BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Cincinnati manager Terry Francona noticed the sheer size of Bristol Motor Speedway rising up from the mountains as the Reds arrived Saturday on their buses.
The best way to describe the speedway? Huge.
Big enough in fact to place not one, but two baseball diamonds. Francona's Reds need only one for the MLB Speedway Classic against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night in the infield at Bristol Motor Speedway, also called “The Last Great Colosseum.”
Francona approves of all the hard work.
“When you get outside of the field, it’s actually pretty cool," Francona said. "The way the stands kind of all face in, the ones they’re using, it looks pretty cool.”
The MLB Speedway Classic was first announced nearly a year ago as part of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s push to take MLB to places where baseball isn’t played every day live. MLB played a game at the movie site in Iowa in both 2021 and 2022. Alabama, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, too.
Now it’s time for Tennessee, which has teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLS but no MLB team even as a group chases an expansion franchise for Nashville. This game mixes the rich racing history of both Bristol, which hosts a pair of NASCAR races each year, and Tennessee.
“When you walk up to Bristol Motor Speedway, much like many of our venues, you know you’re at a big iconic sports location,” said Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB’s senior vice president of global events. “You feel it. You walk into Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, you feel it. And that’s what Bristol Motor Speedway is for NASCAR.”
Before the gates opened, fans got to enjoy a 110-foot Ferris wheel. The fan zone also featured race cars painted in MLB team colors with food trucks, live music, pitching tunnels and batting cages, a chance for photos with the Commissioner's Trophy, and Clydesdales.
Merchandise also was available for anyone wanting to commemorate this spectacle unlike any other.
Inside, the diamond is nestled inside the bullring's half-mile track.
“Honestly, my first thought I can't believe they did all this for one game,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said of his first visit to Bristol. “To be able to set all this up, get a playing surface ready, set the stands up in order to have the proper viewing, it's pretty incredible.”
The Reds, chasing an NL wild-card berth, split the first two games in this series with Atlanta. The rubber match will be a part of history as the first Major League Baseball game played in the state of Tennessee.
Pitcher Andrew Abbott showed up Saturday afternoon at Bristol wearing a cut-off version of a NASCAR race suit. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Abbott said he wanted something to wear in for a special game.
“I grew up around NASCAR,” Abbott said. “Just went on eBay and found a couple options, and luckily that was the one that arrived in time. I had a couple of backups. I know who Rusty Wallace is too, so I actually do know the backstory behind it.”
These teams will play before the largest crowd ever to see an MLB regular-season game, too. More than 85,000 people might not create the noise the usual race cars do, but Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said there’s a big bag of ear plugs available in the Braves’ clubhouse.
”I don’t know if I’ve ever been around this many people,” Snitker said.
MLB didn't try to sell every ticket inside the speedway that drew 156,990 for the Battle of Bristol college football game in 2016. The track with a racing capacity of 146,000 could host 90,000 or more even with sections blocked off.
Officials announced Monday more than 85,000 tickets had been sold — topping the previous paid attendance of 84,587 set Sept. 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.
Once the time comes for fans to move inside Bristol, the schedule features a pre-game concert with Jake Owen joining stars Tim McGraw and Pitbull. A flyover by Navy jets, and a pair of Hall of Famers in Atlanta's Chipper Jones and Johnny Bench of the Reds will handle the ceremonial first pitch.
A batter will have to clear 400 feet to hit anything out of center field, 375 in the alleys and 330 down each base line. Pulling a ball down the line raises the prospect of a ball bouncing off the racetrack beyond the outfield wall. Olson wouldn't mind that being a first for him.
“We want to win the game, but it'd be cool to hit one where you've never hit one,” Olson said.
Josh Woods, 44, grew up in Ohio a fan of the Reds before moving to Georgia and becoming a Braves’ fan. His seat with friends is behind left field. The layout isn’t stopping him from hoping for a well-hit ball to the stands.
“Hitting something even close would be like absolutely magical,” Wood said. "Obviously we’re not in a spot to get any foul balls, so a smacked homer would be the thing.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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