The Atlanta Braves sign at Truist Park

I Love Baseball

I've always loved baseball. 

I went to lots of LA Dodgers games when I was growing up because one of my best friend's parents had season tickets and she'd invite me to go along. I loved the excitement, the roar of the crowd, and the crack of the bat on the ball. 

We always ate a Dodger Dog and finished the meal with a chocolate icee.

On the ride home, Vin Scully's voice over the radio would lull us to sleep in the back of the car. I loved his voice. 

After moving to San Diego for college, I still loved the Dodgers, though I nearly got beat up on the beach once when I said it out loud. I went to Padres games with my friends, though, and after many years, I found myself rooting for the Padres, unless they were playing the Dodgers.

Yesterday was an old friend's birthday, and he was a huge baseball (Dodgers) fan. He passed away unexpectedly back in May, and I found myself reminiscing about our childhood while editing this photo. 

My Beef With the Braves

After moving to Atlanta, it was time to be a Braves fan, though the Dodgers always have first place in my heart. But, as much as I enjoy baseball, I have a beef with the Braves. 

I think moving to Cobb County was wrong.

There are Braves fans on the north and south sides of metro Atlanta and by moving so far north, they made it a lot harder for their fans on the south side. Having the stadium in the city makes it more of a halfway point for people on both sides of the city, but apparently, the monied interests who attend a lot of games live on the north side. 

Also, by building such an exclusive area around the new stadium in Cobb County, they made the game even more inaccessible to people without a lot of means. Baseball, like all major sports, has gotten ridiculously expensive for the fans, but they made it even more so when they built the new stadium. Braves management complained that there wasn't enough parking around the old stadium, but there was a lot of nearby public transportation.

On the plus side, I will admit that the area surrounding the new ballpark is beautiful and full of restaurants and things to do, but I miss the city ballpark.  

When I went up to the stadium last week to get a photo, I looked at the schedule first. It said the Braves were doing a post-season workout that was free to the public, but that was wrong. Someone probably forgot to change the schedule when the Braves made it to the postseason, and I haven't followed baseball in a while, so I didn't realize.

I should have googled the Braves schedule instead of the stadium schedule.  

I'm glad I asked a friend to come along with me because when we got there, every parking deck was sold out. 

As I rounded a corner, someone was pulling out of a parking space on the street within the Battery Park area, though, so I whipped a quick U-turn and grabbed the spot. I was going to use my cellphone to pay but when I pulled up the info, I couldn't believe what I was seeing - $31.00 for two hours! 

No way. 

I tossed the keys to my friend and she stayed with the car while I ran down the street to get my photo.

Kicked Out

I ran straight to the Atlanta Braves sign, fiddled with my settings, lined myself up to get the above shot, and had only clicked the shutter a few times when I was tapped on the shoulder by a security guard and told I'd have to move along.

So...I only got a few shots before I got kicked out. The guard was nice about it and let me take another couple of shots while I stood there stalling, talking to him about how I didn't understand why I couldn't just take a few photos. 

Atlanta is the only city that seems to have such paranoia about people getting photos with "that kind of camera." 

Almost everyone has a camera in their pocket these days but when you pull out a professional-looking camera, you get kicked out. It happens everywhere in Atlanta and it's really become a nuisance.

Street photography is a thing and has been almost since the birth of cameras, and the City of Atlanta and surrounding areas are doing their best to wipe it out. 

So, for my Atlanta Braves fans - this one's for you, and I got kicked out capturing it!

I hope you like it.

I have one other photo I'm working on from another angle. I like it but I need to blur out some faces so no one is recognizable before I post it.

I put the above photo on the website already.

Have a great rest of your week, and see you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan

You can find the photo here.