History was made Sunday in Tennessee, where former Clemson baseball player Eli White powered the Atlanta Braves to a 4–2 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the first Major League Baseball game ever played in Tennessee—and the first held inside a NASCAR arena.
The unique setting at Bristol Motor Speedway drew massive attention and a record-breaking crowd. With 85,000 tickets sold, the event set a new MLB attendance record.
Originally scheduled for Saturday night, the game was delayed by heavy rain that hit just before first pitch. After a 2.5-hour delay, the teams managed to begin play around 9:40 p.m., but didn’t make it through the first inning before rain returned, forcing the league to suspend the game. The Reds managed to score a run in that brief action, taking a 1–0 lead before the field turned into a virtual swimming pool.
When the game resumed Sunday, the Braves came in trailing by one — but White quickly changed that.
White, starting in place of the injured Ronald Acuña Jr., belted two home runs, including a three-run shot in the second inning that turned a 1–0 deficit into a 3–1 Braves lead and sending the NASCAR-themed “home run car” racing around the Bristol track.
White wasn’t done. In the sixth inning, he added a solo shot to left-center off reliever Scott Barlow, his second of the day and the Braves’ fourth run of the game. The extra cushion proved valuable as Atlanta had to navigate several late-game jams to hold off Cincinnati.
Already the record-holder for most MLB home runs hit in Tennessee (a category that didn’t exist before this weekend), White added to his legacy with the second multi-homer game of his career — his first since 2021.
“Cool trivia has always been cool to be a part of,” White said. “So, yeah, that’s super special.”
A Clemson standout from 2014 to 2016, White was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. In 89 games with the Tigers, he hit .277 with four home runs, 31 RBIs, and a .378 slugging percentage. He and fellow Brave Spencer Strider are two of just four former Clemson Tigers currently in the majors.
The Speedway Classic marked a major milestone for both baseball and motorsports — and Eli White made sure it won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
