Busch Stadium

Scheduling more than one visit into enemy territory during one baseball season doesn't sound like the world's best plan.  However, when the alternative was staying at home to watch your team drop 34 of 38 games, then by all means, it was time grab our friends, Sheri and Tim, and hit the road.

This is the third go-round for a St. Louis stadium to take the name Busch Stadium.  It opened up in 2006, a season after the Astros assisted in turning out the lights on Busch II by beating the Cards in the NLCS.  Since the last edition was a relic from the cookie-cutter ballpark era, this one is a sure upgrade. 

Promotions:
The best thing we could score with the price of our admission was a voucher for a free visit to Mermac Caverns if you were 15 or younger. Granted, most teams don't need to rely on a hot promo to keep the turnstiles moving on Friday nights, but we don't think a fireworks show would have been too much to ask.  Besides, doesn't holding back on Friday fireworks violate some sort of baseball law? Grade: C

Food:
It seems that the more stadiums we've been to, the more difficult it is to find any stand-out items at the concession stands.  St. Louis isn't much different in this department. There wasn't really anything all that unique. The only item not previously seen elsewhere was the mac and cheese bowl with about 4 different mix-in options. 

As you also might guess from the stadium's naming rights, there is an offering or two from the giant beer monolith just down the highway.  They did have a decent selection of craft beers including: New Belgium, Boulevard, and locals Schlafly and O'Fallon, but those stands were few.  Prices overall were about average as well. Grade: B

We didn't take many food photos.  Here's a list of their girly drinks.

Overall Gameday Experience:
This is the category where the stadium really shines.  From the moment we walked in, there wasn't much that left us for wanting.  Concourses were spacious.  Restrooms and concession stands were numerous.  And since we purchased seats on the upper concourse behind home plate, we got a view that was tough to beat.  The only real complaint was that there was a premium placed on all of this when it came to ticket pricing.  Then again, it's somewhat to be expected because filling seats for baseball in St. Louis has never really been a problem.

Just where did they get the idea for the goofy design in the outfield grass?

Behind home plate on the main level is the massive team store.  A few nice memorabilia pieces are on display in there, or if that's not your thing, you can build-a-Clydesdale.



Stan Musial's final game-worn jersey



Can't believe Toby didn't wind up with one

Wandering out to the concourse in the outfield offered the opportunity to take a picture with the 2011 World Series trophy.  Beyond that, is perhaps the world's greatest team store.  Well, it could be, if they offered more than Cardinals-related inventory.  All kinds of memorabilia ranging from game-used baseballs, bases, and jerseys to old pads from the outfield walls are for sale.  One of the workers in the shop said there are currently a few similar stores in other cities that recently opened with hopefully more on the way.

Cardinal fans have the self-proclaimed distinction of being baseball's best fans.  While we didn't feel awash with new enlightment for the game by any of the fans in our vicinity, most everyone was wearing hometown gear. Plus, they didn't have to necessarily be prompted by a scoreboard to get loud at key moments.  However, no fanbase is immune to criticism.  Case in point below:

The Wave started sometime in the 7th inning of a 3-2 ballgame.

All in all, we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed watching baseball in St. Louis.  A return trip in the future won't be ruled out, especially if a disappointing Cards loss is in the offing. Final grade: B+