Yep, I used to rush home after school and root against the Cubs on wgn during the day and turn the radio on and listen to the most entertaining duo , Jack Buck and Mike Shannon at night pulling for the redbirds
This stadium is where my love for St. Louis Cardinals baseball blossomed. It captivated me from my first moment inside. My love for Cardinals baseball can never be broken. What an amazing team.
I’ve always been a baseball fan. But I’ve only ever seen one Major League game live in person. I traveled from central Florida where I lived to visit family in St. Louis. It was summer of 1998, just before I turned 18. The year Mark McGwire hit the 70 home runs. They were playing Detroit. He almost hit a home run, but it got caught at the warning track. The ovations, the flash bulbs from pictures, the environment… it was truly a magical place to see a game. I’ve been to football, basketball and nothing has been like the game I saw in ‘98. It was in the air. Can’t really put it into words justly. I took a whole roll of pictures with a disposable Kodak camera, but they all came out blurry. I was heartbroken. But I still have the memories of it. Always will have that. I had bleacher seats, but I made it a point to travel around the stadium and get close to the dugout. The usher knew it was my first time, so he let me get close to see. I had this great shot of McGwire walking back to the dugout after the near home run. Just amazing. I know he’s not perfect, but when it comes to baseball, he’s my all time favorite player. He’s a hero of mine. Ken Griffey, Jr. ranks a close second. I love them both. Busch stadium is sacred grounds for me. Even the new one. Someday I’ll go back.
damn this was awesome and brought back some amazing memories that hope my son will have about the new Busch. Thank you for reminding me of all the great times I had watching Cardinals baseball growing up.
I was at this last game. The crowd singing the National Anthem! I sat directly above the numbers that they took off the wall. I wore a lime green cardinal hat on purpose. Ozzy looked straight up at me and waved before taking the number 1 down. A moment I’ll NEVER forgot
I love both old Busch Stadium (Busch Stadium 2) and The New Busch Stadium (Busch Stadium 2) now I've only seen both ballparks on TV and think both are amazing in their own ways also their are pros and cons just like any older ballpark and newer ballpark. The AstroTuff era of old Busch Stadium was great for those 80s Cardinals teams and The Natural Grass Era was great for those offense teams of The Tony Larussa era from 1996-2005. Sure the ball never carry'ed well in old Busch Stadium but their was enough offense for any team that played their. The downside of Old Busch Stadium was the concourses not wide enough like many never ballparks plus it was one of the last of the cookie cutter stadiums along with RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. before it was torn down also it got really hot during the summer months and old Busch Stadium. The New Busch Stadium is a great ballpark and one of the best of the modern MLB Ballparks around and has all the modern amenities you could want like wider concourses , more luxury suites and around the ballpark you have a nice view of The Gateway Arch and Ballpark Village is a good place around New Busch Stadium and has a nice view of Downtown St. Louis. Also many other new MLB ballparks that have come since have built more entertainment areas around the ballpark some that come to mind are the renovated Progressive Field in Cleveland , Nationals Park , Target Field , Marlins Park , Citi Field , New Yankee Stadium , Truist Park etc. I love old Busch Stadium more but New Busch Stadium is not a bad ballpark either.
Ah the days... JUST before HD One of my favorite Cardinals films though. Interesting I was 19 during it's last season & I watched 5 of the top 10 moments live
Even though I'm a Cubs fan, Busch shouldn't have been torn down. All they had to do was renovate the lower level and replace some of the seating with luxury boxes like they have at some modern stadiums. I wasn't born until 2002, but I've heard from many baseball fans that it was a great place to watch a game no doubt about it.
The old Busch was a great place to watch a game. It definitely needed some work done, but on the whole, it was beautiful once the DeWitt group updated it. It had interesting architecture aesthetically- especially considering the era it was built in, it had that beautiful hand operated scoreboard in center, the retired number and championship flags were great, and believe it or not, I thought the sound system was better. I really don’t understand why so many fans love the new ballpark. Besides the view of downtown/the arch in the background if you’re sitting directly behind home plate, there isn’t a single vantage point worth remembering in the entire stadium. Nothing about it architecturally sets it apart from its contemporaries, and the layout is very boring. Where the old Busch had the arches around the top, and the scoreboard, and the flags, etc, the new Busch is just “meh.” In fact, the design of the new stadium is basically the same as their AAA ballpark, but with an additional section of seats at the top. As I’ve heard more than once from people within the game: “Busch Stadium, where they spared every expense.”
Although I m not a Cardinals fan but I did root for them birds sometimes only when they would play any opposing teams except for when they played. the San Francisco Giants in the post season I liked their previous Busch Stadium I skipped school the day Ozzie Smith hit a game ending walk off homerun. Vs the L A Dodgers The Cardinals made it to the playoffs 3xs in the 80s 1982 World Champions 1985 N L Champions 1987 N L Champions
I WISH it was never torn down! It was the perfect stadium for St. Louis, with those beautiful arches encircling the entire top and in plain view of the gorgeous Gateway Arch. It's just awful that they got rid of it. This one really hurt...btw, thank you for the great upload. I am a Native of Colorado but I am a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan.
Did Bob Gibson coming at you from the mound is a whole lot of leg and arm and power. Intimidating. I can't believe we lost both Lou and Bob in the same year. I love opening day. It's something else to there. I miss going to several games a year. This year I'm going to go as much as possible.
It was unique among stadiums of its type and had it stood, it would be unique among all MLB stadiums and probably a big draw from around the country. A crime they tore it down. I never liked III; it's disjointed, generic, and not walkable. II was wonderfully airy and open on the concourses but had a cozy city-unto-itself feeling to it from the arches on down. When it went baseball-only, it got even better. Will forever stick in my craw. A beautiful and living thing destroyed.
I had a person that worked for the Cardinals tell me flat-out that the only reason they wanted to get rid of Busch II was so they could add more luxury suites, and build what is essentially an ATM in Ballpark Village. Busch III, if you look at the layout, is basically the AAA stadium in Memphis with a third deck. While there certainly is a beautiful view of downtown from behind home plate, the vast majority of the ballpark can't even see it. I agree - walking the concourse at Busch III takes FOREVER. It's much more narrow, and with 8,000 food places on both sides, there's hardly any space to just walk unless you're in front of one of the gates after the game has started. Busch II had spots where it would be crowded, but you could walk the entire stadium in under 10 minutes most days. I don't think I've ever made it around Busch III in less than 20. Now, had Busch II remained an Astroturf, blue-interior, multi-purpose facility, the only thing I really would have missed about it would have been the arches around the top. But, they made it into a beautiful baseball-only park, and tearing it down was disgusting.
@@cardinalsbaseballclassics Yes, seeing all those closed suite doors instead of the field always rankled with me. I think the last time I went was the 2011 World Series celebration, which was awesome, and I don't know if I'll be back. Don't feel like going through a metal detector or getting wanded to see a baseball game either.
@@cardinalsbaseballclassics The thing that really killed me about Busch Stadium is that the football team owner, Bill Bidwell, complained it didn't hold enough for football. (It's highest capacity during the Gridbird years was just over 54,000, which was typical of the cookie-cutters.) Bidwell had no right to complain, because he never built a consistently competitive team and rarely sold out anyway. Moving the football team on that basis was stupid.
The Old Busch stadium was really hot because it was Not Open like the New Busch Stadium I remember Going to the Old Busch Stadium as a Child Before I was 10 I turned 10 on the Year the New Busch Stadium Opened in 2006
Busch Stadium 2 I think it was had a very deep demensions to CF...414 FT.385Ft to the power alleys and 330 Ft down the LF and RF lines How I know this is when. my San Francisco Giants would go play there and select games were on tv and then they would make it to the post season as often as they did
McGwire isn’t just a stain on The Cardinals, he’s a stain on baseball. Same with all the other Steroid era guys. He may have hit 70 but how many did he hit while on the stuff? He’ll never see Cooperstown. Thank God.
Seeing Steve Carlton back in a Cardinal uniform made me think what could’ve happened in the ‘70’s if he hadn’t been traded. The Birds were close a few times but needed a pitcher like Carlton to get them over the top. He was traded because he wanted a $5k raise and Gussie Busch was offended by such a brazen request. Can you imagine that. I’m just sayin’
