It’s not the stadium that dictates what managers want to do. It’s their ball players. If you’ve got a fast team, you may want to bunt and run a little bit more. If you don’t, maybe you sit back and wait for a home run. There’s nothing unique in that aspect. It’s as fair as it can get.
—Dan McLaughlin, St. Louis Cardinals TV play-by-play broadcaster
St. Louis, Missouri, may be referred to as the Gateway to the West, but the city’s flair lends more toward its eastern roots. Sold to the United States by France as part of the Louisiana Purchase, St. Louis, located right on the banks of the Mississippi River, has served as a significant geographic marker throughout its history. The city was the starting point for Lewis and Clark’s westward expedition and became a destination for many European immigrants once it was established as an important center for trade during the 19th century. While the city was becoming a commercial powerhouse, due in part to a lasting trade relationship with New Orleans, a new sport was emerging east of the Mississippi. With baseball already taking states like Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania by storm, St. Louis soon wanted to join the party. In 1892 the St. Louis Browns, both the westernmost and southernmost team in all of baseball, joined the National League, and although known today by a different name (Cardinals), the team would never leave the city. Baseball took so quickly in Mound City that the Browns changed their name from the one-season-failed-experimental St. Louis “Perfectos” to the Cardinals. Up the river, the original Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis after just one year (1901) and assumed the Browns name, making the league look like dead-goldfish-swapping parents. Unfortunately the Browns had a very ugly breakup with St. Louis, thanks in large part to former owner Bill Veeck, and moved to Baltimore in 1954. With the city once again to themselves, the Cardinals have proven they’re team enough to handle all the fandom and love St. Louis has to offer, a love that is as present today as it was more than 122 years ago.
Bringing New Meaning to the Term “Fan Friendly”
If the New York Yankees and their 27 World Series titles and 40 league pennants were taken out of the equation, the St. Louis Cardinals’ 11 championships and 19 pennants would be more than any other team in baseball. With the franchise being more than a century old, this trend has been sporadic; the team won eight championships from 1926 to 1967. The ’70s were a quiet decade for St. Louis thanks to Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and the “family-oriented” Pittsburgh Pirates. The ’80s showcased the Cardinals in three different World Series, with the team adding another title to their trophy case in 1982 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates were the bane of the Cardinals’ existence during the ’90s, but the team once again returned to pennant-chasing glory early this century, appearing in five National League Championship Series in seven years, including the team’s 10th World Series title in 2006, defeating the Detroit Tigers. So far in the current decade, the Cardinals have made the last four National League Championship Series (2011–2014), going to two World Series (2011, 2013) and winning the team’s 11th title in 2011. This success has not gone unnoticed by the city of St. Louis, as the Cardinals’ home of “new” Busch Stadium, opened in April 2006, has broken the three million fan attendance mark in each of its first nine seasons. Cardinals play-by-play TV broadcaster Dan McLaughlin comments on the team’s popularity: “I think the Cardinals, drawing 30,000 every single game, one of the reasons that they do is they’ve had a great tradition and history, but it’s a recent history of winning and it just is the thing to do in St. Louis.” A Busch Stadium experience being “the thing to do” extends beyond the 40,000 plus fans in their seats to the ones wearing name tags. McLaughlin adds, “People love their baseball and they get treated so well when they come to the ballpark. As a matter of fact, we have a waiting list for ushers because it’s a fun job. Season ticket holders become lifelong friends with the ushers that are in their section.” While the hospitality extends down the aisles of Busch Stadium, it is most certainly found outside the gates as well.
Busch Stadium’s Ballpark Village, spanning over 10 acres and seven city blocks, is the league’s first mixed-use development facility integrated into an actual ballpark. Including most of the amenities one would find inside Busch Stadium (as well as some not found), Ballpark Village provides pre- and postgame entertainment, and, more important, a way to hold over fans not wanting to be part of the unbearably slow procession of traffic flowing into and out of the stadium. Commenting on what Ballpark Village has to offer game attendees and nonattendees alike, McLaughlin says, “It stands out because it’s got everything in one area. So, if you want to go to a bar, you can go to a bar. If you want to go to a nice restaurant, it’s got a nice restaurant. It’s got one of the biggest video boards in the country to watch games, so a lot of people congregate. They may not have a ticket to the game, but they can get into Ballpark Village right across the street because it’s free and can sit there and watch a game. There are areas that have what would be the equivalent of rooftop seating at Wrigley Field. There’s nice restaurants, there’s bars, there’s all kinds of stuff. It’s also got the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. So, if you’re a baseball fan, and you come through, you’d get pretty much everything you could possibly want from the St. Louis Cardinals in the vicinity of the ballpark in terms of the history, the Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum, fan stores, and all the restaurants. It’s kinda got everything that you would want inside the ballpark there.” Though an out-of-ballpark experience may be enjoyable, it doesn’t replace the perspective fans get from their seats inside the stadium. When asked what features make Busch Stadium unique from the other ballparks in baseball, Dan McLaughlin responds, “The first thing would be the view. You’ve got the old courthouse in downtown St. Louis, which is visible to the fans. Also, a very clear view of the arch, which is obviously symbolic to St. Louis.” With a view, a winning team both on the field and in the aisles, and a roster that has qualified for the postseason in 11 of the last 15 seasons, it’s not likely those 40,000 plus numbers will be decreasing anytime soon.
Fair Dimensions, Not So Fair Conditions
Though built during the cookie-cutter era of stadiums, the “old” Busch Stadium would have rather not been considered one itself. The dimensions on the field were quite symmetrical, while the bowl of seats surrounding it stood four tiers high. However, the all-grass infield distinguished it from the others built at the time; that and hosting 10 League Championship Series and six World Series in 40 years. The “new” Busch Stadium, though not taking on exactly the same dimensions as its predecessor, plays quite symmetrically from foul pole to foul pole. The biggest difference in dimensions between the two structures lies in the power alleys, as right center and left center play 15 and 18 feet deeper, respectively, in “new” Busch Stadium than in “old” Busch Stadium. Commenting on how the field may strike an actual player, McLaughlin notes, “The way the ball plays in terms of if it’s a pitcher’s park or a hitter’s park, it just plays fair. I know when they first did wind studies to try to figure out whether or not it was going to be a fair ballpark, there was concern, but you just don’t know until you go in and play, and it plays as fair as any ballpark in the country.” Though the ballpark may play fair, Mother Nature certainly doesn’t. Of the five most humid months in the calendar year in St. Louis, four occur during baseball’s regular season. In fact, throughout the month of July the humidity generally ranges from 49 to 94 percent, rarely dropping to 35 percent. Coupling this constant humidity with the high summer temperatures of the Midwest, Busch Stadium can be quite the torturous ballpark for players and fans alike. Still, according to McLaughlin, it doesn’t seem to favor pitcher over batter or vice versa. McLaughlin adds, “When you’re here at St. Louis, you can expect it to be hot. The ball may travel better when you get into the summer months because it gets steaming hot in St. Louis more times than not. You occasionally get the 95 to 100 degree heat, which stretches the games. Even when it’s steaming outside, depending on the individual, I just don’t see how the ballpark is really an advantage for one or the other, but it gets hot in the summer months. You can expect that in St. Louis.” Reinforcing McLaughlin’s comments regarding “the individual,” Busch Stadium, as a park factor, has fallen as low as 25th for runs in 2009, 2011, and 2013, and risen as high as 4th midway through the 2014 season. In 2011 one individual in particular, David Freese, made Busch Stadium about as unfair a ballpark as any, at least for the American League pennant-winning Texas Rangers.
October 27, 2011: Baseball 101 Lecture Series—No-Doubles Depth
Down three games to two in the 2011 World Series and 7–5 in the game, with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Cardinals were just one pitch from handing the Texas Rangers their first-ever World Series title. With the tying run standing on first base and not in scoring position, perhaps the Rangers’ best bet would have been to play their outfielders at “no-doubles depth,” a baseball term that is another way for the manager to say, “The only way this ball gets past you better be over the fence.” The Rangers’ right fielder (and would-have-been series MVP) Nelson Cruz wasn’t quite to no-doubles depth (or no triples for that matter), as the eventual series MVP David Freese lined a shot over Cruz’s head and to the wall, scoring both Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman to tie the game, 7–7. The crowd, much like their beloved Redbirds, were once again alight with life, at least until Josh Hamilton’s 406-foot home run scored both him and Elvis Andrus, giving the Rangers another two-run lead going into what seemed like yet another final frame for the Cardinals. After two quick singles and a sacrifice, the Cardinals had the tying runs in scoring position. A groundout brought the score to 9–8. Down to their last strike yet again, Cardinals veteran right fielder Lance Berkman knocked home Jon Jay, and the Cardinals lived to see yet another inning. By the top of the 11th inning, Busch Stadium seemed like a 40,000-seat whoopee cushion, expelling despair rather than feigned flatulence and expanding with hope and cheers rather than saliva-laced deep breaths. The prank pillow would have to tie a proverbial knot in itself on this night, as the already-heralded Freese would both lead off and walk off the 11th. The third baseman’s second clutch hit in three innings—a solo home run—gave the Cardinals a 10–9 victory in one of the most dramatic games in World Series history. Signing off the broadcast, Fox TV’s Joe Buck, son of the legendary Jack Buck, who spent nearly 47 years broadcasting for the Cardinals during his hall of fame career, channeled his late father with one of the icon’s phrases: “We will see you tomorrow night.” That next night, in the decisive game seven, the only two-run comeback the Cardinals had to mount came in the first inning, as they went on to win the game 6–2 and the series four games to three. The Cardinals got a well-earned 11th World Series title, and although the champagne bottles were uncorked and the pile of red-and-white bodies was stacked atop the pitcher’s mound on that night, it’s the celebration of the night before that will stand out among all those inside the “new” Busch Stadium. Dan McLaughlin notes, “Clearly the most historic game we’ve ever had in that ballpark was game 6 of the 2011 World Series.”
As the 2011 season had begun, the team was unable to resign restricted free agent and face of the franchise Albert Pujols to a long-term contract and had lost team ace Adam Wainwright to Tommy John surgery, and it had seemed unlikely on opening day that these Cardinals would be the team standing triumphant at season’s end on their own mound. Reflecting on the Cardinals’ recent run of success inside their relatively new home—especially during their unexpectedly magical 2011 season—McLaughlin says, “It’s the postseason moments that make it such a special place because you’re defined by championships.” With a continuous crop coming out of the farm system, which has produced pitchers like Shelby Miller and Michael Wacha and hitters like Matt Carpenter and Matt Adams, “new” Busch Stadium may become the default setting for the word “success”—at least in baseball’s dictionary—for years to come.