The Atlanta Braves have some of the best attendance out of all 30 MLB teams.
So far in 2024, the Braves have averaged 37,846 fans at their twenty home games, a top-five figure in MLB. When you account for the size of their stadium - Truist Park has a listed capacity of 41,084 people, just 20th in baseball - then the Braves are filling that stadium to an impressive 92.12%, the highest figure among all thirty teams.
Part of that fan draw is the success of the team - the Braves have won six straight NL East championships, consistently rating as one of the best teams in Major League Baseball.Ronald Acuña Jr. was the 2023 NL MVP and Matt Olson led all of baseball in home runs, while starter Spencer Strider led the league in strikeouts.
But the organization does a good job of picking entertaining giveaways, too - everything from replica chains of their players’ jewelry to unconventional bobbleheads like Atlanta-based hip-hop legends OutKast or a Braves-themed Star Wars clone trooper.
There’s one more addition to the ballpark giveaway schedule - the Braves announced today that Wednesday, August 7th will be “Spencer Strider Vinyl Record Giveaway” night. The first 15,000 fans in attendance will receive an 7” vinyl record with music from one of three Atlanta-area bands personally selected by the Braves righthander.
To go along with the giveaway, all three bands will be performing after the game in the Georgia Power Pavilion outside of the stadium gates in a special performance hosted by Strider himself.
More details: pic.twitter.com/Jst2ktB4E6
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 16, 2024
In a press release announcing the giveaway, Strider explained his choices of each of the three bands:
On Dinner Time, whose song “Cuídate” will be featured on one of the three vinyl albums:
I like to imagine the members of Dinner Time, dancing with smiles on their faces, jamming their distinctly original sounds in someone’s garage or basem*nt. I feel their music conveys quite easily how much fun the band has making and playing it. I like to describe their sound as ‘a bunch of friends from Atlanta hanging out and having a good time.’
On Trash Panda, whose song “Honey Eyes” is on the 2nd of three giveaway albums:
I discovered Trash Panda with the release of their 2023 album ‘Pandamonium!’ The record was instantly discernible as thorough, exciting, and unmistakably unique. Only immensely talented and creative musicians could produce such a complex style that is received so effortlessly. It’s impossible not to enjoy yourself while listening to Atlanta’s Trash Panda.
And on the band Lunar Vacation, who will have the song “Tom” featured on the third giveaway album:
I remember exactly when and where I first heard Lunar Vacation—that’s how immediately they became one of my favorite groups. When I learned they were from Atlanta, it exponentially increased the enjoyment I derive from their music. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have followed their maturation and growth from the beginning.
In the press release, the team explained how this giveaway came into being: “The inspiration for this project was Strider’s love of local, independent music, combined with his interest in wanting to put more bands on the forefront of the Atlanta music scene. The genesis of the idea was really sparked when he visited Third Man Records last season in Detroit and saw the vinyl production operation in action.”
Strider’s a known indy music lover who has his own ranking system used to evaluate and grade music releases every year. He joined popular baseball youtuber “Bailey” to break down his rating system and discuss his 2023 Records of the Year over the offseason:
Strider then returned the next month to compare and contrast the discography rankings for popular rock band “The Strokes” with those of Bailey.
It's not the first time a baseball team has given away vinyl records; Third Man Records and the Detroit Tigers teamed for an exclusive ticket package in 2017 that combined a baseball-themed song on one side with an interview between the owner of Third Man Records (noted baseball fan & musician Jack White) and Tigers great Kirk Gibson.
In the most infamous vinyl record-related baseball moment, 1979's "Disco Demolition Night" in Chicago's Comiskey Park was set to have a crate of disco records blown up on-field between games of a doubleheader between the home Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. A riot broke out after the detonation and the second game was later forfeited by the White Sox after the field, which was damaged by the explosion and then trampled by rioters, was deemed unplayable.
