Busch Stadium (II)

St. Louis, MO

Team: St. Louis Cardinals	Opening Day: May 12, 1966
Capacity: 49,676	Dimensions: Foul Lines 330, Power Alleys 386, CF 414 (1966) Foul Lines 330, Power Alleys 372, CF 402 (1992)
Surface: grass (1966-69), AstroTurf (1970-83), AstroTuff-8 (1984-95) grass (1996-2005)	Architects: Sverdrup & Parcel and Associates, Edward Durell Stone, Schwarz & Van Hoefen, Associated
Owner: St. Louis Cardinals	Style: concrete doughnut
Closing Day: October 20, 2005

Memorable Moments:

1967, 1982 World Series Champions.
1968, 1985, 1987, 2004 National League Pennants.
1966 All Star Game.
July 17, 1974: Bob Gibson gets his 3,000th K.
August 13, 1979: Lou Brock gets his 3,000th hit.
September 23, 1983: Steve Carlton gets his 300th win.
August 25, 1991: Lee Smith gets his 300th save.
August 7, 1993: Mark Whiten hits four home runs.
August 5, 1999: Mark McGwire hits his 500th home run.
August 10, 2003: Rafael Furcal (Braves) turns an unassisted triple play.
June 20, 2004: Ken Griffey Jr. hits his 500th home run.
May 6, 2005: Trevor Hoffman gets his 400th save.

By far, Busch Stadium (II) is the best multi-use (concrete doughnut) stadium out there. Although it was most recently used for football in 1995 by the Rams, this park has a baseball park feel to it. However that is about the only positive thing I can say about it. There is anything really bad about this park, either. Oh, I just thought of something positive to write again. I did like the manual scoreboards and flags flying in the outfield.

This park stands right near the Arch. The Arch, which represents the gateway to the west, is one impressive monument. This stadium was built as part of a downtown revitalization project. Hey, it worked. Downtown St. Louis is perfectly charming, although a little small. Ironically Busch Stadium (I) now stands in a crappy part of town. Ninety-six arches surround the roof of the park. The bullpens used to be where the family picnic area and the manual scoreboards are. They are now located at field level. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", played on the organ, has replaced the Anheuser-Busch "King of Beers" song as the song played at the 7th inning stretch. In 1973, when this stadium converted to AstroTurf, they kept the infield all dirt until 1974. There is a Cardinals Hall of Fame outside with a statue of Stan "The Man" Musial and a monument to each World Series victory. In perhaps one of MLB's crueler moves, they mandated that all Cubs' home playoff games from 1986 to 1988 (when lights went up at Wrigley Field) be played here. The Cardinals and Cubs are fierce rivals.

Cardinals retired numbers are (in numerical order and the years they were retired):

Rogers Hornsby (1937)
1 Ozzie Smith (1997)
2 Red Schoendienst (1996)
6 Stan Musial (1963)
9 Enos "Country" Slaughter (1996)
14 Ken Boyer (1984)
17 Dizzy Dean (1974)
20 Lou Brock (1979)
42 Bruce Sutter (2004)
45 Bob Gibson (1975)
85 August Busch, Jr. (1984)

Current day Busch Stadium (II):