''The Launching Pad''
|
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Opened | April 12 , 1966 |
| Closed | October 24 , 1996 |
| Capacity |
52,013 (baseball)
62,000 (football) |
| Owned By |
City of Atlanta and Fulton County |
Architect: |
Heery & Heery and Finch, Alexander, Barnes, Rothschild & Paschal
|
Dimensions:
Left
Left-Center
Center
Right-Center
Right
Left
Left-Center
Center
Right-Center
Right
Left
Left-Center
Center
Right-Center
Right
Left
Left-Center
Center
Right-Center
Right
|
330 ft.
385 ft.
402 ft.
385 ft.
330 ft.
330 ft.
375 ft.
402 ft.
375 ft.
330 ft.
330 ft.
375 ft.
402 ft.
385 ft.
330 ft.
330 ft.
385 ft.
402 ft.
385 ft.
330 ft.
|
was a of the
International League , whose previous home had been
Ponce De Leon Park at 650 Ponce de Leon Avenue. In
1966 , both the
NL 's transplanted
Atlanta Braves and the
NFL 's expansion
Atlanta Falcons moved in. The Falcons moved to the
Georgia Dome in
1992 , while the Braves had to wait until the Olympic Stadium from the
1996 Summer Olympics was renovated into
Turner Field to move out at the beginning of the
1997 season. The stadium sat 60,700 for football and 52,013 for baseball.
The stadium was relatively nondescript, one of the many saucer-shaped multipurpose facilities built during the
1960s . The stadium was long known for the poor quality of the field of play – no one bothered to hire full-time groundskeepers until the early
1990s , instead relying on a city work crew. The relatively high elevation meant that the stadium was relatively favorable to long-ball hitters, giving rise to the nickname ''The Launching Pad''. That factor certainly helped boost Henry Aaron's home run output, and he reached the all-time record sooner here than he might have in Milwaukee. One unusual feature of this stadium is the fact that, unlike most baseball stadiums used for football where the football field is laid either parallel to one of the foul lines or running from home plate to center field, the football field here was laid along a line running between first and third base. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball would also be behind the 50-yard line for football. (It shared this characteristic with the
Oakland Coliseum ). The stadium was refurbished for the
1996 season because it hosted the Olympic baseball competition. It probably looked better in many ways in its last season than it had in its first.
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was imploded on
August 2 ,
1997 . A parking lot for Turner Field now stands on the site, with an outline of the old stadium, and a plaque marking the spot where
Hank Aaron 's historic 715th career home run landed on
April 8 ,
1974 , in what was formerly the Braves bullpen. That was one of the two most historic events ever to occur in the old park. The other came on
October 28 ,
1995 , when the home team defeated the
Cleveland Indians on a one hit, 8 inning performance by pitcher
Tom Glavine , to achieve the only Atlanta Braves
World Series championship thus far (they have one in each of the three cities in which they have resided). The 1972
Major League Baseball All-Star Game was also held at the stadium.
