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Busch Stadium

Busch Stadium III
File:NLC-STL-Busch.PNG
Location	700 Clark Street St. Louis, Missouri 63102
Owner	St. Louis Cardinals
Capacity	43,975 seats 46,861 (with standing room)
Field size	Left Field — 336 ft / 102.5 m Left Center Field — 375 ft / 114 m Center Field — 400 ft / 122 m Right Center Field — 375 ft / 114 m Right Field — 335 ft / 102 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	January 17, 2004
Opened	April 4, 2006 (MiLB exhibition) April 10, 2006 (MLB)
Construction cost	$346 million
Architect	HOK Sport
Tenants
St. Louis Cardinals (MLB) (2006-)

Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. Busch Stadium has been chosen by MLB to host the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

The ballpark opened on April 4, 2006 with an exhibition between the minor league Memphis Redbirds and Springfield Cardinals, both affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Springfield won 5-3. The first official major league game occurred on April 10, 2006 as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 6–4. A commercial area, dubbed Ballpark Village, is being developed adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.

The stadium is the third stadium in St. Louis to carry the name Busch Stadium. Sportsman's Park was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953, after team owner Gussie Busch. The first Busch closed in 1966, and both the baseball Cardinals, and the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals moved to a new multi-purpose stadium, named Busch Memorial Stadium.

History

In 1995, St. Louis Cardinals team ownership began to lobby for a new ballpark in downtown St. Louis, but the team was unable to acquire funding for the project for several years. In June Template:Year when, the State of Missouri signed a contract with the team, proposing a ballpark in downtown St. Louis, but a subsequent funding bill was struck down in May 2002, leaving the saga open. Team owners sought a location near Madison, Illinois, adjacent to Gateway International Raceway, until the city of St. Louis drafted a financing plan for the team to construct the new stadium in downtown St. Louis. The Stadium was financed through private bonds, bank loans, a long-term loan from St. Louis County, and money from the team owners. The development, including the Ballpark Village will cost approximately $646 million with the stadium alone costing $346 million.

In its debut season every game was sold out, giving a total attendance of 3,407,104 for the season, the second-largest in team history.

On June 7, Template:Year when, the stadium hosted its first-ever concert, with Dave Matthews Band playing to a crowd of approximately 35,000. The Black Crowes served as the opening act.

Construction

New Busch Stadium was designed by HOK Sport and built by Hunt Construction with an estimated cost of $365 million. HOK's senior project designer for Busch Stadium was Jim Chibnall, who was also the lead designer of Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Sydney Olympic Stadium and other notable stadiums throughout the world.

The field level (16,880 seats), terrace level (9,150), and bleachers (3,661) were completed in time for opening day, with total capacity on that day of 37,962, not including up to 2,751 standing room tickets. Construction on the seating area was completed in late May increasing the capacity for the May 29, 2006 game vs the Houston Astros with finishing touches performed throughout the year. Including all 2,886 standing-room-only tickets for the general public and the suites and party rooms, the stadium's total capacity is 46,861. Natural grass turf was installed in March 2006.

Features and design

Where as the old stadium was a fully enclosed "cookie-cutter" facility similar to Riverfront, Veterans and Three Rivers stadiums, the new stadium is much more open-air, allowing an unobstructed view of its surroundings. It offers a panoramic view of the downtown St. Louis skyline, as well as the city's distinctive Gateway Arch - in addition to being a baseball-only facility. The Arch and several other significant St. Louis landmarks are reflected in the park's architecture.

The Gate 3 entrance on the west side of the stadium is most iconic, with a large "bridge" resembling the Eads Bridge arching over the entrance. Outside this entrance also stands a bronze statue of Cardinals legend Stan "The Man" Musial. Other Cardinals statues that previously surrounded Busch Memorial Stadium are now displayed at the corner of Clark and Eighth streets, outside the Cardinals' team store. The exterior contains historical plaques of Cardinals logos, the STL insignia and a Busch Stadium logo behind home plate.

After St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Rick Hummel was honored with the J. G. Taylor Spink Award and induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007, the Cardinals renamed the stadium's press box the "Bob Broeg-Rick Hummel Press Box", honoring the two local writers enshrined in Cooperstown.

Directly north of the stadium, construction will soon commence on Ballpark Village which will include both commercial and residential space and the new St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Following Juan Encarnación's face injury in 2007, workers increased the foul area around home plate during the 07–08 off season, in order to decrease the chances of batters on-deck getting struck by foul balls.

2006 weather incident

On July 19, 2006, a severe thunderstorm associated with a passing derecho whipped up very high winds throughout St. Louis. At the new Busch Stadium, the storm knocked over portable concession stands, damaging the infield rain tarp as it was deployed, and dislodged several of the plastic sheets that were designed to protect the open-air press box. One of those sheets, at least 10 feet by 5 feet (3 m by 1.5 m) in dimension, fell into the stands. At least thirty spectators were injured, of whom five were taken to the hospital (one of those had a seizure apparently unrelated to the storm). The game, which saw the Cardinals defeat the Atlanta Braves 8-3, was delayed by 2 hours and 21 minutes, while the crews cleaned up. The stadium now has designated shelter areas for such disasters which are located throughout the ballpark in strategically placed ramps and stairwells.

Playoff history

2006

On October 7 and 8, 2006, New Busch Stadium hosted its first playoff games. On October 7, in Game 3 of the 2006 National League Division Series, the San Diego Padres defeated the Cardinals 3–1. However, the Redbirds defeated the Padres in Game 4, on October 8, 2006, to win the series three games to one.

On October 14, during the first 2006 National League Championship Series game played at New Busch, the Cardinals defeated the New York Mets 5–0 to take a 2–1 lead in that series. The Cardinals went on to win the 2006 National League Championship in 7 games.

On October 24, 26, and 27, the Cardinals hosted the first World Series games at New Busch Stadium against the Detroit Tigers. The Cards won all three games, and secured their tenth world championship, four games to one. After the game, many fans climbed the famous statue of Stan Musial to celebrate. There was also a fireworks display in left field. The games of October 26 and 27th were rescheduled from a postponement October 25.

By virtue of the Cardinals winning the World Series in 2006, New Busch Stadium joined a very short list of ballparks whose occupants won the Series in the ballpark's inaugural year. The last previous one had been Yankee Stadium, in 1923. The Cardinals are also the first team to win a World Series at home in the inaugural season of a stadium since the 1912 Boston Red Sox (Fenway Park).

References

1. ^ Official Ballpark Factsheet which states the costs of the stadium
2. "Cardinals make 65,000 additional tickets available" St. Louis Cardinals Press Release, April 28, 2006.
3. ESPN.com Stadium Profile
4. Leach, Matthew (2007-01-16). "St. Louis awarded 2009 All-Star Game". MLB.com. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
5. Ballparks of Baseball article regarding funding and construction of the stadium
6. "New plan calls for $333 million stadium, plus Ballpark Village complex," Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, September 25, Template:Year when,
7. "Cardinals looking at site near Gateway Raceway," Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, August 16, Template:Year when.
8. "Cards lose, become NL Central champ with worst record". Retrieved 2006-10-01.
9. Bonetti, David. Q&A With The Architect: 'It's not totally retro'. St.Louis Post-Dispatch. April 6th, 2006.
10. Storm damages Busch Stadium; Cards-Braves delayed from ESPN.com

External links

• Busch Stadium official page

38°37′21″N 90°11′35.6″W / 38.62250°N 90.193222°W / 38.62250; -90.193222

• St. Louis Cardinals
• Major League Baseball venues
• Sports venues in St. Louis, Missouri
• 2006 architecture
• Major League Baseball All-Star Game venues