MLB Ball Park Showdown: Marlins Park vs Turner Field

Outside Turner Field. The Start of my Baseball road trip this year!

For the last 2 weeks of June, my family and I went on a massive baseball trip. We saw games in Atlanta, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, and Houston as well as stopped in-between those cities to visit famous baseball sites. While at the games I began wondering how do each of these parks compare to the state of the art Marlins Park? Today I am going to be looking at how Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves, measures up against Marlins Park in the first edition of “Marlins Park Vs…” One quick caveat, this is just my opinion on how these parks fair up against Marlins Park. Whether you agree or disagree with me, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments. Now let’s jump into things.

The Outside Look:

Pulling up to Turner Field, I didn’t see anything which made it stand out. It just seemed like any other building in the Atlanta skyline. When I drive up to Marlins Park, it sticks out and I know right away that it is Marlins Park. First run goes to Marlins Park

Run: Marlins Park

The Inside:

I personally am a person who likes brightness and lots of colors. Walking around Turner Field, it felt very dark to me. Inside Marlins Park there are bright colors everywhere! Sorry Turner Field, but I need that brightness.

Run: Marlins Park

Hall Of Fame:

While I enjoy looking at the Bobble Head Museum and the Orange Bowl Wall of Fame, The Ivan Allen Jr. Braves Museum & Hall of Fame was really cool. Between the ‘95 World Series Trophy, the History of the Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta Braves, the leader board of all the current and former Braves players, and the Chipper Jones Home Run Break down, it was a great Hall of Fame. Sorry Marlins Park, Turner wins this one.

Run: Turner Field

The Home Run Statue:

I didn’t see one in Turner Field. Someone said it was the Coke Bottle near the scoreboard, but the Braves did not hit a home run in the game I was at so I didn’t get to see it go off. Regardless, it’s still better than that statue in Marlins Park.

Run: Turner Field

The Skyline:

Downtown Atlanta is an amazing site, but I had to walk around Turner 3 times before I finally found the downtown skyline and even then it was blocked by trees. Marlins Park has a whole section where you can clearly see the downtown Miami skyline very easily.

Run: Marlins Park

Variety of Food:

The food at Turner Field was very tasty, but there is only so much a park can do with a hot dog and BBQ. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but not much variety. At Marlins Park you have a choice between Sushi, Hispanic food, Gluten Free, Tex Mex, BBQ, Kosher, salads, sea food, sandwiches, and well as all your typical ball park food. Turner Field was tasty, but the limited selection doesn’t compare to the wide variety of food offered at Marlins Park!

Run: Marlins Park

The Beef Skewers and Beef Tacos at Turner Field.

The Must Have Food Item:

This one was tough. Everyone wanted me to try a H&F Burger, but I can have a burger anywhere. So I’m going to compare Turners’ Beef Skewers and Beef Tacos, to Marlins Park Taste of Miami’s Cuban Sandwich and Lechon. The Beef Tacos were a little overcooked and dry so that right there causes it to lose to the Lechon and Cuban Sandwich. The Beef Skewers was so tender and juicy, and the sauce that was served with it was so delicious, that sorry Lechon, they beat you this round. However, they still can’t beat out a great Cuban Sandwich.

Run: Turners Beef Skewer and Marlins Cuban Sandwich

WI-FI:  

Both park have free WI-FI! I LOVE FREE WI-FI!

Run: Tie

The view we had from our seats!

Seats:

We end this ballpark comparison with the seats. This might just be an illusion, but when I’m at Marlins Park it seems that no matter where I sit I feel that I’m right on top of the game; there is not a bad seat in the park. Turner Field on the other hand is so open that my seats in the outfield felt as if I was very far away from the game.

Run: Marlins Park.

So after 9 comparisons who is the winner? Marlins Park wins it 7-4. This is not to imply that Turner Field is a bad park. I enjoyed my time there very much, but to compare a park built in 1997 to a new state of the art facility is kind of unfair (that and I might be a little bias). I do recommend going to Turner to catch a game.

Join me next time when it’s Marlins Park vs Busch Stadium. Till then… Let’s Go Marlins!