Baseball is back in Atlanta, where the Braves founded their franchise and Hank Aaron hit his then-record 715th home run.
In a parking lot that once housed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Georgia State has completed plans for a new baseball stadium with 1,000 seats.
This ballpark, which is most recognized for being the location where Aaron smashed Babe Ruth’s home run record on April 8, 1974, helped entice the Braves from Milwaukee in 1966. Barry Bonds has subsequently surpassed the milestone.
The Braves played their home games in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium until the 1996 season, when they moved to a new stadium nearby that was originally constructed as the main arena for the Centennial Olympics.
Turner Field was built by turning the old stadium into a parking lot and demolishing the old one. The Braves played at The Ted until 2017, when they moved to the suburban Truist Park. After that, Turner Field was sold to Georgia State, which turned it into Center Parc Credit Union Stadium, a college football stadium.
Now that construction is underway in what was once a parking lot, the state Board of Regents approved plans for a $15.85 million ballpark, which will enable the Panthers to relocate their baseball program from a facility approximately 12 miles away to a location less than a mile from their downtown campus.
The Hank Aaron monument, which is now at Center Parc Stadium’s plaza, will be relocated to the new stadium as part of the project. A small display already stands in recognition of the location where his 715th home run cleared the left field wall.
Aaron’s funeral procession went past the former location of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium after he passed away in 2021.
Athletic director Charlie Cobb released a statement saying, This is a wonderful day for Georgia State, but there is a lot of work ahead.
Anticipated to open in time for the 2026 collegiate baseball season is the new stadium. In addition to the football stadium and the basketball arena that opened in 2022, the Panthers also want to build a new facility for their softball team.
