Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (52 page)

Sections 507–511 really aren’t that good, as you deal with railings, aisles, and people getting up and down in the lower and nicer Sections 127 and 128. You’ll be much happier in 501–504.

Along Stan Musial Drive (8th Street) opposite the ballpark and directly above the Metrolink Stadium Station is the perch of most all of the Red Bird ticket scalpers. And they are a boisterous flock, chirping loudly and aggressively at passing cars, shouting, “Hey! I’ve got your ticket right here!” Sounded a bit too much like a come-on to us, but we digress. If the Cards aren’t hosting the Cubs or another top-drawing team, plan on paying a little above face value from these guys. They’re kinda like Ticketmaster, in that you can whine all you want, but you can’t deny them their markup.

One downside to the area is that until the Ballpark Village is built, the streets around Busch Stadium don’t offer much in the way of restaurants and bars. You’ll find plenty of touristy things to do in this city, though. Pregame and postgame activities might include visits to the Gateway Arch and Museum of Westward Expansion on the banks of the Mississippi River, the Riverboat rides, casinos on the Mississippi, or the nearby Anheuser-Busch Brewery. If you’re interested in having a more traditional night out at the bars, take the Metro a few stops down, or walk if you’re game, to the historic Laclede’s Landing district, where you’ll find a host of pubs, restaurants, and nightclubs, and a whole lot of fun people to enjoy them with.

Busch is easy to reach by a number of highways that all provide ample signage for the ballpark. But if you somehow get lost, just look for the Gateway Arch and drive toward it. If you’re coming into town from the west, take Route 40/I-64, which passes right by the ballpark. From the south, take I-55 to I-70, which also leads right to the park. From the north, take I-70. From the east, I-70, I-64, and I-55 all merge on the way into town, leading right to the park. Busch is located at 250 Stadium Plaza, right off 8th Street.

The large parking garages that once serviced Busch Memorial are still open and operational at New Busch Stadium. There are also plenty of other garages and lots surrounding the ballpark, and none of them are too expensive. You’ll pay more for a couple of dogs inside the park. Beware: The city garage closes one hour after the last out is recorded. We almost learned this lesson the hard way. After watching the Cardinals bullpen surrender two runs in the ninth to lose 2–1 against the Astros on our first road trip, we headed to the Bowling Hall of Fame to roll a few frames (yes frames, not strings). Then we visited the Arch to snap a few pictures. By the time we returned to the garage, our car was the only one left, along with one less-than-thrilled city employee who was pacing at the front gate, trying to decide whether to wait another five minutes or to lock us in for the night. Not only had this kindly gentleman waited for us, but he also gave us directions out of town. Gotta love the friendly Midwest.

For night games and Sundays, the streets around the ballpark offer plenty of free meter spots. Just remember that street parking is prohibited between the hours of 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., so don’t plan on staying out all night and getting your car the next morning. Chances are it will have been ticketed, booted, or towed.

For those staying around town, the Metrolink provides a convenient way to get to the game. Buy your ticket beforehand and head for the Stadium stop. You’ll wind up right across the street from the ballpark. On our second trip we bought full-day Metro tickets but nobody bothered to check them, either coming or going. But again beware: Sneaking on the train without buying a ticket could get you a healthy fine.

The activity level outside the park before the game is very high, much higher than outside most ballparks. Folks have come from near and far to attend this blessed event, and they tend to want to maximize their experience. From walking the surrounding park snapping photos, taking the tour, and following the history built into the surrounding sidewalk, to posing for pictures among the many statues that honor the greatest of the great to don Cardinal red, to lining up outside all the gates to get in early and watch batting practice, Red Bird fans take full advantage of the experience. It just makes us wish there were a few more watering holes at which to enjoy the pregame atmosphere even more.

Once upon a time, the Cardinals Hall of Fame was proudly located inside the International Bowling Hall of Fame. Both facilities closed down after the opening of New Busch, though. While the Bowling Hall reopened in Arlington, Texas, the Cardinals Hall is not scheduled to reopen until Ballpark Village gets off its feet, across the street from New Busch. When
it does put its exhibits on display once again, you’ll find plenty of neat things to pique your baseball interest. The Museum will honor not only Cardinal greats but members of the St. Louis Browns who made lasting contributions to the Gateway City’s hardball memory bank. The Cards’ most recent World Series trophies will be on display too, along with a number of the MVP trophies won by Cardinal players. Whether or not the 1962 Cardinal-Red Corvette that once belonged to Mark McGwire will still be on display, though, is anyone’s guess.

The Plaza of Champions that once offered “smaller than life” statues of St. Louis baseball greats outside Busch Memorial now resides at the corner of Clark and 8th Streets. It includes renderings of former Cardinals Stan Musial, “Red” Schoendienst, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, George Sisler, Enos Slaughter, Rogers Hornsby, and Dizzy Dean. Negro League star Cool Papa Bell, who played for the St. Louis Stars, is also honored with a statue.

The statues portray the players in action—diving to make catches, sliding into bases, throwing, and swinging—making them very lifelike. The plaza is a very nice tribute, and fans before the game are constantly having their photos taken with the greats.

A larger statue of Musial that also once stood outside Busch Memorial now stands at the Third Base entrance to the ballpark, in a Plaza named for the greatest Cardinal ever who’s name doesn’t rhyme with “blue rolls.” A replica of a baseball bearing Musial’s signature is embedded into the concrete of the plaza, while overhead the arching Eads Bridge replica looms.

The large statue of “The Man” depicts him with shoulders that seem too broad for the rest of his body, a waist smaller than a ten-year-old girl’s, and a batting stance that looks like Timmy Lupus from
The Bad News Bears
. His oversized eyes seem rather ghoulish too, with long horizontal slits that resemble a cock-eyed owl. Cardinals fans don’t seem to mind a bit, as they climb up onto the likeness (and we use this word loosely) to get a photo with the iconic figure. We think the likeness is awful. See what you think.

Josh:
This statue still creeps me out.

Kevin:
Try not to think about it too much.

Josh:
Don’t you think it’s weird?

Kevin:
Most certainly. But unlike you, it won’t give me nightmares.

Josh:
The only nightmare I’ll get is if any guy tells me Musial was a better hitter than Ted Williams.

The quintessential Cardinal, Musial collected 3,630 hits, including 475 homers, in a twenty-two-year career spent entirely in St. Louis between 1941 and 1963. A winner of seven batting crowns, Musial finished with a .331 career average and three MVP awards. He was a National League All-Star in each of his final twenty seasons. What many folks don’t know is that Musial actually began his minor league career as a pitcher before an arm injury moved him to the outfield. At the plate he used an unorthodox stance that saw him coil his body in the left-handed batter’s box, as if he were looking around a corner. He would hold the bat straight up, then uncork a mighty cut.

Though he didn’t have quite as much power as his American League contemporary, Ted Williams, many considered Stan the Senior Circuit’s equivalent of the Splendid Splinter. Both players could hit for power and average but when they faced each other in the 1946 October Classic—which St. Louis won in seven games to capture its third and final World Series title of
the decade—neither fared particularly well. Musial batted .222 with 0 homers and four RBIs in what would be the final World Series appearance of his career, while Williams hit .200 with 0 homers and one RBI in the only World Series appearance of his storied career.

The difference in the 1946 Series was Cardinals southpaw Harry Brecheen, who threw complete game victories in Games 2 and 6, and then came out of the bullpen to quell a Boston rally and win Game 7. Brecheen was 3–0 with a 0.45 ERA in twenty innings in the Series. That, from a pitcher who posted a 15–15 record during the regular season for a team that won ninety-eight games.

Embedded into the sidewalk around the park, the Cardinals have put their own twist on the Hollywood Star Walk of Fame. Starting at the Home Plate entrance, fans can follow the course of great moments in the history of the franchise from its beginnings in 1892, with each square highlighting an important milestone. Players, pennants, significant achievements, events, and World Series victories: everything you wanted to know about the Cardinals but were too afraid to ask, appear at your feet, memorialized in granite. Surrounding many of these, Cardinal fans purchased bricks to place their names in stone alongside their heroes’.

Want to sit in the dugout where the manager sits, brooding over how to execute his next double-switch? We did, and it was worth it. Our tour guide was a delightful gentleman who proved very knowledgeable. Warning: Tours are capped at forty tickets. We arrived at the ballpark hours early and snagged the last two tickets for the last tour of the day. We almost missed it. Cards fans span the entire region, and will drive hours for a game and a tour, so if you want to be certain of getting your tickets, reserve them online ahead of time.

It wouldn’t be a trip to St. Louis without paying an obligatory visit to the Gateway Arch. It’s silver, shiny, and enormous, and Kevin likened it to a giant croquet wicket. From the ballpark, walk in the general direction of the river and soon enough you will encounter a pleasant tree-lined path leading to the Arch. The walk is quite scenic, with classy globe lights illuminating the way. If you hear church bells tolling, look to the old cathedral, also known as the Basilica of St. Louis, a short distance from the Arch. Originally blessed in June 1770, the cathedral became a basilica in 1914.

Walk up to the Arch and give it a few raps with your knuckles. Josh did. It may look like it’s made of aluminum, but it’s not hollow. Next, check out the underground visitor center that contains the Museum of Westward Expansion, which celebrates the opening of the West. Here, theaters show movies about the discovery and development of the American West and about the Arch’s construction.

The thing we liked best about the complex was the Arch Tram, which for just a few bucks takes visitors on the ride of
a lifetime. Okay, that may be overstating things. But the Tram does take folks on a very impressive ten-minute sojourn to the top, sixty-three stories above the ground. Josh gaped in awe at the view of the expansive west, while Kevin discussed the catenary equation with an architect from Belleville, Illinois, named Butch.

With the delay of the Ballpark Village project, the area surrounding the ballpark remains on the meager side when it comes to providing great dining and drinking options nearby. We trust that the Cardinals will remedy this in the same manner as they have approached everything else: slowly, methodically, and getting it pretty near perfect when they finally get around to it. Until then, we’ll give you some of the joints worth hitting up, but you may have to search the greater St. Louis downtown area for an establishment more to your liking, because things are not happening outside the ballpark.