What was the previous name of Busch Stadium in St. Louis?

Answer 1

Busch Stadium (also known as New Busch Stadium) is the new home for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League. It replaces Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. The stadium opened on April 4, 2006 with an exhibition between the minor league Memphis Redbirds (AAA-Pacific Coast League) and Springfield Cardinals (AA-Texas League), both minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Springfield won 5-3. The official major league opening game occurred on April 10, 2006, as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4. A commercial area, dubbed Ballpark Village, is being developed adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint. The city of St. Louis is favored to host the 2009 MLB All-Star Game due to the new stadium and Ballpark Village. The new stadium has nearly the same dimensions as the old Busch Stadium, offering no major advantage or disadvantage to either the hitter or pitcher, or lefthanders versus righthanders. Many players have commented early that the park plays very fair to everybody. Before the first Busch Stadium was built in downtown St. Louis the cardinals played at Sportsmans Park which was located just North of downtown. It stood for 33 years as a house divided, hosting both the successful St. Louis Cardinals and the hapless St. Louis Browns. The St. Louis Browns played there from 1902 to 1920, when it was rebuilt out of steel and concrete - from then until 1953, it hosted the Browns and the St. Louis Cardinals, who moved over from Robison Field. The Browns struggled to draw crowds, while the Cardinals prospered; finally, in 1953, the hapless Browns moved to Baltimore as owner Bill Veeck was encouraged to sell the team. In the spring of 1953, Veeck sold Sportsman's Park to August Busch Jr., owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Browns became tenants of the Cardinals. The Browns moved to Baltimore following the 1953 season, but the Cardinals remained at Sportsman's Park for another 13 seasons. The park underwent minor renovations in 1953, dropping the capacity to 30,500. It was also renamed Busch Stadium. (The National League refused to allow the name to be changed to Budweiser Stadium after the brand of beer sold by Busch's company, Anheuser-Busch.) The Cardinals continued to play home games at Busch Stadium formerly named Sportsmans Park unti 1966 when the first new Busch Stadium was completed in downtown St. Louis.