Ding, Ding, Ding Goes the Trolley . . .

1
The new Busch Stadium opened up in 2006 and . . . so here's the review.

Another city, another new stadium, another great view of a downtown. In this case, the view is of the Gateway Arch on the Mighty Mississippi and the city courthouse. Unfortunately, as I said, I think I'm becoming desensitized to this.

Superficially, the stadium reminded me of Great American Ballpark, though that may be in large part because all of the seats were red. The stadium itself is deceptively big, it actually seemed smaller from the Upper Deck than from the Field Level standing room. Along with Detroit, these have been the only stadiums where ushers have been less than polite. Worse than Detroit, the ushers really do move you along here and don't exactly let you stand around and watch the game from different vantage points (aside from the dedicated standing room). A good out-of-town scoreboard and a very nice scoreboard overall (though make sure you bring your glasses, as the statistics show up a little small). Outside the stadium, there were statues of past Cardinal greats and a very impressive one dedicated to the great Stan Musial. Plus, there's The International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame.

An interesting factoid is that St. Louis, in my opinion has had, by far, the most attractive fanbase of any stadium we've yet seen. We'll see how Cubs fans do, but as of right now, the Cards take the cake. They also score major points for putting the kibosh on "The Wave."

No opportunities for street meat outside, but a decent watering hole just a block or two away with $6 tall boys (24 oz beers). We couldn't find any $5 hats, either.

Andrew and I stayed with an old college buddy of mine in Maplewood, Missouri, a few minutes outside the downtown and ate lunch at Schlafly's and toured their brewery. As an experienced brewery tourer, I can say that this was a pretty good one. The food was good (and quite filling). The beer, aside from the Raspberry Hefeweizen, was also quite good. On Monday night, we found our freedom at Blueberry Hill and, following that, Cicero's. We finally ended the night at Saratoga Lanes, a bowling alley I'd highly recommend for its $2.50 beers and (most of all) its manual scoring.

The other folks stayed downtown and seemed to enjoy it. They toured the Anheiseur-Busch brewery and said that it was a good tour. We considered touring Anheiseur-Busch but, ultimately, figured that it unfortunately must end with drinking beers brewed by Anheiseur-Busch (or InBev, or whatever).

Before the game, we briefly walked around the park with the Gateway Arch and, if you've got the time, it's a nice park to see, very clean and the arch is pretty impressive in person.

Mike also claimed that he liked the old Busch Stadium moreso than the new one, so that's something to keep in mind, as well.

Busch Grades:

Biggest Advantages: View of the Arch, Scoreboard, Proximity to the Bowling Hall of Fame (?)
Biggest Drawbacks: Impolite ushers

Overall Grade: C+ (still above average, but not that much)

Up Next: Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois

. . . Finally, just want to give a special thanks to Mike Reuther for putting us up for the two nights and Kevin Brown for meeting us out (neither of you will probably read this)

1-http://nlds2.mlblogs.com/nlds2/images/img_0691.JPG