Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium II, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, that operated for 40 years, from 1966 through

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. The stadium served as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team for its entire operating existence, while also serving as home to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

's Cardinals team for 22 seasons, from 1966 through 1987, as well as the St. Louis Rams during part of the 1995 season. It opened four days after the last baseball game was played at 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 Durell Stone Edward Durell Stone (March 9, 1902 – August 6, 1978) was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, the Museo de A ...

designed the roof, a 96-arch "Crown of Arches". The Crown echoed the Gateway Arch, which had been completed only a year before Busch Stadium opened. It was one of the first multipurpose "

cookie-cutter A cookie cutter in North American English, also known as a biscuit cutter outside North America, is a tool to cut out cookie/biscuit dough in a particular shape. They are often used for seasonal occasions when well-known decorative shapes are ...

" facilities built in the United States, popular from the early 1960s through the early 1980s. Its final event was the sixth game of the 2005 NLCS on October 19. The stadium was demolished by wrecking ball in late 2005 and part of its former footprint is occupied by its replacement stadium—the new Busch Stadium (a.k.a. Busch Stadium III), located just south.

History

Pre-Construction

With new stadiums such as the Astrodome and Shea Stadium, St. Louis felt the need to modernize. Many of these stadiums demonstrated modern feats of

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

, but also demonstrated a transition occurring for the American public at the time: traditional to the cutting edge. At the time of design, the Busch Stadium II was planned to be used for several purposes. The stadium was named Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium. Just weeks after opening the new stadium hosted the All-Star Game followed by a performance by the Beatles. The landmark that distinguishes St. Louis’s skyline today, the Gateway Arch, was built across the street. To complement this historic landmark, the new stadium had 96 open arches on its roof. As a testament to the design, St. Louis’s Stadium was one of the last built in the 60’s to be torn down. After serving the St. Louis Cardinals for 40 seasons, the Memorial Stadium was torn down in 2005.

Construction

The baseball Cardinals had played at Sportsman's Park since , originally as tenants of the St. Louis Browns of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

. The Cardinals had long since passed the Browns as St. Louis' premier team, and chafed at having the Browns as landlords. At least as early as the 1940s, the Cardinals had sought to build their own park. Longtime owner Sam Breadon had set aside $3 million to build a new park. However, he was unable to find any land to do so, and World War II put those plans on hold in any case. By 1947, Breadon faced the prospect of having to pay a heavy tax bill on his stadium fund. Tax lawyer Fred Saigh convinced Breadon to sell him the team, arguing this would save the Cardinals from this stuff tax burden. When this tax dodge came to light in 1953 following an IRS audit, Saigh was subsequently charged with tax evasion, and pleaded no contest. Facing certain banishment from baseball, he put the team up for sale. Ultimately,

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

bought the Cardinals with the specific goal of keeping them in St. Louis. However, the Cardinals would have needed a new park in any event. Sportsman's Park had been built in its final form in 1909, and had not aged well. By 1953, even with the rent from the Cardinals, there was not nearly enough revenue to bring the stadium up to code, with city officials even threatening to have it condemned. With this in mind, soon after Anheuser-Busch bought the Cardinals, Browns owner

Bill Veeck William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis B ...

sold the park to the Cardinals, who heavily renovated the park and renamed it Busch Stadium, while Veeck relocated his team to Baltimore (rebranding it the Orioles). By the late 1950s, however, the need for a new park could no longer be staved off. Sportsman's Park/Busch Stadium had almost no parking, and the neighborhood around it had gone to seed. In 1958, Charles Farris, the city's head of development, proposed a new stadium downtown as the core of a plan to revive a 31-block area of the business district. The original design of the stadium called for a baseball-only format, but after the NFL's Chicago Cardinals moved to St. Louis at the end of the 1959 season, becoming known as the football Cardinals in St. Louis, the design was altered to accommodate football as well: the football Cardinals would share Sportsman's Park/Busch Stadium with the baseball Cardinals. With support from the local Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Center Redevelopment Corporation was established in September 1959, and it was given power of

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

, which was used to condemn several areas that were rundown or had gone to seed years before, including the small Chinatown district, the Grand Theater strip club, and various flophouses and abandoned warehouses. Groundbreaking occurred on May 25, 1964, and construction took just under two years. The plan also included parking garages, a hotel (a Stouffer's hotel), and office buildings. A few years later, it also became the new home of the Spanish Pavilion from the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...

. The stadium opened on May 12, 1966, one month into the baseball season, as ''Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium.'' However, the "Civic Center" part was rarely used, and most people called it simply ''Busch Memorial Stadium.''

Subsequent years

The stadium's grass was replaced with

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has ...

in 1970. St. Louis' notoriously hot summers made it difficult to keep the grass alive, especially when the football Cardinals insisted on practicing on the field during the end of the baseball Cardinals' season. The Cardinals retained a full dirt infield for eight seasons. A removable, sectioned Astroturf surface covered the infield during football season. The infield was converted to sliding pits when the surface was replaced for the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

baseball season. With artificial turf, the playing conditions at Busch Stadium were among the hottest in baseball, with temperatures well above the local official readings. Anheuser-Busch (who owned the baseball Cardinals at the time) bought the stadium in 1981 for $53 million and removed the "Memorial" from the stadium's name, becoming simply Busch Stadium; the price included the parking garages. Over the years the grounds became home to bronze statues of

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consis ...

, Enos Slaughter, Dizzy Dean, Rogers Hornsby, Red Schoendienst,

Lou Brock Louis Clark Brock (June 18, 1939September 6, 2020) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He began his 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the 1961 Chicago Cubs but spent most of it as a left fielder for the St. Louis ...

Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot" ...

, James "Cool Papa" Bell,

George Sisler George Harold Sisler (March 24, 1893 – March 26, 1973), nicknamed "Gorgeous George", was an American professional baseball first baseman and player-manager. From 1915 through 1930, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis ...

, Jack Buck, and Ozzie Smith. Following Busch's last 1995 event—the Rams' October 22 game before the opening of the now- Dome at America's Center—the Cardinals retrofitted it into a baseball-only stadium. A large section of the upper deck outfield seats was closed, replaced with a hand-operated scoreboard and flags commemorating the Cardinals' retired numbers and World Series championships. The stadium's original natural grass field was restored, and the outfield walls were re-painted green from their original blue. Busch stadium

Demolition

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 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

season. Due to fear of damaging the nearby Stadium MetroLink station, it was decided to tear down the stadium with a wrecking ball, piece-by-piece, over a few weeks. Demolition of the stadium began at 3:07 p.m. CST on November 7 and was completed shortly after midnight on December 8, 2005. Part of the footprint of the old stadium is now occupied by the outfield of the current stadium. The Cardinals had planned to build Ballpark Village on the site of the stadium ($320 million for the first phase). It was to consist of boutiques and restaurants, condominium apartments anchored by the new headquarters of Centene Corporation—all to be built in time for the All-Star Game in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

. None of the construction had occurred until groundbreaking ceremonies on February 8, 2013, and locals derisively referred to its rain-soaked unfinished status before that date as "Lake DeWitt"—after Cardinal President

William DeWitt, Jr. William Orville DeWitt Jr. (born August 31, 1941) is an American businessman who is currently the managing partner and chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise which competes in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Ca ...

In March 2009, the Cardinals announced the site would be used for a softball field and parking during the game.

Uses

Baseball

In its opening year, Busch Stadium hosted the All-Star Game, a 2–1

victory in 10 innings, mostly remembered for the humidity and temperatures. The stadium hosted

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

games in six different seasons: , , , , , and . The Cardinals won the World Series in 1967 and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

while playing in the stadium (the seventh game of the 1982 Series was won at Busch). The 1968 and 2004 World Series were clinched in Busch Stadium by visitors: the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

in the seventh game and the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in a four-game sweep, respectively. 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 the 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. Before the 1996 season, the stadium was retrofitted to become a baseball-only stadium. Part of the top deck in center field was permanently closed, and in 1997, flags were put in place to honor the team's retired numbers and pennants. Even before then, the stadium had come under less scorn from baseball purists than other cookie-cutter stadiums built during the same era, partly because the "crown of arches" gave it a more traditional look than its cousins and partially because it was alone amongst cookie-cutters in having field-level outfield seating. The baseball diamond was oriented southeast by east (home to center field); the new stadium is aligned east-northeast, the recommended orientation.

Football

Busch Stadium was also the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of the

for 22 seasons, from 1966 through 1987. The stadium was one of, and later the smallest, facilities in the NFL: while the Cardinals played there, it seated 54,692 people, barely more than the NFL's minimum capacity of 50,000 (mandated in 1970). Various efforts were made to get a new larger stadium or expansion of Busch Stadium, but after these failed, Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill relocated the team to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

after the 1987 season. The football Cardinals never hosted a playoff game during their 28 seasons in St. Louis, while the "Gridbirds" made only three playoff appearances during that stretch, losing on the road against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, and

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

. Despite this lack of success, they won the third place

Playoff Bowl The Playoff Bowl (officially known as the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) was a post-season game for third place in the National Football League (NFL), played ten times following the through seasons, all at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was or ...

after the 1964 season, upsetting Vince Lombardi's Packers 31–24 at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. Busch Stadium was also briefly the home of the St. Louis Rams, who had relocated from Anaheim Stadium in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

. Due to completion of their new home stadium, the new and nearby Trans World Dome (later renamed the Dome at America's Center) being delayed, the Rams played the first half of the 1995 season at Busch Stadium: for these four home games, Busch Stadium seated 60,000 people. The Rams played their last game at Busch Stadium on October 22, while the new indoor venue hosted its first NFL game on November 12, 1995. Between the Cardinals' 1987 departure and the Rams' 1995 arrival, the stadium hosted two NFL pre-season games: one between the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

and the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in 1989, and one between the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

in 1991.

Concerts

Acts who have performed at Busch Stadium include: *

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, on August 21, 1966, during their final North American tour. *

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock ...

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...

and

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epo ...

, as part of "Super Jam 76" *

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...

, on September 17, 1989, during their

Steel Wheels Tour The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels Tour was a concert tour which was launched in North America in August 1989 to promote the band's album '' Steel Wheels''; it continued to Japan in February 1990, with ten shows at the Tokyo Dome. The European le ...

* New Kids on the Block on August 26, 1990, during The Magic Summer Tour * U2 on September 20, 1992, during their Zoo TV Tour *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

on April 29, 1993, during The New World Tour *

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

on August 9, 1994, during their first Face to Face Tour

Seating capacity

References

External links

Ballparks of Baseball-Busch Stadium-St. Louis Cardinals
* *, from the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

website *, from the '' Sporting News''
A toast to Busch
article from the '' Saint Louis Post-Dispatch''
Busch Stadium Demolition Diary
{{Navboxes, list1= {{s-start {{succession box , title = Home of the
St. Louis Cardinals (NL) , years = 1966–2005 , before = Busch Stadium (I) , after = Busch Stadium (III) {{succession box , title = Home of the
St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) , years = 1966–1987 , before = Busch Stadium (I) , after = Sun Devil Stadium {{succession box , title = Home of the
St. Louis Rams , years = September 10, 1995 – October 22, 1995 , before = Anaheim Stadium , after = Trans World Dome {{succession box , title = Host of the All-Star Game , years = 1966 , before =

Metropolitan Stadium Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...

, after = Anaheim Stadium {{succession box , title = Host of the College Cup , years = 1974 , before = Miami Orange Bowl , after =

Ralph Korte Stadium Ralph Korte Stadium, also known as "The Ralph", is a 4,000 seat stadium located on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. It is home to the SIUE Cougars men's and women's soccer and outdoor track & fi ...

{{s-end {{St. Louis Cardinals {{Arizona Cardinals {{Los Angeles Rams {{California Surf {{Defunct NFL stadiums {{Defunct MLB Ballparks Baseball venues in St. Louis St. Louis Cardinals stadiums St. Louis Cardinals (football) stadiums St. Louis Rams stadiums b Demolished sports venues in Missouri Defunct multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Sports venues completed in 1966 Sports venues demolished in 2005 1966 establishments in Missouri 2005 disestablishments in Missouri Defunct Major League Baseball venues Defunct National Football League venues Sports venues in St. Louis American football venues in Missouri Baseball venues in Missouri Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Edward Durell Stone buildings Defunct American football venues in the United States Defunct baseball venues in the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums Defunct soccer venues in the United States Tourist attractions in St. Louis Demolished buildings and structures in St. Louis Anheuser-Busch advertising