The temple is seen as a sacred ground, a place where people congregate for a common purpose. For 20 years, Atlanta’s temple, Turner Field, featured the Atlanta Braves. This is not a time to mourn a time to celebrate the good, the bad and the great moments that Turner Field and the Braves have given us.

On April 4, 1997 the Braves and Chicago Cubs opened Turner Field with a tightly contested 5-4 Braves Win. Chipper Jones cranked the first hit and Michael Tucker had the honor of knocking out the first homerun out of the ballpark, giving fans a show representative of the years to come. The first postseason game was played against the Houston Astros on September 30^th the same year, and Greg Maddux won a 2-1 pitching effort that led to a series sweep of the Astros.

In 1999, the first World Series game was played there, a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees. The series sadly ended in New York, with a four game sweep by the Yankees being the only two games ever played in the world series at Turner.

The final game at the Ted was played on October 2^nd, with a tight 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Julio Teheran won the game, pitching a masterful 7 innings of work. Freddie Freeman got the last RBI in the field, with a sacrifice fly to provide the lone run of the game.

While our time at Turner was short, the memories of a 14 season division streak, the retirements of Chipper Jones, Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine, and the introduction to rookie stars like Rafael Furcal, Jason Heyward, and most recently, Dansby Swanson.

Despite the abysmal season we suffered this year, we had a winning record in the second half, and even avoided a 100 loss season. With new manager Brain Snitker at the helm and a young team that’s hungry to win, the Braves look forward to opening Suntrust Park in style. So chop on Braves Country, for the future is now, and next year is looking bright!