Ballpark Review: Busch Stadium
I didn’t want to like Busch Stadium.
I was born just a few months after the Cardinals beat the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series, and my father had told me as I was growing up about St. Louis beating the Red Sox in the 1946 World Series, too, so I was predisposed not to like them. Then, after I moved to Kansas City, the Cardinals struck me as sort of whiny jerks in the 1985 World Series against the Royals, so when my Red Sox finally beat St. Louis in the 2004 World Series, there was a good amount of natural rivalry feelings about that team that made me think “Ha! That’s what you get!”
Plus, in my experience, Cardinal fans are at least as arrogant as fans on the east coast are about their teams despite being midwestern and therefore supposedly friendlier and more polite. And when it comes to being rational about their team’s players, they’re significantly worse than east coast fans. Well, maybe not Yankee fans. In fact, if you want to hear an insufferable argument, listen to a Cardinal fan argue with a Yankee fan over whether Yadi Molina was better than Jorge Posada.
All of this combined to make it pretty unlikely that I would enjoy my experience at their ballpark.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Busch Stadium, eighteen to be exact. We went in August, 2008. It was a return to trip to the city for me, having seen a game in the old Busch Stadium in 2002, just a couple of years before it closed. That had been a miserable experience. We went in July that year, when it was preposterously hot and humid, and sat in the upper deck of that ugly, concrete monstrosity during a day game. My then-two-year old daughter fell asleep on my lap, adding the heat of her sweaty body to my own. By the end of the game I felt like a washcloth that had just been held under a steaming hot stream of bathwater.
So I wasn’t looking forward to the new Busch Stadium. St. Louis itself is pretty nice, and the kids enjoyed going up the Gateway Arch, and going to Grant’s Farm, and Six Flags, and so on. But I really wasn’t feeling like going to the new ballpark in my Red Sox hat and hearing from some of those fans whose team Boston had beaten in the World Series just four year earlier.
But then we went.
And it was delightful.
The ballpark is right downtown, an easy walk from the Arch or an easy MetroLink ride from Union Station. They built it with the Arch in mind, and it’s a prominent feature of the skyline beyond the center field wall.
Everything about the ballpark was new, and modern, and unique, the absolute antithesis of its circular original namesake. It ticks all the boxes you look for in a modern ballpark.
Easy to get to? Absolutely.
Comfortable? Yes.
Good food options? Of course.
Good sight lines? Yes. I will say the highest level or two behind home plate feels a bit more steep than other parks, but that doesn’t impact the views.
And, perhaps most importantly to someone like me, there is a great sense of history and nostalgia despite it being a newer facility. The Cardinals are one of the most storied franchises in baseball. They know it, and absolutely lean into it. And they do it well.
All of the retired numbers are prominently featured in the outfield, and they fly proper pennants for each of their title winners. Outside the ballpark is a full-size statue of Stan Musial, as well as smaller statues of Musial and a variety of other St. Louis baseball stars. Importantly, at least to me, they didn’t limit themselves to just Cardinals players. Sure, they have statues for Cardinal legends Bob Gibson and Ozzie Smith and Red Schoendienst and Rogers Hornsby. But they also have one for St. Louis Browns star George Sisler, and another one for Negro Leagues legend Cool Papa Bell of the St. Louis Stars.
It wasn’t built yet when I was there, but the team now also has a very nice Hall of Fame and Museum across the street from the ballpark, and it looks nice enough to warrant a return trip.
The Cardinals won the game we attended. Over 44,000 fans attended, and were as loud and engaged as could be expected of any crowd for a random regular season game in August. The banter about my Red Sox hat was courteous, even good-natured. Maybe it’s because they got a World Series win just a couple of years before and weren’t holding as much of a grudge anymore.
What I’m saying is that Busch Stadium is a wonderful place to see a game.
As much as I hate to admit that.