Busch Memorial Stadium

Busch Stadium

Former names	Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium (1966–1981)
Location	250 Stadium Plaza St. Louis, Missouri 63102
Owner	St. Louis Cardinals
Capacity	49,676 (baseball) 60,000 (football)
Field size	Left Field: 330 ft (101 m) Left-Center: 372 ft (113 m) Center Field: 402 ft (123 m) Right-Center: 372 ft (113 m) Right Field: 330 ft (101 m) Backstop: 64 ft (20 m) |- ! style="background: #efefef;" colspan="2" | Original Dimensions (1966) |- | colspan="2" | Left Field: 330 ft (101 m) Left-Center: 386 ft (118 m) Center Field: 414 ft (126 m) Right-Center: 386 ft (118 m) Right Field: 330 ft (101 m) Backstop: 64 ft (20 m)
Surface	Grass (1966-1969, 1996-2005) AstroTurf (1970-1995)
Construction
Broke ground	1964
Built	1964-1966
Opened	May 12, 1966
Closed	October 22, 1995 (NFL) October 19, 2005 (MLB)
Demolished	November 7, 2005-December 8, 2005
Construction cost	$25 million
Architect	Sverdrup & Parcel and Associates; Edward Durell Stone; Schwarz & Van Hoefen, Associated
Tenants
St. Louis Cardinals (NL) 1966–2005 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) 1966–1987 St. Louis Stars (NPSL/NASL) 1967–1974 St. Louis Rams (NFL) 1995

Busch Memorial Stadium, or Busch Stadium was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals National League baseball team from May 12, 1966 to October 19, 2005. It opened four days after the last game was played in their old home, Sportsman's Park (which had also been known since 1953 as Busch Stadium).

The stadium was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel and built by Grün & Bilfinger. Edward Durrell Stone designed the roof's 96-arch "Crown of Arches." echoed the iconic Gateway Arch, which was completed only a year before Busch Stadium officially opened. It was one of the first multipurpose facilities built in the United States from the early 1960s through the early 1980s, along with those in Washington, New York, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and some others. The original design of the stadium had called for a baseball-only format, but the design was altered to accommodate football, a fact which arguably shortened its existence. The stadium was destroyed by wrecking ball in late 2005, and part of its former footprint is used by its replacement stadium of the same name.

Football

Busch Stadium was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) beginning with that team's 1966 season. They remained there through the 1987 season, and then relocated to Tempe, Arizona after owner Bill Bidwill failed to convince the city to pay for a new football-only stadium.

Busch Stadium was also briefly the home of the St. Louis Rams, who relocated from Los Angeles to move into the new and nearby Trans World Dome, later renamed the Edward Jones Dome. Since construction on their new home was delayed, the Rams played their first four 1995 games at Busch Stadium.

The stadium never hosted a playoff game during the Cardinals' 28-year run in St. Louis. The "Gridbirds" made only three playoff appearances during that stretch, losing at the Minnesota Vikings in 1974, Los Angeles Rams in 1975 and Green Bay Packers in 1982.

More about the stadium

When it opened it was known as Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium, until December 31, 1981. It became just Busch Stadium the following day. The stadium's name came from the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch, who owned the baseball team until March 1996 and championed the stadium's construction.

The grounds were home to bronze statues of Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Dizzy Dean, Rogers Hornsby, Red Schoendienst, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, James 'Cool Papa Bell, Jack Buck and most recently, Ozzie Smith. The stadium's playing surface, originally natural grass, was replaced with Astroturf in 1970 because St. Louis' typically hot summers made it difficult to keep the grass alive. Originally, the Cardinals continued to use a full dirt infield, but replaced it with an all-Astroturf infield (except for sliding pits around the bases) in 1976. Grass returned in 1996.

Busch Stadium hosted World Series games in six different seasons: 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 2004. The stadium was also the site of Mark McGwire's historic 62nd home run of the 1998 season that broke Roger Maris' single-season record, and also of McGwire's 70th of that season, for a record which lasted until Barry Bonds surpassed it in 2001.

The dimensions in center and the power alleys had been altered from time to time over the years. Initially the park was very favorable to pitchers, with spacious outfield dimensions. Consequently, its design (as well as the Astroturf surface) was favorable to the Cardinals' style of play for most of the time from the 1960s through the 1990s, which emphasized good baserunning and extra-base hits. Later changes attempted to make the outfield better balanced between pitching and power hitting.

By the early 1990s, the stadium appeared to be falling into disrepair. However, remodeling in 1995 improved the park's sense of intimacy and converted the multi-purpose facility into a baseball-only stadium. Even before the renovations, baseball purists looked on it with somewhat less disdain than they did other cookie-cutter parks. For instance, the upper deck was not nearly as high as those of similarly-designed facilities. Also, the Crown of Arches gave it a more traditional look than its contemporaries.

Destruction

Demolition of the stadium began at 3:07 Central Standard Time on November 7, 2005, as the location of the stadium would become part of the outfield and Ballpark Village area for the new Busch Stadium. Busch Memorial Stadium was originally slated to be imploded like most modern-day stadium demolitions to be able to finish construction on the new stadium in time for the 2006 season. However, due to fear of damaging the nearby light-rail line, it was decided to tear down the stadium with a wrecking ball piece-by-piece over a period of a few weeks. At 12:25 AM local time on December 8, 2005, the final standing section of Busch Stadium was demolished.

Gallery

• 
  Busch Stadium with the new stadium (left) under construction on August 5, 2005
• 
  A view from Busch Stadium's bleachers, facing the right-center field picnic area and bullpen.
• 
  Baseball diamond at Busch during night game.

External links

• Busch Stadium III Construction Time-Lapse
• Busch Stadium history, from the Major League Baseball website
• Busch Stadium, from the Sporting News
• Last call for Busch and A toast to Busch, articles from the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch
• Busch Stadium on Google maps
• Busch Stadium Demolition Diary
• Busch Memorial Stadium Ballpark Review

38°37′26.11″N 90°11′33.44″W