Busch Stadium
Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri has been the home of the St. Louis baseball Cardinals since May 12, 1966, four days after the last game was played in Sportsman's Park. It was known as Busch Memorial Stadium until 1982. The stadium's name comes from the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch, who owned the baseball team until March 1996 and championed the stadium's construction.
It was the home of the St. Louis football Cardinals from 1966 through 1987, until the team moved to Arizona after owner Bill Bidwill failed to convince the city to build a new stadium. The St. Louis Rams played there briefly during part of the 1995 NFL season, until their new stadium, now the Edward Jones Dome, was ready.
The stadium was designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone. Its arched design echoes the nearby Gateway Arch. The grounds are home to bronze statues of the baseball team's Hall-of-Famers such as Bob Gibson and Stan Musial. Its playing surface, originally natural grass, was Astroturf starting in 1970; grass returned in 1996.
Busch Stadium has hosted World Series games in five different seasons: 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, and 1987. 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 of McGwire's 70th of that season for a record which lasted through 2001.
The stadium, now the fourth-oldest in Major League Baseball, is scheduled to be demolished in late 2005, to be replaced by a new 46,000-seat ball park scheduled to open in April 2006. The new park will also be named Busch Stadium.
