Busch Stadium

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Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League of Major League Baseball. It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. Busch Stadium has been chosen by MLB to host the 2009 All-Star Game^[4].

The stadium opened on April 4, 2006 with an exhibition between the minor league Memphis Redbirds and Springfield Cardinals, both affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Springfield won 5-3. The first official major league game occurred on April 10, 2006 as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4. A commercial area, dubbed Ballpark Village, is being developed adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.

The stadium is the third stadium in St. Louis to carry the name Busch Stadium. Sportsman's Park was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953, after team owner Gussie Busch. The first Busch closed in 1966, and both the baseball Cardinals, and the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals moved to a new multi-purpose stadium, named Busch Memorial Stadium.

[edit] History

[edit] Funding

In 1995, St. Louis Cardinals team ownership began to lobby for a new ballpark in downtown St. Louis, but the team was unable to acquire funding for the project for several years. In June 2001, the State of Missouri signed a contract with the team, proposing a ballpark in downtown St. Louis, but a subsequent funding bill was struck down in May 2002, leaving the saga open.^[5][6] Team owners sought a location near Madison, Illinois, adjacent to Gateway International Raceway, until the city of St. Louis drafted a financing plan for the team to construct the new stadium in downtown St. Louis.^[7] The Stadium was financed through private bonds, bank loans, a long-term loan from St. Louis County, and money from the team owners. The development, including the Ballpark Village will cost approximately $646 million with the stadium alone costing $346 million.^[8]

In its debut season every game sold out, giving a total attendance of 3,407,104 for the season, the second-largest in team history.^[9]

[edit] Construction

New Busch Stadium was designed by HOK Sport and built by Hunt Construction with an estimated cost of $365 million. The stadium was built in phases:

• First, the construction of the south side of the new stadium.
• Second, the wrecking ball demolition of the old stadium, which began the week of November 7, 2005 and lasted until December 8, 2005.
• Third, building the north side of the new stadium (i.e. the left field area).

The field level (16,880 seats), terrace level (9,150), and bleachers (3,661) were completed in time for opening day, with total capacity on that day of 37,962, not including up to 2,751 standing room tickets. Construction on the seating area was completed in late May increasing the capacity for the May 29, 2006 game vs the Houston Astros with finishing touches performed throughout the year. Including all 2,886 standing-room-only tickets for the general public and the suites and party rooms, the stadium's total capacity is 46,861. Natural grass turf was installed in March 2006.

[edit] Features and design

Whereas the old stadium was fully enclosed and in the style of a "cookie-cutter," the new stadium is much more open-air, allowing an unobstructed view of its surroundings. It offers a panoramic view of the downtown St. Louis skyline, as well as the city's distinctive Gateway Arch. The Arch and several other significant St. Louis landmarks are reflected in the park's architecture.

The Gate 3 entrance on the west side of the stadium is most iconic, with a large "bridge" resembling the Eads Bridge arching over the entrance. Outside this entrance also stands a bronze statue of Cardinals legend Stan "The Man" Musial. Other Cardinals statues that previously surrounded Busch Memorial Stadium are now displayed at the corner of Clark and Eighth streets, outside the Cardinals' team store. The exterior contains historical plaques of Cardinals logos, the STL insignia and a Busch Stadium logo behind home plate. Hand-carved originals were cast into colored concrete for a total of 94 castings that adorn the brick facade. Replicas of these unique plaques are available for purchase. Around the exterior of the stadium, embedded into the sidewalks are fan-purchased bricks surrounding marble plaques commemorating the Top 100 Cardinal Moments.

The interior incorporates many familiar elements from the previous Busch Stadium into the new, intimate "retro-era" design. The traditional green fences and cardinal red seats are a theme continued from the previous ballpark. The center field batter's eye is a grassy knoll, flanked symmetrically by bleacher seats and the bullpens. Although a new electronic scoreboard is now in use in right center-field, the old scoreboard is still displayed as a monument to the old stadium on the main concourse, acting as a buffer to the nearby I-64/US-40. Furthermore, the neon flying redbird display is faithfully recreated on the new LED ribbon boards during Cardinals home runs. It also has a sounding tornado siren, three blank, a fountain and several willow fireworks for home runs and wins launched from the right field scoreboard.

The new stadium has nearly the same field dimensions as the old stadium, although with less foul territory. It apparently plays fairly to both hitters and pitchers, as well as lefthanders and righthanders.

After St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Rick Hummel was honored with the J. G. Taylor Spink Award and induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007, the Cardinals renamed the stadium's press box the "Bob Broeg-Rick Hummel Press Box", honoring the two writers connected with the club enshrined in Cooperstown.

Directly north of the stadium, construction will soon commence on Ballpark Village, which will include both commercial and residential space and the new St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

[edit] 2006 weather incident

On July 19, 2006, a severe thunderstorm associated with a passing derecho whipped up very high winds throughout St. Louis. At the new Busch Stadium, the storm knocked over portable concession stands, damaging the infield rain tarp as it was deployed, and dislodged several of the plastic sheets that were designed to protect the open-air press box. One of those sheets, at least 10 feet by 5 feet (3 m by 1.5 m) in dimension, fell into the stands. At least thirty spectators were injured, of which five were taken to the hospital (one of those had a seizure apparently unrelated to the storm). The game, which saw the Cardinals defeat the Atlanta Braves 8-3, was delayed by 2 hours and 21 minutes, while the crews cleaned up. ^[10] The stadium now has designated shelter areas for such disasters which are located throughout the ballpark in strategically placed ramps and stairwells. Ballpark personnel also displayed the National Weather Service's doppler radar display on the video board in the outfield.

[edit] Playoff history

[edit] 2006

On October 7 and 8, 2006, New Busch Stadium hosted its first playoff games. On October 7, in Game 3 of the 2006 National League Division Series, the San Diego Padres defeated the Cardinals 3-1. However, the Redbirds defeated the Padres in Game 4, on October 8, 2006, to win the series three games to one.

On October 14, during the first 2006 National League Championship Series game played at New Busch, the Cardinals defeated the New York Mets 5-0 to take a 2-1 lead in that series. The Cardinals went on to win the 2006 National League Championship in 7 games.

On October 24, 26, and 27, the Cardinals hosted the first World Series games at New Busch Stadium against the Detroit Tigers. The Cards won all three games, and secured their tenth world championship, four games to one. After the game, many fans climbed the famous statue of Stan Musial to celebrate. There was also a fireworks display in left field. The games of October 26 and 27th were rescheduled from a postponement October 25.

By virtue of the Cardinals winning the World Series in 2006, New Busch Stadium joined a very short list of ballparks whose occupants won the Series in the ballpark's inaugural year. The last previous one had been Yankee Stadium, in 1923. The Cardinals are also the first team to win a World Series at home in the inaugural season of a stadium since the 1912 Boston Red Sox (Fenway Park).

[edit] Ballpark firsts

[edit] Photo gallery

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Review of Busch Stadium, complete with game photos, from Ballpark Digest
• Redbirdcentral Time-Lapse created from KMOV stadium cam
• New Busch Stadium & Construction FAQ, from CardsClubhouse.com, a not-for-profit online community
• Seats3D Seat View

Coordinates: 38°37′21″N, 90°11′35.6″W

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