The Braves take the MLB Speedway Classic at Bristol after rain suspension

NBC News

3 days ago

BRISTOL, Tenn. — A record crowd of 91,032 for a regular-season Major League Baseball game got to see all the pomp and pageantry with the MLB Speedway Classic before the rain washed out the game itself in the bottom of the first inning.
Fans returning Sunday only wanted to watch the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds play ball. They enjoyed enough of star Tim McGraw and Pitbull in the rain that suspended the first MLB regular-season game in the state of Tennessee.
"We got to see all of that (Saturday), so as long as we see game today I think we'll be good," Cindy Lowe of Mount Airy, North Carolina, said.
Craig Marcum agreed. He and his family, with three children, were ready to see baseball even if Marcum is the Reds' fan surrounded by relatives rooting for the Braves. They had a good time seeing McGraw and country singer Jake Owen.
Sunday was dry at Bristol Motor Speedway with overcast skies. The sun actually broke through in the ninth inning on what wound up a perfect day for baseball. The Braves trailed 1-0 when the game resumed Sunday, and Eli White hit two home runs leading Atlanta over the Reds 4-2.
"We're really glad that they played the game today instead of last night because we sat here a couple hours in the rain and everybody was saturated even with rain gear," Marcum said. "The kids are happy so we're happy."
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said it was a shame the rain ruined a beautiful evening Saturday, though both teams came through Sunday with a good game and no complaints.
"Kudos to all the fans who came back," Snitker said. "I mean after the weather and getting soaked and everything yesterday, it was great. I thought it was a great production. You look back, it's kind of cool to be a part of this."
Organizers also got to show off the fun planned during the game.
Fans passed car cutouts of the Reds and Braves for a race through the stands. Two fans tried to hit balls from the apron over the track and fence, and two others had to put on NASCAR fire suits and race to four-wheelers for a race to the finish line.
The grounds crew even wore uniforms looking like a NASCAR pit crew's fire suits.
And something that never could've happened before at Bristol took part during the seventh-inning stretch: Fans sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
When White became the first MLB player to hit a home run at the historic racetrack, that allowed Bristol's "Home Run" car to take a lap in celebration. When one foul ball bounced off the track past the outfield wall in right, the man who failed to throw the ball over the fence to fans was booed.
This 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 "Field of Dreams" movie site in Iowa in both 2021 and 2022. Alabama and North Carolina, too.
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 with a racing capacity of 146,000. The attendance was well above the previous paid attendance of 84,587 on Sept. 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.
Simply canceling this game wasn't an option. The Reds are in the chase for a wild-card spot, and this is the last time these teams meet this season. Teams had police escorts to make sure they got back to Bristol on Sunday.
For fans, the commute back to Bristol Motor Speedway, billed as "The Last Great Colosseum" with its history as a half-mile bullring of a racetrack, was easier for some than others.
Steven Long of Atlanta, Georgia, was on a party bus to his hotel in Knoxville with a bunch of distributors. He drove the 110 miles back to Bristol on Sunday by himself even though he had hoped to be driving home. He couldn't miss the first MLB game at a racetrack.
"I had to come back," said Long, who wore his Braves jersey hoping for a win.
MLB will be announcing an attendance figure later Sunday. Officials already knew this event would draw a record crowd with 85,000 tickets sold as of Monday.
The big question Sunday was how many people would return for baseball itself after the big party that MLB and Bristol threw for fans Saturday. For Lowe and Jason Lawson, this is a moment they couldn't miss after buying tickets in May.
"The history, the nostalgia of Bristol Motor Speedway combined with Major League Baseball all in one I think," Lowe said.
Long was being joined by a couple of friends. He saw one benefit of returning even if others chose not to.
"We'll have more space around us, so we won't be on top of each other," Long said.