Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, of MLB. The stadium has a seating capacity of 43,975, and contains 3,706 club seats and 61 luxury suites.
The highest attendance was recorded on October 28, 2011 when 47,399 people watched the Cardinals win their franchise eleventh World Championship.
It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. Busch Stadium was chosen by MLB to host the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
The ballpark opened on April 4, 2006 with an exhibition between the minor league Memphis Redbirds and Springfield Cardinals, both affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Springfield won 5-3 with right-hander Mike Parisi recording the first win. The first official major league game occurred on April 10, 2006 as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 6–4 behind an Albert Pujols home run and winning pitcher Mark Mulder.
A commercial area, dubbed Ballpark Village, is being developed adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.
The stadium is the third stadium in St. Louis to carry the name Busch Stadium. Sportsman's Park was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953, after team owner Gussie Busch. The first Busch closed in 1966, and both the baseball Cardinals, and the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals moved to a new multi-purpose stadium, named Busch Memorial Stadium. However, the current stadium is actually a corporate name and named after Anheuser-Busch, not Gussie Busch. The naming rights deal was signed in 2004 and would extend from the stadium's opening in 2006 until 2026.
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Famous quotes containing the word stadium:
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)