Good Busch

Today is the end of an era. Busch begins its' 3-month-long fall in one hour and 16 minutes. This is the place I first visisted probably 25 years ago, perhaps earlier. We would sit in row 23, the highest in the stadium with our jugs of lemonade and water and our Aldi's pretzels. Sometimes it was my dad, Joey, and I, and sometimes the whole family. We sat on the isle, probably so the various toddlers and small kids in the family could run up and down without disturbing the other roof-dwelling fans.
I saw the circus at least twice at Busch, long before anyone told me that circuses are cruel to animals so I enjoyed them guilt-free. One performance included a tightrope walker navigating the width of Busch high above other activities happening in the rings far below. It took the guy probably 20 minutes or more to get across the stadium, and he never wavered.
I saw U2 there once on the Zoo TV Tour, Elton John and Billy Joel together, and New Kids on the Block once. I took two stadium tours and walked on the field several times. I saw probably between 150 and 200 baseball games there, including my first playoff game on October 13, 1987 when the Cardinals beat the Giants in Game 6 and the crowd taunted Jeffrey Leonard with cow bells and "Jeeeffffff-reeeey". I saw Ozzie backflip lots of times, Willie McGee throughout his entire career, a 1-hitter for Jose Jimenez against Randy Johnson, McGwire's homeruns number 61, 66, 69, and 70 and career number 500. I saw Ken Griffey's carreer 500th homerun and about half the home games of the first 5 years of Albert Pujols' legendary career. I saw my first World Series game last year, 2004 against the Red Sox. I saw Jim Edmonds send us into Game 7, then his amazing catch in Game 7 of the NLCS last year. I saw about 14 playoff games total including the one in 1987 and all the rest from 2000-present. I slept outside for playoff tickets at least 6 times, camping out with Mayers, Naumans, and thousands of strangers including once in 2000 with my new puppy, Foster. I got autographs from players and watched them walk to their cars and wave to fans after big games. I went to both Jack Buck's and Darryl Kile's memorial services on hot June days in 2002 and shot the last videotape ever (probably) of Kile on the field after Buck's service. That was the day I met Steve Kline in the stadium, the only time I ever actually met a Cardinal in that stadium.
I've sat in just about every section and probably 10 different luxury boxes over the life of Busch. Playoffs were largely spent in the bleachers. I sat in the seat I had purchased or had purchased for me until I was a teenager and we realized that you did not have to sit where you'd paid to sit when other seats were open! I've legally sat just rows from the field on a handful of occasions, and more times than that illegally including the last home game at Busch on October 2, 2005 when we closed down Busch about 8 rows from the visitor's dugout.
Until the playoffs of 2005, after my teenaged days I never ventured back up to Row 23 in the 300-section because there was always some better seat for me, my family, and friends. We discovered 246 was player seating and since players don't often give out all their seats, this was our surrogate season-ticket section. We also discovered you can come into Busch for free in the 7th inning.
We've finagled free parking (sometimes in the player area!), free soda from Guest Relations, and hordes of givaway items over the years. Sports bags, balls, bobbleheads, pins, hats, t-shirts, and the certificate for being at the last home game. I've been on a couple of dates there, none too memorable, and have been to Busch alone when no one else could go with me and I couldn't stand for tickets to go to waste.
I've probably been inside Busch more times than any other building outside of my own houses, a couple of jobs, and my grade and high school. From Jessi, Joey, and I taunting Giants fans and screaming when Edmonds blasted the homerun and jumped into the crowd at home plate, to writing all over the walls with Sharpees on the last day at the stadium, we've made the most of our time with the old ballpark.
Good night, old Busch.