Honored family upset about change of Columbus baseball stadium name for Double-A Braves

Changing the name of the 98-year-old stadium owned by the Columbus Consolidated Government has upset descendants of the man for whom Golden Park was named.

The Atlanta Braves plan to move their Double-A minor league affiliate from Pearl, Mississippi, to Columbus in time to open the 2025 Southern League season, ending the 17-year drought of professional baseball in the Chattahoochee Valley.

Two weeks ago, during the groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the city-funded $50 million renovation of Golden Park, Double-A Braves general manager Pete Laven announced the stadium’s name has been changed to Synovus Park.

As part of the lease the Columbus Council approved by a 6-3 vote in January with Double-A Braves franchise owner Diamond Baseball Holdings of New York, CCG gave the naming rights for Golden Park to DBH.

Then DBH sold those rights for an undisclosed amount of money and an undisclosed length of time to Synovus, a Columbus-based banking and financial services company.

That lease includes the following provision:

“The Team Owner agrees to use commercially reasonable efforts to cause the name of the Stadium to include a reference to Golden Park. If the name of the Stadium does not include a reference to Golden Park, the Team Owner and the City will work together on signage referencing historic Golden Park.”

No reference to Golden Park is mentioned in the stadium’s new name that was announced June 11.

Golden Park, which opened in 1926, was named in honor of Theodore Earnest “Theo” Golden, cofounder of Goldens’ Foundry and Machine Company in Columbus. He led the effort to acquire the land for a pro baseball team at the city’s stadium along the east bank of the Chattahoochee River.

Garry Pound, a renowned artist in Columbus, is a great-grandson of Golden. Pound told the Ledger-Enquirer in a text message, “While thrilled that the ball field is being restored and revitalized, I am disappointed that its historic name is being changed.”

Pound continued: “I have great memories of accompanying my grandfather to watch the Columbus Yankees play there (1964-66) as a kid, and have been proud of my family connection, especially during the 1996 Olympics and watching the U.S. women’s softball team win the gold.

“No one reached out to ask the family about the name change. It was just done. The founders of what is now Synovus, W.C. Bradley and G. Jordan, were great friends of Theo Golden and would, I think, be disappointed to find that this link to the past has been erased.”

A solution proposed

Laven, however, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Wednesday that DBH indeed intends to comply with the lease’s requirement to honor the Golden Park name at the stadium.

“The Columbus ballclub is planning to honor the historic significance of the venerable stadium’s name while also celebrating the next 100 years,” Laven wrote. “The partnership with Synovus, whose roots in Columbus go back many years, is helping to make that future possible.”

Pound proposed a solution: “There seems an easy compromise that can suit everyone — call it ‘Synovus Field at Historic Golden Park.’”

Columbus Councilor Joanne Cogle of District 7, where the stadium is located, agrees.

“I am equally as disappointed in the replacement of the name Golden Park,” Cogle told the L-E in an email. “However, the renaming was Diamond Baseball Holdings’ prerogative as the naming rights were turned over to that organization in lease agreement.

“I would have preferred to see the stadium named Synovus Field at Historic Golden Park. It would have been nice to have had an element of civic engagement as the citizens of Columbus have fought hard over the past 100 years to protect the historical significance of this baseball field.”

Asked for his reaction to that suggestion and to specify DBH’s plan to honor the Golden Park name, Laven didn’t reply before publication.

The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach Mayor Skip Henderson for comment about this issue, but Columbus Councilor Walker Garrett of District 8 told the L-E in an email Wednesday, “The Mayor has assured me there will be signage reflecting the history of the park.”

Garrett endorses the stadium’s new name.

“Synovus Park is a great name for the park, encompassing city history with one of the oldest banks in town, which has been a pillar of our community,” he wrote. “I am glad that the naming rights went to a local company that is heavily invested in Columbus.”

The L-E tried to contact all 10 councilors to ask them their opinion about the stadium’s new name and the omission — so far — of the Golden legacy. Toyia Tucker of District 4 is the only other councilor who replied before publication.

“I think they should have kept the integrity of Golden Park with that having the historical connection,” she said. “… I know there are individuals in the community not happy with them taking out Golden Park completely. I’m sure there’s a way to keep Golden Park in the name.”