Column: Summer tradition resumes after three-year hiatus

Jul. 2—Three years.

According to my laundry receipt, that's how long it had been since I went to a Major League Baseball game.

That was 2019, and we all know what happened in 2020. COVID-19 hit, and fans weren't allowed in to attend games. We stayed away in 2021 for a variety of reasons.

My wife, Kathy, and I had started a "tradition" of going to Atlanta each summer to see our favorite team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, play the Braves. The new ballpark in Atlanta is great, and it's surrounded by The Battery. It's a complex of restaurants, shops and bars, and a great place to hang out before and after games.

You might be wondering why a laundry receipt reminded me of my last trip. That's because it was attached to my replica Dodgers jersey that my wife got for me many moons ago. After each trip, I get it dry cleaned.

I have been going to Atlanta to see ball games for around 50 years. I vaguely remember going to "Hot-lanta" in the early 1970s to see a game at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. My main impression was that our family Oldsmobile, dubbed "Herbie" by me, overheated going to the game. We still made it.

A few years later we started going on a more regular basis, and the Dodgers were the team we went to see play the Braves. I soon adopted the Dodgers, one of the best teams back then, over the hapless Braves. I still have my glove with all of the autographs I collected.

Another big impression for me back then was how green the grass was at the stadium. I remember peering through the stadium portals and catching a glimpse of the outfield grass. Outside of Augusta National Golf Club, I had never seen grass that bright and lush.

Back to the present, my wife and I were excited to get out of town for the weekend and catch our favorite team in person. We got there in plenty of time — I'm the type of person who likes to arrive early to see batting practice — and all was going well until it was time to produce our electronic tickets.

I'm also the type of person who likes to have paper tickets. But if you've been to a ball game in recent years, you know most of them are electronic and you have a bar code in your email or on your smart phone that is scanned. My phone is smart, but getting up in age. And I had problems connecting to the Wi-Fi network. After much frustration, I produced enough evidence to show I had purchased tickets and the gate attendant let us in.

My first impression once I was back in the stadium was not the green grass, but the smells of different food. Mainly grease that was used to cook hamburgers. One night we were overwhelmed with the smell of popcorn.

Everything in the stadium is now cashless. I miss the days of my father giving me a big bill for a drink and a hot dog and me keeping the change. It's a shame how much they charge for concessions these days, but I guess everyone isn't like the Masters Tournament when it comes to pricing. Let's just say for what I spent in Atlanta, I could have bought a lot of pimento and egg salad sandwiches. But I digress.

The weekend series between the Dodgers and Braves was much anticipated. Los Angeles won the World Series in 2020, and Atlanta won it all in 2021. The teams met in the National League Championship Series both of those years, too.

Adding spice to the rivalry is that the Dodgers nabbed Atlanta fan favorite Freddie Freeman in the free agent market earlier this year. So it was an emotional return for him Friday night as he was presented his World Series ring by Atlanta manager Brian Snitker.

Freddie and the Dodgers won the Friday night game, and the Braves bounced back to take Saturday night's game. Kathy and I returned home Sunday, but tuned in to watch the Sunday night game between the two clubs. As fate would have it, the Dodgers rallied against their former closer, Kenley Jansen, and won in extra innings.

My Dodgers jersey is already at the cleaners. I just hope it isn't another three years before I get to wear it to a game again.

Thanks for reading.