This past week, my travels took me to Atlanta, Georgia for work (ABF Freight). During my work hours at the Atlanta freight terminal, I met a dock worker who was a huge Georgia Tech University fan. He glowed about the campus, the baseball program, actually athletics in general. Georgia Institute of Technology, its more proper name, is located about 12 miles north of the airport area I was staying at for the week. I was well aware of their rich athletic history in sports like football and basketball. And was eager to learn more about their rich baseball history with a Tuesday afternoon visit to the Atlanta based university’s baseball complex, Mac Neese Baseball Park and Russ Chandler Stadium.

Like many busy cities, traffic going into and out of the downtown Atlanta area is always challenging. Add in the busiest airport in the world and its travelers heading north, a busy Atlanta highway system, summer ending soon, a Braves home game and you have a lot of congestion. Which I experienced Tuesday night on my ride up to GA Tech. Can’t beat traffic, you just have to breathe through it and know that something cool will be at the end of your trek. After about 50 minutes on the highway going about 10 miles or so, I finally got off at the Georgia Tech exit and headed over to the campus and baseball park.

Parking was mostly permit only around the campus’ main entrance road and also at the baseball stadium. So upon arriving at the park’s entrance, I asked a parking lot patrol officer at the stadium if I could just park behind him for 5 minutes to grab some photos. He was great and friendly and understanding and allowed me to park right behind him so I could check out the field, potentially, or the perimeter if the gates were locked. Gates were locked, so I headed down the street, around the corner, into the back section of the ballpark nearest to the landscaper’s entrance/exit and grabbed a few photos along the way.

The trip around the right field side of the stadium was accessible by the adjacent sidewalk. No such luck for the left field side, which was blocked by offices and perhaps a warehouse for the athletes. No big deal, I got to see the field, read some of the legacy plaques, and check out the impressive banners of all the former Yellow Jacket baseball players who played for GA Tech, then Major League Baseball. Heading the list for me are a few former Boston Red Sox legends, Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra. Very cool, those two will always be some of the best Red Sox I have ever seen play. Also Georgia Tech baseball alum are names like Kevin Brown, Charlie Blackmon, Matt Wieters, Jay Payton, and Mark Teixeira. And there were banners upon banners up and down the stadium with familiar names and faces. Wow, what an impressive list of baseball alumni. Seriously, one of the better lists I have seen in person.

It was a beautiful day in Atlanta walking around (well fast walking) the perimeter of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket baseball stadium, aka Russ Chandler Stadium at Mac Neese Baseball Park. The campus had a really nice layout with classic, fraternity style buildings across from the baseball field. Kids were out playing cornhole, sipping on lemonade and flavored water (probably a bit naïve, but just in case any GTech parents are reading this), a lot of joggers and cyclist about on campus. I was so appreciative of the patrolman who let me park behind him for a few minutes to check out the stadium. It was an awesome walk down to corner of right field to see the banners, the plaques behind home plate, the baseball field, and all things Georgia Tech baseball that I could see through the gates. Overall, it was an awesome Georgia Tech baseball experience on a super sunny Tuesday in Atlanta.