While driving to spend the holiday with my daughter who lives in Raleigh, I stopped by the Diamond. Home for nearly a quarter century to the Braves Triple A team (until '08), it welcomed its current tenants, the Giants Double A (Eastern League) Flying Squirrels in 2010. Not only does a giant sized replica welcome you at the main entrance, but the there are puns galore referencing the team's image.
While the timing didn't work to see a game -- I was there around noon, the Flying Squirrels were playing at home that night, I managed to park and walk around around outside and capture these images. The one below really works, a view of the stadium seen "through" the batting cage that's stored in the left field bullpen.
Then, I got lucky. While the outfield fence was solid and provided no knotholes for my camera, I noted the driveway and service entrance along the right field line were open. A few steps brought me onto the warning track and a fuller view of the Diamond.
Double A ball draws smaller crowds than the International League Braves did, so the top rows of seats are covered -- as strategy seen in the A's and Rays major league parks. The overhanging cement roof hints of long-gone Fulton County Stadium -- a logical connection considering that Atlanta was the parent club when this venue was built.
And while I couldn't stay, there would be a game that night. The Pirates Eastern League club, the Altoona Curve would take the field in a few hours. But their bags and gear had already arrived.
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