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Atlanta Braves To Honor Hank Aaron at SunTrust Park

By Jeff Schafer

Jul 25, 2015; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Hall of Famer Hank Aaron waves after arriving at National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 25, 2015; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Hall of Famer Hank Aaron waves after arriving at National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Braves To Honor Aaron in new Park

It’s official!!  The Atlanta Braves will be honoring the great Hammering Hank Aaron at the new SunTrust Ball Park.  Well we all knew this would happen in some matter, but weren’t sure exactly what it would be.

Since the Braves announced in 2013 that they would be moving to Cobb County, the question continued to surface about where the Hank Aaron statue that sits out from of Turner Field would go.  The Braves wanted to bring the bronze statue to the new SunTrust Park, but Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority wanted it to stay put.

The back and forth continued until about a year ago around this time, the two parties came to an agreement that the statue would stay in downtown Atlanta.

Hank Aaron Mural at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Photo taken by Dan Horton
Hank Aaron Mural at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Photo taken by Dan Horton /

When it was original built, fan donations paid for it…the Atlanta Braves did not help finance it.  The statue that stands out front is when Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record of 714 on April 8, 1974.

As far as I know, the Rec Authority don’t have concrete plans yet for the statue.  They may keep it where it is and be part of the new redevelopment plan, move it to the Center for Civil and Human Rights, by Centennial Park or somewhere else around town.

The downtown portion of Atlanta may have lost the baseball team to Cobb County, but it surely won the tug-of-war to hold onto the iconic Hank Aaron statue.

Looking Ahead Now To SunTrust Park

Going all out is an understatement!  The Braves are truly giving this guy what he deserved.  Not only did Aaron do fantastic things for the Braves, but he also helped bring baseball to what it is today.

The Braves new statue at SunTrust park will be of the second Aaron made contact with the ball on his 715th home run swing.  They will have a sculpture featuring 755 bats to honor his career home run total.  There will be a Hank Aaron Terrace that will be open to the public on the upper left field level.  And on every end-seat in the stadium, there will be a silhouette of the legendary swing.

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Can’t wait for the new ball park to be open, it feels like we’ve waited so long for this to finally be here (well, we kinda have).  On March 31st, the Braves will play the New York Yankees in an exhibition game and on April 14th the Braves will take on the San Diego Padres for their first official game.

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