New Busch Stadium

Last night, I went to the first night game at the new Busch Stadium. As you may know, the Cards beat the Brewers, 8-4. My seats were in section 134, which was up the first base line, about even with the foul pole. I was in row 28, which put me two rows from the suites, which were directly behind me. From there, I had an excellent view of downtown and the new scoreboard, though I couldn't see the Arch, because of the over-hanging upper deck.

The way the seats were turned (toward the outfield, not home plate) and the over-haning deck reminded me very much of a sultry July evening in 1997 that Sara and I spent at Turner Field. It was 92 degrees that night at game time and no breeze; the air just sat still. Plus, we both kinks in our necks from the angle of the seats.

My wife, as it so happened, was at the game with a friend, sitting in the bleachers (section 509). By the fifth inning, a seat freed up over there, so I moved to sit next to her. I actually preferred those bleacher seats to the more expensive seat I had purchased. The bleacher seats were fairly comfortable and had a great look at the whole field. Plus, you could actually feel the breeze that was coming out of the northwest.

On the whole, I thought the new stadium was very nice--compared to the newer ball parks of the past couple of years, I felt that it was much superior to Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park, slightly superior to the Phillies' Citizen's Bank Park, slightly below Pittsburgh's PNC Bank Park (why is it that Pittsburgh feels like it is right next to the stadium, even though a river separates the city from the ballpark, while St. Louis' skyline feels comparatively distant).