Saturday was a Very Exciting Day, because we went to the Cardinals game, and Chickadee got to see Fredbird for the first time in almost four years!
If you’re wondering what absolute joy looks like, this is it:
We also found a cool, life-size bobblehead of Paul Goldschmidt. Not as fun as Fredbird, but still exciting!
It was so good to be back at one of our favorite places!
Yesterday, for the first time in I’m not even sure how long (at least five years!), the whole family went to a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium! We took a walk around Ballpark Village when we arrived downtown:
It’s changed a lot in the last few years!
We stopped to say “hi” to Stan, of course:
And then got in line almost an hour before the gates opened:
The reason we got in line so early was to make sure we were there in time for the giveaway…Molina and Wainwright Mystery Championship Replica Rings. This is my favorite type of giveaway, and they’re really nice!
Our seats were excellent…we were in the last row, so we had a nice breeze, and we were in the shade for pretty much the entire game! Plus, we could see the Arch, which is always nice.
When we were walking around, we found this cool life-size bobblehead of Ladybug’s favorite player who isn’t named Albert Pujols:
And Bunny, Chickadee, and I went in search of Fredbird:
Ballpark food is the best!
It was the perfect day. We got to see everyone’s favorite battery (Wainwright and Molina) start their 316th game together, putting them in a tie for second place on the all-time battery list! And we got to see Tommy Edman get his first walk-off, which was a total thrill! We couldn’t have asked for a better ending!
It was so good to be back at my favorite place!
The only thing that could have made today better is if we had gotten to see Pujols bat, but we did see him in the dugout, so we’ll call that good enough, and the perfect day at Busch!
I spent a good chunk of yesterday at Busch Stadium, taking in the “One Nation Classic.” It was billed as the Closing Ceremonies for the Winter Classic, which was held at Busch on January second.
The One Nation Classic had several parts. When I got there, people were skating on the ice on the field. This was actually a surprise to me, as I had not heard about that part. I don’t know if it was available to anyone who had a ticket, or if you had to pay extra or know someone to get to participate, but it was fun watching people skate on Busch’s ice!
After the free skate was over, there were three events that I did know about. First, a skills competition between “Team Steen” and “Team Pietrangelo.” This was a lot of fun to watch…at times it was silly, and at other moments, you really got to see how talented the players are. It included events such as a 3-on-3 competition, a hilarious relay race, and a hardest shot competition. In the end, “Team Pietrangelo” won by a score of 14-11.
Next up was St. Louis’ Greatest Pick-Up Hockey Game. This featured “Team Stillman” (of the Blues) vs. “Team Dewitt” (of the Cardinals), and included former players from both teams such as Peter Stastny and Jim Edmonds, and other personalities. Fredbird and Louie even made an appearance…have you ever seen a giant cardinal on skates? It was fun to see the fur and feathers fly, especially when they both ended up in the penalty box! Like the skills competition, the players wore a prototype jersey that was designed in 1966, but never actually worn by the players…it was so cool! I think my favorite part was the very first goal, which was scored by Bill Dewitt against Darren Pang in goal. In the end, though, Team Stillman prevailed, and won by a score of 5-4.
The final event was a first responders game between local police officers and local firefighters. I’m not going to lie…I was so cold at that point, that I left almost immediately after puck-drop. But it was cool to see how many participants there were…both teams even had their own jerseys! I will say that I think the police team had an unfair advantage, as their lineup included not only officers, but members of the DOD and the NGA!
I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed Winter Classic activities…Ryan got to go to both the Alumni Game, and the Winter Classic itself. He got the best view, because by the time I got to Busch, they had removed the guitar from the field, and the banners from outside the stadium. Fortunately, he got some good pictures for me, allowing me to live vicariously:
It was definitely a cold day at Busch, but I’m so glad I got to go and see the ice for myself. Who knows if and when the Winter Classic will come back to St. Louis? I hope it does someday, but for now, I have some great memories of seeing Busch Stadium in a whole new light!
Tonight was American Girl Night at Busch Stadium, so of course I had to take the girls. It was very fun!
We had good seats:
The highlight of the evening was seeing Kolten Wong hit a grand slam…very exciting! Ladybug has been wanting to see a grand slam for a long time, so it was a dream come true for her, and I enjoyed watching her excitement. We had a very fun girls’ night out!
I’ve been thinking lately about my favorite places in the St. Louis area, so I decided to come up with a “Top Five” list. It wasn’t easy to narrow it down, and I really wish I could have added a sixth location, so that Eckert’s could get its due (see what I did there?), but I finally settled on these five places:
What are your favorite locations in St. Louis?
Today was our first trip of the season to Busch Stadium! I don’t think anyone was more excited than Chickadee:
Then again, everyone was pretty excited to be back in Baseball Heaven!
Our seats were in the right field loge. Not too bad, except for the foul pole:
Chickadee was so excited that fell asleep before the game could even start. (Don’t worry…she woke up in time for the National Anthem!)
Somebunny spotted a Cardinals bunny at the Build-a-Fredbird store…since she had some allowance money saved, we stopped in. Her siblings even bought her new stuffed friend a Cardinals shirt…I love seeing their generosity in action!
The children really loved being back in one of their favorite St. Louis locations!
Of course we had to see Fredbird…it took a couple attempts to get everybody to look at the camera, and never all of them at the same time. Thus is life with five children!
This was one of the most fun Cardinals games I’ve ever been to…and that’s saying a lot. It was pretty humid, but not too hot, and the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the game. Yadier Molina and Jason Heyward received their Gold Glove awards before the game. The St. Louis Blues playoff game started during the Cardinals game, and there was a great energy of support for both teams…they kept showing Blues recaps on the scoreboard, and the organist even got involved…Let’s go Blues! Both teams won, so it was a spectacular day to be at Busch Stadium, and an even better one to be in St. Louis!
So, um, seven months ago (!!!), Ryan and I took the children on a Busch Stadium tour. I briefly mentioned it here, but never got around to sharing pictures. Since I posted about the tour the first time we went, shared a fantastic dugout picture from last summer, and because so much time has passed, I won’t recap everything…I’ll just hit the highlights. I will say, we had the two best possible tour guides  I could have imagined (Fred and Jay)…they not only both had an incredible amount of baseball knowledge, but they had awesome personal stories as well!
I did get a better peak at the Cardinals Club this time, the exclusive restaurant at which green seat ticket holders get to eat:
You tend to notice new or different things (or just see them from a different perspective), each time you take the tour (or visit the ballpark at all, really):
I never tire of the view from the field!
It may be a bit colder now than the day we visited Busch Stadium, but tours are offered all year long, and it might be just the right thing to help you get ready for Spring Training, and feel a little Cardinals spirit, even in the bleak midwinter that is February!