The minor league merry-go-round continues to provide new stadiums for me to visit, but sometimes, an old stadium returns to the circuit. Such is the case in Columbus, the second-largest city in Georgia, who lost their minor league franchise after the 2008 season. Before leaving, the Catfish were tenants at historic Golden Park, which opened in 1926 and hosted minor league ball for all but six years after that. Although a few collegiate summer league teams played here since the Catfish moved to Bowling Green, it took 17 years before the minors came back, with the Mississippi Braves moving east to become the Columbus Clingstones. Of course, the ballpark had to undergo extensive renovations, but the structure is still original and that leads to an interesting mix of old and new.
With the new team, the ballpark's naming rights were sold to a financial services company and the venue is now known as Synovus Park. It is located right on the Chattahoochee River just south of downtown. There is a parking lot on the east side of the stadium that costs $5, but I recommend getting there early and parking around Broadway and 4th. This is because the Chattahoochee River Walk is there and you can walk along the river for a bit; about a mile north is a bridge that you can walk across to Alabama. As well, this gets you to the back of the ballpark, where you can see the structure and its beautiful red brick arches.
There are quite a number of historic plaques atop the bluff along the river and one makes note of the fact that the precursor to Coca-Cola, Pemberton's French Wine Coca, was invented in Columbus in 1885. When Fulton County instituted prohibition, Pemberton changed the formula to sell it in Atlanta and it became Coca-Cola. Just outside the main entrance of the ballpark is a sign noting the origins of the beverage, though I'm not sure why 1903 is mentioned.
Tickets here start at $13, or so I was told, but the actual total was $20 because of some mystery fees and taxes. Yikes, that's over 50% and makes the ticket far too dear for minor league baseball. I asked if I could have the ticket printed and was told that it would be an extra $10. Ridiculous. Gates open an hour before first pitch, unless you are a season-ticket holder in which case you can enter 30 minutes earlier. This means those of us who are not season ticket holders have to wait in the hot sun. Just silly, let everyone in at the same time. Sadly, minor league baseball is often not the affordable, fan-friendly sport that it used to be.
The name Clingstone is a type of peach, and the team store is thus named The Orchard, while the mascot is Fuzzy. I did not have a chance to get a picture of Fuzzy during the game, but did see him walking around the suite level prior to it.
Like most old ballparks, the concourse is underneath the seating bowl and thus does not provide a view of the action. There are three grab and go concession stands, with a hot dog costing $5. I don't know how long the dogs have been sitting there but the one I had was very disappointing. There are several other portable stands offering your typical treats; it was also Thirsty Thursday, which means $3 cans of light beer. There is also a kids area (visible in the first picture) with inflatables that costs an extra $5. Like c'mon man, does everything have to be a revenue stream?
The breezeways to the seating bowl go up, something I don't recall seeing elsewhere. Doesn't mean I haven't, just means I'm getting old.
Another cool touch are paintings along the walls, though the one below is a bit ironic with the ticket stub shown.
The most notable addition to the ballpark is the Legacy Gateway, a series of arches that highlight all the history that has happened here, including when the park hosted the softball competition for the 1996 Olympic Games.
Here is where you can find the lineups and Southern League standings; you can see a couple of cars in the background since this area is sponsored by a local Kia dealership.
Along one concourse wall is a display of stars who have played here, either as members of a Columbus team or as visitors or barnstormers. With the ballpark being around for nearly a century, most names are recognizable such as Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Ty Cobb, and Bob Gibson. One name that traveling fans might not appreciate is Willie Bowman, who was the Goody Goody Peanut man here for 30 years before the team moved; he also worked at the Columbus Civic Center next door.
There is a walkway between the two seating levels, with the upper level seats around home plate under cover; you'll probably want to sit here during day games when the sun can be very hot. Another alternative is to get a club seat and sit inside, but at $72 I'll take the sunburn.
For night games, the sun has already mostly set behind the third base seats, so there is no problem along that side.
There are three sections directly behind home plate that get the fancy black mesh chairs; these are also $72 which is simply crazy for AA baseball.
There is a tiny group area just above the leftmost section at third base called the Coors Light Chill Zone which has drink rails and 18 seats; this was not used during the game I attended and might be the best place to sit if you want to get away from the crowd. The view from there is below.
There are two other large group picnic areas which are easily spotted due to their orange umbrellas; one in the right field corner just by the main entrance (below) and the other in the left field corner.
There is also a plaza by third base that is open to all fans if you want to avoid the seating bowl entirely; there are a couple of different concessions here including one that serves BBQ which looked quite appealing and certainly would have been a better choice than the hot dog.
The Civic Center is beyond right field; it hosts a team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League as well as an arena football club, but neither was home when I was here so that venue will remain unvisited.
Overall, Synovus Park is an impressive testament to how you can keep an old ballpark while still adding newer amenities that fans have come to expect. Of course, some of these amenities I can do without, such as cashlessness (it's a word, I checked), $10 to print a ticket, and $72 seats. But I still managed to enjoy the game for $33.50 including food and it was worth it as it was one of the best games I've seen in the minor leagues.
The Game
The Birmingham Barons (White Sox) were visiting the Clingstones (Atlanta) with the home team having won the first two of the six-game series. Ian Mejia (11th round, 2022, Braves #24 prospect) started for Columbus, while undrafted Jake Palisch made his first ever start in the minors after 88 games as a reliever. And after his performance, he'll be starting again as he tossed five perfect innings, throwing just 56 pitches. He was relieved by Jordan Mikel (left below), who pitched a perfect sixth.
Unfortunately for the Barons, Mejia was nearly as good, scattering six hits through seven shutout innings and 90 pitches. He left hoping that his offense could score a run to give him the win, and they did one better, plating a pair off Mikel, starting with Cal Conley (4th, 2021) rapping a one-out single to break up the perfect game. Conley stole second and then Ethan Workinger doubled him home to give the Clingstones the 1-0 lead. After Oshawa native David McCabe (4th, 2022, Braves #18 prospect) flew out, Drew Compton laced another double to make it 2-0.
In the 8th, Birmingham's Rikuu Nishida, a Japanese who was drafted in the 11th round in 2023 out of Oregon (above) singled off Shay Shanaman but was caught stealing. Birmingham did not add to their lead in the bottom half and fireballer Rolddy Munoz came in to close. Wilfred Veras led off grounding deep to Conley at short and Veras certainly seemed to beat the throw, but I guess the umpire had a hot date because he called Veras out, much to the disbelief of pretty much everybody in the ballpark. Manager Guillermo Quiroz argued to no avail, and the next two batters grounded out meekly to end things. Note the pitch speed of 99 MPH on the scoreboard below; Munoz can really chuck it.

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