SPORTSBEAT BY PETER JAKEY: To Busch and back
It was stadium number 15 for my wife Lisa and me last Friday as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Colorado Rockies, 6-0, at Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. We?ve visited Major League Baseball stadiums from coast-to-coast and parks in between. One of those parks in between is closing at the end of the summer. Other than Comerica Park in Detroit, Lisa and I hadn?t been to a new park (for us) since driving to Minnesota to see a game at the Metro Dome 10 years ago. In listening to a Cardinal game on the Internet, the announcer said record attendance was expected at the 39-year-old Busch Stadium. A new park is being constructed next door. Part of the playing surface for the new stadium is where the right field stands currently are. Three weeks after the final pitch, old Busch Stadium will be imploded, and construction crews will race to complete what they can before the 2006 opener next April.
INITIALLY, LISA told me to go ahead and get tickets and take Mark (our 10-year-old) with me, but once the tickets arrived in the mail, it really seemed like she wanted to go. So we made arrangements for close family friends, who have six kids themselves, to watch our three sons. The trip would take about 22 to 24 hours round trip, so we thought they would have a much better time playing with the other kids than being cooped up in a van for an entire day. We had never gone on a fun getaway without the boys, so it was understandable that Lisa started missing them the second we started pulling out of the driveway. We would try to travel as far as we could, before fatigue set in. There were a couple of moments that made the trip go quicker. We started picking up a West Michigan White Caps ball game on the radio on the way down and told Lisa if the game were still being played (in Grand Rapids) when we passed the stadium, we would watch the end of it. In addition to 14 major league ball parks, we also had been to two minor league parks, one in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the home of the Dukes, the Triple A affiliate of the Dodgers, and the other in Toledo, where the Mud Hens play.
THE GAME was deadlocked in a tie, and to see any of the game would require extra innings. It was looking good, but the White Caps pushed across the game winner three miles before we got to the stadium. We watched the fans exiting the park as we drove by. The excitement of being in the Chicago area also kept me awake. There was another deadlock south of Chicago and it was on the highway this time, as traffic near the Illinois-Indiana border was at a standstill at about 12:30 a.m. I thought it would go smoother at that hour. Another three hours, and more than 500 miles already on the speedometer, and it was time to stop. We parked at a rest area in Illinois and got about seven hours of sleep. Lisa and I brought along a bed mat from our pop-up trailer and slept quite comfortably. We had thought of a motel, but when I saw a man in a sleeping bag under a tree, Lisa and I were more than happy to save a few dollars. The money we saved was spent the next morning at Cracker Barrel for a hearty breakfast.
BEFORE THE game, we went on a tour of Busch Stadium, which took us to different areas of the stadium including the press box and on the field. Some of the Rockies were taking early batting practice, so we couldn?t go in the Cardinal dugout. That was disappointing, but it was fun watching batting practice and standing a few feet from home plate, and several yards from the place where Bill Freehan hugged Mickey Lolich after the final out of the 1968 World Series. There has been a lot of history in the park. It?s where Mark McGwire set a new home run record in 1998 with 70. He hit number 70 a few feet from where I was standing. I also was a little more than 100 feet from where the curse came to an end with Boston winning last year?s World Series in St. Louis. The initial celebration took place right by first base.
AFTER A VISIT to the arch a few blocks away, we were back at the park and in our seats for the first pitch. St. Louis fans are known to be among the most knowledgeable and loyal in all of baseball and everywhere you look, fans wear Cardinal shirts and jerseys. The fans were on the edge of their seats when St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols came up to the plate in the bottom of the first. I jabbed Lisa and said she needed to watch this guy, because he hits some of the fastest home runs in all of baseball. Pujols doesn?t hit tower fly balls, he muscles line drives over the fence. In Albert?s first at bat of the game, he ripped a screecher, which traveled more than 400 feet to left field. It was out in a heartbeat. The stadium probably would be better maintained if there weren?t a new home waiting, as lights on scoreboards need to b
THE CONCESSION prices were quite high as well. The beer is about 50 cents an ounce. I guess that?s how they keep pace with baseball salaries. The guy sitting next to Lisa, who looked to have had a couple of $8 beers and was trying to start the wave in our section, wasn?t complaining. After the game, I changed the clock back from central to Eastern Time, and we were on our way north a little after 11 p.m. We made excellent time, stopping for a movie in Flint, and were back in Presque Isle County at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
With a successful trip to our 15th stadium, I?m not willing to wait another 10 years to visit the next park outside of Michigan. We might not have to wait another month, as the Jakeys are considering vacationing in Canada this summer. On my schedule, I see the Blue Jays are playing the Angels later this month. That?s interesting.