Out With the Old, In With the New

The St. Louis Cardinals played their final game in Busch Stadium on October 19, 2005. In April 2006, they will begin to play in the new Busch Stadium, which will be partially located on the same grounds as the old stadium.

On October 16, 2005, Angela, LeAnna, and I took a trip up to the top of the St. Louis Arch (which turned 40 years old this year). From the top, we had an amazing view of the new stadium being constructed right next to the old one.



With the construction of the new stadium, I had the opportunity to be a part of history by purchasing a customized brick paver. A paver like the one below will be laid somewhere in the walkways outside the new Busch Stadium. As you can see, it reads, "Clipper Family - Cardinals Fans Forever". In addition to the replica brick that I received, I ordered one for my dad as well for a Father's Day present.



I've probably been to hundreds of games at Busch Stadium over the last 30 years, most of which were with my dad. When I first learned that the Cardinals would be selling the seats from the stadium, I really wanted a pair, but I wasn't sure about the $500 price tag. Luckily, my tax refund had come in around the same time, and Angela gave me the thumbs up. So I went ahead and bought a pair so that I will always be able to sit back and think about all the good memories that were created in these seats.



It was a long wait since the order was placed in June, but a couple weeks after the final game at Busch Stadium, I finally received my pair of seats. They are seat #'s 13 and 14, but unfortunately there was no accompanying documentation telling me what section or row they came from. Today, I finally got around to getting them out of the box and mounting them on the brackets that came with them. The photo above shows LeAnna sitting in a Busch Stadium seat for the first time. Unfortunately she never got to see a game at the old stadium, but I'm sure she'll have plenty of opportunities to sit in the seats at the new stadium.

- Matt