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 Interactive map of Sportsman's Park / Busch Stadium (I) | |
| Former names |
|
|---|---|
| Location | Sullivan Ave. 3623 Dodier St. (Cardinals) & 2911 N Grand Blvd (Browns). St Louis, Missouri, U.S.[1] |
| Coordinates | 38°39′29″N90°13′12″W / 38.658°N 90.220°W /38.658; -90.220 |
| Owner | St. Louis Cardinals (1953–1966) St. Louis Browns (1902–1953) |
| Operator | St. Louis Cardinals (1953–1966) St. Louis Browns (1902–1953) |
| Capacity |
|
| Field size | Left Field: 351 ft (107 m) Left-Center: 379 ft (116 m) Deepest corner (just left of dead center): 426 ft (130 m) Deepest corner (just right of dead center): 422 ft (129 m) Right-Center: 354 ft (108 m) Right Field: 310 ft (94 m) Backstop: 68 ft (21 m) |
| Surface | Natural grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1880; 145 years ago (1880) |
| Opened | April 23, 1902; 123 years ago (1902)[1] |
| Renovated | 1909; 116 years ago (1909)[1] |
| Expanded | 1909; 116 years ago (1909) 1922; 103 years ago (1922) 1926; 99 years ago (1926) |
| Closed | May 8, 1966; 59 years ago (1966) |
| Demolished | 1966; 59 years ago (1966) |
| Construction cost | US$300,000 ($10.9 million in 2024 dollars[2]) $500,000 (1925 refurbishment) |
| Architect | Osborn Engineering Company |
| Tenants | |
| |
Sportsman's Park was the name of several formerMajor League Baseballballpark structures inSt. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner ofGrand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on the north side of the city.
Sportsman's Park was the home field of both theSt. Louis Browns of theAmerican League, and theSt. Louis Cardinals of theNational League from 1920 to 1953, when the Browns relocated to Baltimore and were rebranded as theOrioles and the ballpark was renamedBusch Stadium (but still commonly called Sportsman's Park).
The physical street address was 2911 North Grand Boulevard. The ballpark was also the home to professional football: in1923, it hosted St. Louis' first NFL team, theAll-Stars, and later hosted theSt. Louis Cardinals of theNational Football League from1960 (following the team's relocation fromChicago) until1965, withBusch Memorial Stadium opening its doors in 1966.
Baseball was played on the Sportsman's Park site as early as 1867. The tract was acquired in 1866 by August Solari, who began staging games there the following year. It was the home of theSt. Louis Brown Stockings in theNational Association and theNational League from 1875 to 1877.
It was originally called theGrand Avenue Ball Grounds: some sources say the field was renamedSportsman's Park in1876, although local papers were not using that name until 1881, and some local papers used the alternate name "Grand Avenue Park" until at least 1885. The first grandstand, one of three on the site, was built in1881. At that time, the diamond and the grandstands were on the southeast corner of the block, for the convenience of fans arriving from Grand Avenue. The park was leased[3] by the then-majorAmerican Association entry, the St. Louis "Brown Stockings", or "Browns". The Browns were a very strong team in the mid-1880s, but their success waned.
When the National League absorbed the strongest of the old Association teams in1892, the Browns were brought along. Soon they went looking for a new ballpark, finding a site just a few blocks northwest of the old one, and calling itNew Sportsman's Park, which was later renamedRobison Field. They also changed team colors from Brown to Cardinal Red, thus acquiring a new nickname, and leaving their previous team colors as well as the old ballpark site available.
After a fire at the Cardinals' ballpark on May 4, 1901, the club arranged to play some games at the original Sportsman's Park, which by then was being called "Athletic Park" and had only minimal seating. After a May 5 game, it was clear that the old park would no longer be a workable option: the team played on the road for a month while their own park was being rebuilt.
When the American LeagueMilwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis in1902 and took the Browns name, they built a new version of Sportsman's Park. They initially placed the diamond and the main stand at the northwest corner of the block.
This Sportsman's Park saw football history made: it became both the practice field and home field forSaint Louis Universityfootball teams, coached by the visionaryEddie Cochems, father of theforward pass. Although the first legal forward pass was thrown by Saint Louis'Bradbury Robinson in a road game atCarroll College in September 1906, Sportsman's Park was the scene of memorable displays of what Cochems called his "air attack" that season. These included a 39–0 thrashing ofIowa before a crowd of 12,000[4] and a 34–2 trouncing ofKansas witnessed by some 7,000.[5] Robinson launched an amazingly long pass in the game against the Jayhawks, which was variously reported to have traveled 48, 67 or 87 yards in the air.College Football Hall of Fame coachDavid M. Nelson[6] called the pass extraordinary, "considering the size, shape and weight" of the fat, rugby-style ball used at that time. Sports historian John Sayle Watterson[7] agreed. In his book,College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy, Watterson described Robinson's long pass as "truly a breathtaking achievement". St. Louis finished with an 11–0 record in 1906, outscoring its opponents 407–11.
In1909, the Browns moved the diamond to its final location, at the southwest corner, in the shadow of a new steel and concrete grandstand, the third such stadium in the major leagues, and the second in the American League (afterShibe Park).
The previous wooden grandstand was retained as left-field bleachers for a while, but was soon replaced with permanent bleachers. The Cardinals came back to their original home in mid-1920, as tenants of the Browns, after abandoning the outdated and mostly-wooden Robison Field.
After nearly winning the American League pennant in1922, Browns ownerPhil Ball confidently predicted that there would be a World Series in Sportsman's Park by 1926: in anticipation, he increased the capacity of his ballpark from 18,000 to 30,000. Therewasa World Series in Sportsman's Park in 1926—but it was the Cardinals, not the Browns, who took part in it, with the Cardinals upsetting the Yankees in a memorable seventh game.
Although the Browns had been the stronger team in the city for the first quarter of the century, they had never been quite good enough to win a pennant: after the previously weak Cardinals had moved in, the two teams' situations had started to reverse, both on and off the field. The Cardinals' 1926 World Series victory more or less permanently tipped the balance in their favor, and from then on, the Cardinals were clearly St. Louis' favorite team, though still tenants of the Browns. The1944 World Series between the Cardinals and the Browns, won by the Cardinals by four games to two, was perhaps a good metaphor for the two clubs' respective situations: it remains the last World Series to be played entirely in one stadium as the home venue for both competing clubs, with the exception of the neutral-site play in the2020 World Series.
In addition to its primary use as a baseball stadium, Sportsman's Park also hosted several soccer events. These included several in theSt. Louis Soccer League, and the1948 National Challenge Cup whenSt. Louis Simpkins-Ford defeatedBrookhattan for the national soccer championship.
In 1936, Browns owner Phil Ball died. His family sold the Browns to businessmanDonald Lee Barnes, but the Ball estate maintained ownership of Sportsman's Park until 1946, when it was sold to the Browns for an estimated price of over US$1 million.[8]
By the early 1950s, it was clear that St. Louis could not support both teams.Bill Veeck, owner of the Browns (who at one point lived with his family in an apartment under the park's stands),[9] fancied that he could drive the Cardinals out of town through his promotional skills. However, Veeck caught an unlucky break when the Cardinals' owner,Fred Saigh, pleadedno contest totax evasion. Faced with certain banishment from baseball, Saigh sold the Cardinals toAnheuser-Busch in February1953.[10][11] Veeck soon realized that the Cardinals now had more resources at their disposal than he could ever hope to match. Reluctantly, he concluded he was finished in St. Louis, and had no other option but to move the Browns.
As a first step, he sold Sportsman's Park to the Cardinals for $800,000 on April 9.[12][13][14] Busch immediately renovated the stadium, which had not been well maintained in some time. Even with the rent from the Cardinals, the Browns had not been bringing in nearly enough revenue to bring the park up to code, with city officials even threatening to have the park condemned. Before thestart of the next season, the Browns relocated toBaltimore and were rebranded as theOrioles.
The brewery originally wanted toname the ballparkBudweiser Stadium.[15]CommissionerFord Frick vetoed the name because of public relations concerns over naming a ballpark after a brand ofbeer. However, the commissioner could not stop Anheuser-Busch presidentAugust Busch Jr. from renaming it after himself, so the park was renamed Busch Stadium. However, many fans still called it by the old name. The Anheuser-Busch "eagle" model that sat atop the left field scoreboard flapped its wings after a Cardinal home run.[9] The next year, Anheuser-Busch introduced a new economy lager branded as "Busch Bavarian Beer", thusgaming Frick's ruling and allowing the ballpark's name to be branded by what would eventually be Anheuser-Busch's second most popular beer brand.[16]
Sportsman's Park / Busch Stadium was the site of a number ofWorld Series contests, first way back in the mid-1880s, and then in the modern era. The1964 Series was particularly memorable, the park's last, and featured brother against brother,Ken Boyer of the Cardinals andClete Boyer of the Yankees. The Cardinals' triumph in seven games led to Yankees management replacingYogi Berra with the Cardinals' ex-managerJohnny Keane (he had resigned after winning the Series), an arrangement which lasted only to early 1966. Both Series managers were St. Louis natives, but neither had ever played for the Cardinals. The stadium also hostedMajor League Baseball All-Star Games in1940,1948, and1957.
Despite Busch's extensive renovations, it soon became apparent that Sportsman's Park was at the end of its useful life.
Parking at the stadium was almost non-existent. Its concrete-and-steel incarnation had been built only a year after theModel T was introduced, and had been designed in an era when fans took the trolley to games, making it ill-suited to automobile access. Additionally, the neighborhood around the park had an increase in crime and dereliction starting in the late 1940s. In 1964, a Cardinals fan making his way to the home opener was shot and killed during an armed robbery.[16]
Sportsman's Park/Busch Stadium was replaced early in the1966 season byBusch Memorial Stadium, during which time much was made of baseball having been played on the old site for more than a century. A helicopter carried home plate to Busch Memorial Stadium after the final game at Sportsman's Park on May 8, 1966.[9][17] The 1966 stadium was replaced forty years later by the newBusch Stadium in April2006.[18]
Donated by August Busch, the Sportsman's Park site became home to theHerbert HooverBoys Club,[19][20] which is nowBoys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis. While the grandstand was torn down in 1966, the diamond was still intact at the time the structures were cleared, and the field is now used for other sports.
For a small park, there were plenty of posted distance markers. The final major remodeling was done in 1926. Distance markers had appeared by the 1940s:[1]
| Dimension | Distance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Left Field Line | 351 ft (107 m) | |
| Medium Left Center | 358 ft (109 m) | |
| True Left Center | 379 ft (116 m) | |
| Deep Left Center | 400 ft (122 m) | |
| Deep Left Center Field Corner | 426 ft (130 m) | The distance usually given for center field (sign later painted over) |
| Just to right of Deep Left Center Field Corner | 425 ft (130 m) | |
| True Center Field | 422 ft (129 m) | Just to left of Deep Right Center Field Corner |
| Deep Right Center Field Corner | Also 422 ft (129 m) | Almost true center field (sign later painted over) |
| Deep Right Center | 405 ft (123 m) | |
| True Right Center | 354 ft (108 m) | |
| Medium Right Center | 322 ft (98 m) | |
| Right Field Line | 310 ft (94 m) | |
| Backstop | 68 ft (21 m) |
The following links provide images of the field's markers.
The diamond was conventionally aligned east-northeast (home plate to center field),[21][22] and theelevation of the field was approximately 500 feet (150 m) abovesea level.[21]
The left field and right field walls ran toward center, roughly perpendicular to the foul lines or at right angles to each other. The center field area was a short diagonal segment connecting the two longer walls. When distance markers were first posted, there was a 426 marker at the left corner of that segment, and a 422 marker at the right corner of it. There was another 422 marker a few feet to the left of the other one, and that marked "true" center field. For symmetry, a corresponding marker (425) was set a few feet to the right of the 426. The two corner markers were eventually painted over, leaving just the 425 and the true centerfield 422.[1]
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