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Busch stadium(s)
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Hello, Fredbird!
Ozzie Smith ; illustrated by Miguel De Angel.
Chantilly, VA : Mascot Books, c2006.
Fans, grounds crew, and players greet Cardinal's mascot, Fredbird, as he visits the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis for a baseball game.
     
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Busch Stadium : the first season
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
[St. Louis, Mo.] : St. Louis Post-Dispatch, c2006.
     
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Wrigleyworld : a season in baseball's best neighborhood
Kevin Kaduk.
New York : New American Library, 2006.
In this rollicking exploration of baseball and blind faith, Kaduk weaves a riveting tale of the team that stole his heart--and the Wrigleyville neighborhood surrounding baseball's most historic ballpark.
     
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The ultimate baseball road-trip : a fan's guide to major league stadiums
Josh Pahigian & Kevin O'Connell.
Guilford, Conn. : Lyons Press, c2004.
The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip is a comprehensive guide to all the diverse and fascinating major league baseball ballparks throughout the country by two entertaining young writers whose love for the game of baseball and the game of life overflows from every page. Josh Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell's approach to skillfully planning and fully appreciating a road-trip, or just a visit to a single park, is funny and irreverent and loaded with information designed to make the most of the experience. Part travel manual, part ballpark atlas, part baseball history book, part restaurant and city guide, and, not least, part epic narrative, The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip encompasses all the essential elements of a full-blown baseball road-trip. Included are ticket and travel information, a detailed guide to the best and worst seats in each park, folklore and statistics on each park, a hilarious rating of each park's trademark foods, and profiles of nearby sports bars and baseball attractions, all within a lively narrative that reminds us that baseball is the ultimate metaphor for all the important things in life. Book jacket.
     

For the majority of St. Louis residents Busch stadium is all they know of major league baseball.  There have been other, earlier stadiums.  But, since 1966 Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis has been where the local action is. 

Three Busch Stadiums

The current Busch stadium is the third Busch stadium for the Cardinals.

The team also played at Busch Stadium on Grand Avenue [1953-1965] and in downtown St. Louis' Busch Memorial Stadium from 1966-2005.

The first downtown Busch stadium was built in 1966, and was just one of a batch of circular "cookie cutter" parks built around the country in the 60s and 70s. 

1966 All-Star Game

Major League Baseball rewarded St. Louis for building a new stadium by awarding them the 1966 All-Star Game. 

Played during the day in July, on-field temperatures were over 100 degrees.  All-Star manager Casey Stengel, given a chance to praise the new facility, gave it a typically twisted endorsement:  "It sure holds the heat well."

Some imaginative touches tied this Busch to its setting:  the 96 arches along the upper rim of the ballpark related strongly to the Gateway Arch that has become the modern symbol of St. Louis.

A BIG ballpark

Old Busch Stadium was a BIG ballpark. Even Mark McGwire was never able to hit a ball out of the park.

Only one person ever managed the feat. Mike Laga, a 9-year journeyman player with a lifetime batting average under .200, pulled a long foul ball entirely out of the stadium in 1986 against the Mets.

The stadium saw baseball, football, rodeos, concerts.  There have been playoffs and World Series.  Many will fondly remember

  • Bob Gibson striking out 17 Tigers in the 1968 World Series.
  • Gussie Busch riding out onto the playing field behind his hitch of Clydesdales.
  • Ozzie Smith greeting the fans with his trademark back flip.
  • Mark McGwire breaking Roger Maris' home run record with #62, then closing out the season with #s 69 and 70.

By forty years later it became a business reality that the this Busch stadium was too old and dated.  It was demolished.  A new Busch Stadium opened downtown in April 2006.  The St. Louis Cardinals concluded the first season in this new Busch Stadium in the best way, winning their 10th World Series title.

Article by: St. Louis Public Library staff