St Louis Cardinals tickets

ST. LOUIS has always been one of the great baseball cities. From the Gas House Gang of the thirties to the World Championship teams of the sixties and seventies, the Cardinals have enjoyed tremendous support from the St. Louis fans. The second ballpark here, known as Busch Stadium (the first one, initially known as Sportsman's Park, was demolished in the sixties), although lumped by some into the cookie-cutter concrete-bowl category, is really a wonderful place to watch baseball.

This Busch Stadium started out in 1966 with a natural grass surface. Three years later the decision was made to convert the field to artificial turf. Management insisted that the reason was that because the Cards drew fans from a large geographic area, it wasn't fair to attract them from so far away only to have games postponed because of wet  grounds. Theoretically, since standing water on artificial turf can be squeegeed off, fewer games would have to be postponed. Whitey Herzog's Cardinals of the early to mid eighties actually took great advantage of the fast surface, assembling a team of solid, speedy hitters with outstanding defensive skills. Over the years, though, it became apparent that it rains comparatively little in St.Louis during baseball season. So in 1997 the Cardinals removed the artificial turf and reinstalled natural grass. In addition, some seats were removed in the upper-right-field stands and a section was constructed to honor Cardinals Hall of Famers. Busch, built to accommodate the NFL's Cardinals as well as the Major League Baseball team, is on the large side. The football franchise moved to Ari¬zona in the mid-nineties, and though a new football stadium was built to house the transplanted Los Angeles Rams, there has been no cry for a new baseball-only field here. Perhaps that can be attributed to the arrival in 1997 of Mark McGwire and his shattering of Roger Maris's home run record the following year. In this age of limited attention spans, there are few ballparks in which the fans focus as thoroughly as when McGwire comes to bat. In any event, the sea of red in the Busch stands-fans outfitted in all manner of Cardinal-red attire-attests to the great atmosphere of this aging but lovely ballpark.

ALAN BENES "I think that the biggest excitement for me was the first time you actually step on the field as a player, knowing that you're here because you're going to be out on the field, not because you're going to sit in the seats and watch. It's an overwhelming feeling to be able to just come into the dugout, knowing that you're here because you're one of the players. You get the opportunity to go out and per-form in front of thousands and thousands of people. The first time you actually put on the uniform to play in the first game . . . and the crowd sounds so loud compared to what you're used to. It's awesome."

ANDY BENES "The first stadium that I saw in professional baseball was Busch Stadium, back when I was in high school. We used to come over and sit in the upper deck and generally catch a weekend day game. And as a child, you always want to sit up as high as you can, so we thought it was pretty cool that we could sit up in the upper deck, even when there were seats available lower. So coming in high school and watching it, and then actually being able to play in it, was awesome."

JOE BUCK (BROADCASTER) "My earliest memory . . . is probably walking hand in hand with my dad down into the dugout here at Busch Stadium, and walking out and seeing the size of the field. . . . My earliest memory is not just of the ballpark but of the players. To see these athletes walking around and to know that this is their place, this is their office; whereas everybody else's day-to-day office is . . . a cubicle, or you strive for an office with windows. These offices throughout Major League Baseball are wide-open beautiful green fields with dirt, and what you're supposed to do is flop around, slide, dive, and throw a ball around. And I think you understand that at an early age at a ballpark, just by watching what's going on the field before a game. And to see the guys watering the field, raking the dirt, guys out there throwing a baseball around-it's what every kid grows up dreaming about."

BERNARD GILKEY "I can remember the first day I got called up. I had been going to Busch Stadium since I was young, watching the games. And it was pretty memorable for me because I had the opportunity to play in my hometown in Busch Stadium. First day I got called up I played and there was about forty-some thou-sand, so it was pretty exciting for me, just seeing all the people, and I was just kind of in awe for the whole game."

MARVIN BENARD "I guess when they made Busch Stadium, Three Rivers, Riverfront, they almost look like the same three cookie cutters. But it was amazing what they did when they took out the turf and put a little paint job on that place. And to me, that's probably one of the best fields to play on. . . . The fans come out to the games, they love their team. It's also the place I got my first major-league hit."

BOB CARPENTER (BROADCASTER) "I do the Cardinals games along with doing ESPN. And doing the Cardinals games, that's my team. I grew up with them; it's a real thrill for me. But whenever we're on final approach to Lambert Field in St. Louis, we come across the Mississippi River and right off the left wing is the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium. And there's that round cookie cutter down there with that beauti¬ful grass sitting in the middle of it. And I look down into the ballpark and it just gives me a thrill every time I see the place. Because in a great baseball city like St. Louis, if you grew up there, you've got to be a base-ball fan."