Busch Stadium II

Busch Memorial Stadium: Photo credit ballparksofbaseball.com

After spending thirteen seasons in Sportsman's Park, the Cardinals moved into a new stadium, Busch Memorial Stadium. It's also known as Busch II. Sverdrup & Parcel designed the stadium. The stadium was built by Grun & Bilfinger. The stadium was a new state-of-the-art stadium. Busch Memorial Stadium had 96-arch "Crown Arches" around it. The Stadium held both baseball, and football. It was a multipurpose stadium, also known as "cookie-cutter". Those types of stadiums earned that name because they could hold more than one type of sporting event or any other event, such as concerts. The new stadium opened on May 12, 1966. The Atlanta Braves faced the Cardinals in the first game ever at Busch Memorial Stadium. The Cardinals won the game 4-3 in 12 innings. Lou Brock, came up as a pinch hitter and got walk-off RBI base hit to win the game.

Later in 1966, on July 12th Busch Memorial saw it's first and only All-Star Game. The temperature was 103 degrees that day. The National League won 2-1 in 10 innings. Even though he was on the losing side, Baltimore Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson was named MVP for the 1966 All-Star game. Robinson scored the AL's only run in the game. In the 2nd inning, Robinson got a triple. Starting pitcher Sandy Koufax threw a wild pitch, which Robinson scored on. Robinson had three of the American League's ten hits.

In 1970, the Cardinals did away with grass and replaced it with AstroTurf (artificial turf). The Cardinals put in the AstroTurf because hot summers made it hard to keep the grass alive due to the heat. The Cardinals changed the field back to grass in 1996.

The Cardinals played their last regular season game at Busch Memorial Stadium on October 2, 2005 against the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals won the game 7-5. Brad Thompson got the win for the Cardinals, and the save went to Jason Isringhausen. The last official game came in the NLCS on October 19, 2005. The Cardinals lost game 6 to the Houston Astros 5-1.

In 1998, it became clear that Roger Maris's single season home run record of 61 home runs in 1961 could potentially be broken.  At the time the race was with three players: Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs, and Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners. The media was all over the home run race. On August 19, Sosa would get the home run lead with 48 home runs, except later in the day McGwire would regain the lead with home runs no.48 and 49.

On September 8, 1988 the Chicago Cubs were facing the Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium. McGwire hit a pitch from Cubs' starting pitcher Steve Trachsel over the left field wall for home run no.62 to break Maris's record. McGwire would finish the 98 season with 70 home runs (Barry Bonds for the San Francisco Giants latter hit 73 home runs in 2001). Sammy Sosa finished with 66 home runs, and Ken Griffey Jr. finished with 56 home runs.

 Other sports

The St. Louis Cardinals football team played at Busch Memorial Stadium for twenty-two seasons from 1966-1987. In the Cardinals twenty-eight seasons in St. Louis they never hosted a playoff game. After the 1964 season, the Cardinals won the third place Playoff Bowl against the Green Bay Packers 31-24. The game was held at the Orange Bowl in Miami on January 3, 1965. The Playoff Bowl was a postseason game for the NFL and teams battled for third place. The Playoff Bowl lasted for ten seasons from 1960-1969. All of the games were at the Orange Bowl. The Cardinals made three playoff appearances in their time in St. Louis. They lost all three games: 1974 to the Minnesota Vikings, 1975 to the Los Angeles Rams, and 1982 to the Green Bay Packers.

The St. Louis Rams after moving from Anaheim, California played four games at Busch Memorial Stadium due to a delay with the Trans World Dome (Dome at America's Center or formerly Edward Jones Dome). The last football game at Busch was on October 22, 1995. The Rams lost to the San Francisco 49ers 44-10. Ouch!

Other events

Busch Memorial Stadium hosted nine concerts.  The biggest of the nine concerts was The Beatles on August 21, 1966. It was The Beatles' final tour of North America. On June 29, 1976, "Super Jam 76", which featured Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck, Jefferson Starship, and Ted Nugent was at Busch Memorial Stadium. There were also Super Jams 77, 78, and 80. Super Jam 77 included Gypsy, Head East, Judas Priest, REO Speedwagon, and Ted Nugent. Super Jam 78 included Angel, Bob Welch, Blue Oyster Cult, Eddie Money, and Styx. Super Jam 80 included April Wine, Journey, Judas Priest, Sammy Hagar, and Shooting Star.

On September 17, 1989, The Rolling Stones with their Steel Wheels Tour were at Busch Memorial Stadium. Three of the other nine were concerts were: U2 (September 20, 1992), Paul McCartney (April 29, 1993), and Billy Joel with Elton John (August 9, 1994).


Interesting trivia

Busch Memorial Stadium hosted the World Series six times: 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 2004. The Cardinals only won the World Series in 1967 and 1982 out of those six times.

On September 15, 1986 against the New York Mets, Cardinals second baseman Mike Laga hit a foul ball out of Busch Memorial. The ball went out the first base side of the stadium. Laga was the only player to hit a foul ball completely out of Busch Memorial Stadium.

Mark McGwire holds the record for the longest home run hit at Busch Memorial Stadium. The home run was on May 16, 1998 off of then Florida Marlins starting pitcher Livan Hernandez. The home run was 454 feet.

Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds hit his 500th career home at Busch Memorial Stadium on Father's Day, June 20, 2004. At the time, Griffey Jr. was the 20th player in MLB history to reach 500 career home runs.

The player who hit the most home runs at Busch Memorial Stadium in history of the stadium was outfielder Ray Lankford. Lankford hit 123 home runs. Lankford's final at bat of his MLB career was a pinch hit home run on October 3, 2004 at Busch.

Feelings about Busch Memorial Stadium

Read first-person accounts. People reminisced and described their experience of Busch Memorial Stadium. First interview: Mr. Joe Schneider, meteorology professor at St. Louis Community College at Meramec.

The second interview: Mrs. Susan Huck Banning, one of Missouri's biggest sports fans, who supports the Blues, Cardinals, Chiefs, and the Tigers, agreed to talk about her memories about Busch Memorial Stadium.

                  

Busch Memorial Stadium replica model from the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum.