BUSCH STADIUM

Busch Stadium is another of the cookie-cutter crowd that was built in the mid-60's, 1966 to be exact. It replaced the old Busch Stadium, which was formerly known as Sportsman's Park, but although its location is right downtown, the stadium itself has not aged well. In recognition of this, perhaps, Busch will soon be destroyed and a new ballpark built, probably in 2004.

Busch is round and has no views into the stadium from outside. A walk around the outside reveals a number of interesting features, including banners listing great moments in Cardinal history and some statues of past Cardinal and Brown greats, including Lou Brock and George Sisler. 

Once inside the stadium, you will no doubt be amazed to see Mark McGwire take batting practice. Stand along the concourse in right field and watch his bombs sail over your head. It is simply unbelievable how far he can hit a baseball. 

I enjoyed a number of things about this ballpark, but the seating choices were not one of them. However, the lack of good seats can be explained by the fans - by far the most enthusiastic we have seen so far. A sea of red greets you outside the stadium - fans are lined up at each entrance well before gates open. And they have bought all of the good seats that are available. I would recommend trying to find something outside the park beforehand - on the 3 days we went, we were able to get decent seats at or below cost from fans who had extra tickets.

The seats are a bit expensive, especially given the distance from the field. The Infield Terrace Box ($24) seats are probably the best bet, but you may want to try for the Outfield Loge ($29) or Terrace ($22) Box in an attempt to catch a McGwire home run. There are a number of seating options, but the price differences are not significant - $11 bleachers are the best bet for the budget. But no matter where you sit, you should resign yourself to the fact that you will not be close to the action - unless you are in the lower sections.

One of the cool things is the number of different party rooms that are open to the general public. Phone group sales for details, but Homer's Landing and the Batter's Eye Club are areas that are located in the outfield and offer an all-you-can-eat buffet as well as unlimited beer for reasonable prices. You need at least two people to purchase tickets, but unlike most party areas which cater to groups of 20 or more, anyone can buy tickets to these areas.

There are two scoreboards: the electronic version, which keeps track of the score of the game and stats for batters, is located just beneath the upper deck in left field while the second scoreboard is above the center field bleachers and is hand-operated, including the out-of-town scores. To the left of this scoreboard are Cardinal World Championship pennants and to the right are retired numbers.

From behind home plate

There is a restaurant located near third-base called Redbird Roost which is open to the public.

Overall, I think that Busch has seen its best years. With all of the new parks around the majors, an older stadium has to have a great atmosphere to be considered historic, and although I think the fans are great, the majority of the seats are simply too far away from the action.

Having said that, Busch has seen more than its share of historic baseball moments (McGwire's 62nd and 70th home runs in 1998 are commemorated in left field) and if you are in the area, you should definitely stop in and see a game there - the stadium could be gone before you know it.