📍 Lawrenceville, Georgia
⚾ Home of the Gwinnett Stripers

One of the closest Triple-A teams to its Major League affiliate, the Gwinnett Stripers franchise has been the top-level club of the Atlanta Braves since their days in Milwaukee. The Stripers were the city’s original baseball team, in fact, playing as the Atlanta Crackers until MLB came to town in 1966. Also adopting the Braves name, the franchise spent more than forty years in Richmond, Virginia before returning down south in 2009 and taking up residence at Coolray Field in suburban Gwinnett County.

The ballpark, situated in a continually expanding corridor along Buford Drive in Lawrenceville, seats over 10,000 fans but sadly struggles to fill on most summer nights. Its location in a congested shopping area, steep parking prices and proximity to Cobb County’s Truist Park certainly don’t help the facility’s situation. Despite the lackluster crowds, the Stripers’ home is surrounded by contemporary apartments and new development that will hopefully drive more interest in the team.

Beyond the right field fence is an infinity pool that serves the adjoining apartment complex and offers unobstructed sightlines to its residents. The porches of the apartment building in left field, meanwhile, feature little plaques stating the distance to home plate, a neat touch. Inside the ballpark itself, the large outfield berm and loads of picnic tables scattered all around the concourse give fans a fun alternative to simply sitting in chairback seats.

For what amounts to no more than a simple minor league stadium, Coolray Field does boast a wide variety of great food choices, from delicious cheesesteaks, Nashville hot chicken, turkey legs and a fried catfish basket to shaved ice, a barbecue “sundae” and fresh onion petals. Two bar areas known as The Boathouse and The Cove on the first base side round out the options.

As the Crackers, the team won more than a half-dozen league titles. During their time in Richmond, the Braves would clinch five championships, including in their penultimate season in Virginia. But since becoming the Stripers, the club has not yet claimed a crown, although they have won two Division Titles while in Gwinnett County.