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DUNWOODY, Ga.--Ask Damion Carpenter, long-time Atlanta Braves employee, about his World Series Championship ring.
Yes, that ring.
Carpenter, a 2021 Perimeter College grad and current Georgia State Sport Administration student, was one of 500 Braves employees who received a replica of the diamond-studded version given to the 2021 Braves World Champion team. He received his ring July 14.
“The rings were unexpected,” Carpenter said. “No one saw that coming and it was a nice gesture by the Braves organization.”
Featuring the team’s signature ‘A’, on front, his last name “Carpenter” is inscribed on one side of the band and there’s a single pearl affixed in the miniature World Series trophy on the other side of the band. The pearl signifies Joc Pederson’s post-season string of pearls that fans adopted as a fashion statement during the team’s post-season run for the World Series win. Inside the ring are inscriptions of the scores of the three series wins for the Braves — Milwaukee 3-1; Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2, and the final score of the game that clinched the World Series — Houston, 4-2.
While there is certainly plenty of ‘bling’ in Carpenter’s series ring it’s not the same sparkle as the team’s 18.7 caret version, which features 755 diamonds, four custom-cut rubies, four princess-cut rubies and 11 round rubies. The 755 honors Hank Aaron’s home runs.
Carpenter has worked with the Braves since 2007, first as an usher, then as a host, guiding fans to their seats in the Truist, Delta and executive suites.
The Columbus, Ga., native has worked in both Turner Field (now Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium) and Truist Park. He’s seen the team’s ups and downs, all the while working with the legendary usher Walter Banks, who was with the Braves since the team’s arrival in the city from Milwaukee in 1966. (Banks retired in 2021.)
When he’s not at the stadium, Carpenter is a work-study student in a decidedly quieter spot – the Dunwoody Campus library,
Like Braves fans who waited 25 years for another World Series win, it’s been a long process to get his bachelor’s degree, he said. Carpenter began his education in 2001, then took a break before restarting in 2016, switching his area of study several times before settling on sports management and getting his associate degree in 2021.
He hopes to graduate from Georgia State in the summer of 2023 with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Sport Administration after completing his program’s internships.
“The fact that I can see the end has motivated me,” he said.
And just maybe there will be another World Series Championship Braves ring waiting for him.
Photo by Bill Roa