a rehab start by Tim Hudson, a tour of the stadium (which is a serious improvement over Richmond’s aging Diamond), tasty food, and yet another Braves win. It was also a cathartic experience for my father and me, in that it was great to see the Triple-A Braves in a sparkling new gem of a ballpark (ironically, we found out the general manager of the Richmond Braves, Bruce Baldwin, moved with the club to suburban Atlanta).

Gwinnett Stadium's parking lot proved to be a place of sad goodbyes as we went our separate ways after a very special Braves 80th birthday celebration (my father's actual birthday is Oct. 5, but that doesn't jive well with the baseball schedule). Three Braves victories were icing on the cake of this special weekend.

Baseball fan or not, anyone I tell about the trip says they’d love to do something similar for a loved one. I immediately tell them that the Braves staff at all three ballparks made it easy to plan. We bought the tickets (with their advice) and they did all the rest -- upon learning of our reason for being there, every staff member went out of their way to make my father’s birthday celebration special.

Anyone else could do the same thing for any Braves celebration (though it may take some serious schedule analysis to make the timing work).

Another option that we may explore for a future Braves get-together would be to add visits to other out-of-state “baby” Braves Minor League affiliates, including the Double-A Mississippi Braves (mississippibraves.com) located in Pearl, Mississippi (near Jackson); the advanced Class-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans (myrtlebeachpelicans.com) on the South Carolina coast; the advanced rookie-level Danville Braves (dbraves.com) in southern Virginia; and the rookie Gulf Coast League Braves who play in Orlando (at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, where the big Braves hold spring training).

And for an extra-special Braves trip to remember, how about including the rookie Dominican Summer League Braves in the Dominican Republic town of San Pedro de Marcoris (a baseball-rich location long-known as the “Cradle of Shortstops”) or even venture to the Braves' new European Academy at Tenerife in the Canary Islands?

Connecting the Tomahawks on the map is a great way to enjoy a special celebration of any kind, not to mention a family vacation.