New Busch Stadium

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

We are back from our trip to St. Louis, and D-Dad and I are back up to having seen baseball in every current major league stadium. The New Busch is nice - somewhere in the middle of the pack of the new stadiums. The construction is reminiscent of Citizens Bank Ballpark, but the access to the upper levels is better than at the CB. OTOH, the CB has better and more diverse food selection - Busch's food offerings are nothing special, and the food is horribly overpriced.

We were there last Wednesday for the Cards' 16-8 loss to the Phillies. We started out in the Infield Terrace Boxes (i.e. - Ueker seats), but later in the game we moved around to check out other areas of the park. The ushers were very cool about that, especially in the late innings. The seats are nice and with good viewing angles, although not particularly wide or roomy. When the place is sold out, you feel kind of packed in. As with its predecessor, Busch has a downtown location that's pretty easy to access (we stayed at Laclede's Landing, and the local merchants provided shuttle vans to and from the stadium on game days).

The view from Busch is nice, with the Arch in the background, but it doesn't compare to the beauty of PNC or the character of the Great American Ballpark.

I will say this - the folks in St. Louis do love their Cardinals. They may or may not be knowledgable (I know that Greg feels their reputation in that regard is overrated), but we encountered people in Cardinals gear everywhere we went. The crowds at the park were pretty subdued, but that's going to happen when a team is in the midst of an 8-game losing streak.

Aside from baseball, there's a lot to do in St. Louis - we toured the brewery, visited the science museum, toured a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright, and checked out the Bowling HOF/Cardinals HOF (you get two HOFs for the price of one). It's a nice destination for a quick family getaway - the Diamond Knights (minus Impulse2, who is away at camp) had a very pleasant time there.


under the Arch

[stevejrogers]

Who is MK's misguided friend?

[Willets Point]

Nice write-up. What's your total number of ballparks including the defunct ones?

[Elster88]

]D-Dad and I are back up to having seen baseball in every current major league stadium.

Impressive. I've visited 4. I've got work to do.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

MK is beside his older brother, who has been a Cardinals fan since he was 5 years old (he was and still is a Mark McGwire fan - we've had lots of chats about good people making poor choices).

The total number of parks D-Dad and I have visited is 39. Aside from the current 30 there was -

1. The Kingdome
2. Jack Murphy Stadium/Qualcomm
3. The Astrodome
4. Fulton County Stadium
5. Veterans Stadium
6. Olympic Stadium
7. Three Rivers Stadium
8. Riverfront Stadium
9. The previous Busch Stadium

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I think I've been to 14. I used to plan vacations around ballpark visits, but haven't done that in a long time, so the number probably won't grow by much.

I've been to Shea, Yankee Stadium, Memorial Stadium, Camden Yards, Fenway, Olympic Stadium, Fulton County, Wrigley, Tiger Stadium, the original Comiskey Park, Veterans Stadium, Riverfront, and Citizens Bank Park.

That's 13. I thought that I had been to 13 before going to Citizens Bank Park, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll have to think about this a little.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

BTW, there are stones around the new stadium commemorating great moments in Cardinals history. I love how this great moment is a Mets victory -

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Another thing they do at the new stadium is have a camera crew ask fans a question before the game, and they play their responses on the stadium scoreboard later in the game. The question prior to Wednesday's game was to name your favorite leadoff hitter. Later that game, a very adorable amost-10-year-old in his very blue Mets cap was shown on the screen talking about Jose Reyes.

Later on, when we were in seat switching mode, MK was very pleased when the guys sitting behind us recognized him from the video

[Guest Iubitul]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: I will say this - the folks in St. Louis do love their Cardinals. They may or may not be knowledgable (I know that Greg feels their reputation in that regard is overrated), but we encountered people in Cardinals gear everywhere we went. The crowds at the park were pretty subdued, but that's going to happen when a team is in the midst of an 8-game losing streak.

It seems like it's very similar to a college atmosphere out there. I've been to St. Louis a couple of times, and I absolutely love the downtown area.

Love the shot of the kids from under the arch ;-)

[Guest cooby]

Scarlet, here's a question for ya. How tall is that arch? Is it really big like a building, or is it like the airplane ad with the kid swinging from it?


(Never been to St. Louis, can you tell?)

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Iubitul wrote: Love the shot of the kids from under the arch ;-)

That was D-Dad's doing - he got on his back and took the shot looking up at the boys with the Arch in the background

cooby - here's all you need to know about the Gateway Arch. It's the tallest structure in downtown St. Louis, and it really does define the downtown area. It's 630 feet tall, and you get to the top via these airless, podlike little tram elevators. I went up in 1993, and it was the most claustrophobic experience in my life. This time around D-Dad took the boys up while I happily waited below.

[Guest cooby]

Now that's a state quarter I never saw! Thanks

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

="cooby"]Now that's a state quarter I never saw! Thanks

That state quarter for Missouri is pretty misleading. It makes it look like the Arch spans the Mississippi River. Bad design, in my opinion.

[Guest cooby]

That's what confused me in the first place.


Anyway, thanks to Alton Brown, I saw a shot of the Arch, the Mississippi River, and the skyline all at once. Now I can tell how tall it is