A baseball field in a racetrack? MLB’s Speedway Classic makes history

BRISTOL Tenn AP A -foot Ferris wheel Race cars painted in MLB unit colors Food trucks Live music Pitching tunnels and batting cages A chance for photos with the Commissioner s Trophy And Clydesdales Of module there s merchandise available for any fans who forgot to grab their gear supporting the Atlanta Braves or Cincinnati Reds or absolutely commemorating a spectacle unlike any other My sister s already texted me asking for a t shirt noted Marcia Lorenzo from Charleston South Carolina After about four years in the planning it s conclusively time for the MLB Speedway Classic to play ball Saturday night on the diamond constructed on the infield at Bristol Motor Speedway at the place called the Last Great Colisseum When you walk up to Bristol Motor Speedway much like plenty of of our venues you know you re at a big iconic sports location noted Jeremiah Yolkut MLB s senior vice president of global events You feel it You walk into Wrigley Field Fenway Park you feel it And that s what Bristol Motor Speedway is for NASCAR The MLB Speedway Classic was first revealed 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 encounter at the movie site in Iowa in both and Alabama North Carolina and Pennsylvania too Now it s time for Tennessee which has teams in the NFL NBA NHL and MLS but no MLB crew even as a group chases an expansion franchise for Nashville This encounter mixes the rich racing history of both Bristol which hosts a pair of NASCAR races each year and Tennessee So we expeditiously worked to make it so that we could viably create this magic moment and give fans that don t get regular season baseball all the time an opportunity to see it right there in their backyard in Tennessee Yolkut disclosed The Reds chasing an NL wild-card berth split the first two games in this series with Atlanta The rubber match will be a part of history as the first Major League Baseball championship played in the state of Tennessee They will play before the largest crowd ever to see an MLB regular-season event too Reds outfielder Austin Hays reported this will be a fun contest and can t wait to see how loud it gets I used to go to the truck races and the Daytona the Rolex I went to high school near Daytona Hays announced Friday after the Reds - win over Atlanta It is the only track I ve ever been to It s a pretty big track I imagine it s going to be similar standing on the infield but it will be a baseball field this time MLB didn t try to sell every ticket inside the speedway that drew for the Battle of Bristol college football tournament in The track with a racing limit of could host or more even with sections blocked off Personnel publicized Monday more than tickets had been sold topping the previous paid attendance of set Sept when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees Sean Casey a three-time All-Star now on the MLB Organization sees this as two super powers coming together in a perfect partnership NASCAR and baseball already cross over in the Atlanta and Cincinnati markets and this crossover exposes fans to the other sport It s such a unique situation Casey noted Friday after broadcasting from the field with MLB Framework Kudos to Commissioner Rob Manfred of Major League Baseball and also NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway for putting this event together because it s going to be one of a kind Once the time comes for fans to move inside Bristol the schedule features a pre-game concert with Jake Owen joining stars Tim McGraw and Pitbull A flyover by Navy jets and a pair of Hall of Famers in Atlanta s Chipper Jones and Johnny Bench of the Reds will handle the ceremonial first pitch Hunter Greear from Charleston South Carolina bought tickets with three friends a year ago They arrived Thursday camping out and enjoying the weekend Greear stated they really didn t know what to expect from MLB putting a baseball field in the infield of a racetrack We had an idea Greear revealed But everything that s been leading up to the event really has been making that idea even bigger than we could possibly expect it to be AP Freelance Writer Gary Schatz in Cincinnati contributed to this account AP MLB https apnews com hub MLB and AP auto racing https apnews com hub auto-racing Source