In the summer of 1969, my Middle Tennessee family of four stopped in Atlanta on the way to Florida to catch a Braves game at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
I had just turned 11 years old, and it was my first trip to a big-league ballpark. The memory is still fresh after 48 years.
"Hammerin'" Hank Aaron hit an opposite-field home run that landed about 20 rows below us in the cheap seats in right field. I can still see the flash of his bat and the arc of the ball in my mind's eye.
Meanwhile, Phil "Knucksie" Niekro, with his dancing knuckle ball, pitched the Braves to a 5-1 win over the Cubs.
The Braves ultimately won their division that year but were bounced in the National League playoffs by the "Miracle Mets," who went on to win the 1969 World Series over the mighty Baltimore Orioles.
I remember being treated to a box of popcorn in a cone-shaped paper container that June night in 1969. It had the Braves' "screaming Indian" logo on the side; and, once the popcorn ran out, you could tear out a perforated plug in the bottom and use the box for a megaphone.
For years - actually, decades - that flattened popcorn box was part of my core collection of boyhood artifacts, along with a skate key and an 1880 silver dollar given to me by my maternal grandmother.
Memories from 1969 came flooding back last week as my wife and I took our two sons, ages 15 and 10, to a Braves game at the new SunTrust Park in Cobb County, Ga., about 15 miles northwest of Turner Field. (SunTrust Park is successor to Turner Field, a serviceable, 20-year-old former Olympics venue that had the misfortune of being in the center of Atlanta at a time when developers are keen on building ballparks as exurban business and leisure hubs.)
The Heavy Hitters drum line entertains Atlanta Braves fans before a game at SunTrust Park earlier this month.View other columns by Mark Kennedy
The contrasts between family outings in 1969 and 2017 were stunning.
The old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, which preceded Turner Field, was a giant multipurpose bowl in downtown Atlanta shared by the Atlanta Falcons NFL team. The new SunTrust park feels like a brilliantly conceived (although oddly shapeless) ballpark pressed against a cluster of buildings called The Battery.
It's almost as if the bones of a ballpark have fallen from space into Mainstreet U.S.A. at Disney's Magic Kingdom. SunTrust Park itself is a wonder of modern architecture, with its red-brick facade and multiple tiers of seats that rise almost vertically from field level, keeping fans snuggled up to the action.
During our visit to SunTrust, I kept a watch on our 10-year-old son, who is about the age that I was in 1969. Back in the 1960s, the game itself was a spectacle - baseball cards come to life. By comparison, our younger son was barely interested in the game action, but he had plenty of opportunities for fun, nonetheless.
This summer, a visit to the Suntrust Park and The Battery might include a matinee at a soon-to-open multiplex or a pregame performance by the Heavy Hitters, the Braves' drumline. Once inside the ballpark, kids can take a turn on a zip-line or purchase tokens for any of several carnival-style games.
In 1969, we had Chief Noc-A-Homa and stale popcorn.
Of course, things were cheaper then, too. My parents probably spent $20 total for our family-of-four visit to the ballpark in 1969. Tickets were under $3 each. Even if you factor in almost a half-century of inflation, $20 in 1969 is only about $133 in today's money.
Meanwhile, here's my back-of-the-napkin math for our visit to SunTrust Park earlier this month: four lower-deck outfield tickets, $120; ballpark dinners for four, $80; parking, $20; fuel to Atlanta (for a hybrid sedan), $20; fast food on the trip down and back, $40.
That's about $280 for one night at the ballpark.
Oh, and I almost forgot, add another $8 for a red foam Tomahawk, which my 10-year-old "chopped" like crazy when the Braves' leadoff man hit an opposite-field home run into the cheap seats in right field.
Some things never change.
On our way out of the new state-of-the-art stadium, I touched the bill of my cap when we passed the bronze statues of Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.