Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (53 page)
Read Ultimate Baseball Road Trip Online
Authors: Josh Pahigian,Kevin O’Connell
Kevin:
Look, the drug company that makes Tums is right across the street.
Josh:
And in a beautiful old building. It would be great if a few pubs opened up there.
Kevin:
It would. But as a man who’s had more than his share of stomach issues, I’m comforted that Tums has a good home.
Josh:
You need Tums because you’ve been to more than your share of pubs.
Kevin:
I never really made the connection before.
618 S. 7th St.
Still rockin’ since our first ballpark tour, Patty O’s remains one of the few places close to the ballpark—it’s actually just under the highway overpass from the Home Plate entrance. Since New Busch is now a block closer, Patty O’s has gone all in, doing a tremendous job remodeling the place to look like it’s part of the park. A younger bar crowd packs the place before and after games. College kids were lining up to get choice seats in the new rooftop deck at high noon for a six o’clock start on the day we were in town. Inside, big-screen TVs show games from around the league, a full-scale airplane hangs suspended from the ceiling, and baseball memorabilia appears sporadically on the walls. We were particularly fond of the Babe Ruth “Pinch Hit Chewing Tobacco” sign located in the foyer. Patty’s is definitely the best bet for younger fans looking for a happening spot near the ballpark.
1000 Clark Ave.
jbucks.com/downtown/
Though named for both Joe and Jack Buck, J. Buck’s BBQ is a bit like Joe’s announcing: kinda bland. You’re either a fan, or you’re not. Put us in the latter category. About the best things we can say for the place is that it’s only two blocks from the park, has outdoor and rooftop seating, and is air-conditioned. Also, you don’t have to listen to Tim McCarver blather on and on about his playing days, if you eat there. Other than that, it’s an expensive Applebee’s with nicer interior decorating. If you can’t find better BBQ for less cash in St. Louis, you just aren’t looking. Sorry, Joe, this one is a not a winner. Speaking of bland, we did see milk-toast Peyton Manning there.
620 Market St.
This steakhouse changed its location and name, but is essentially the same upscale place owned by former Cardinals player and radio broadcaster Mike Shannon, who hit .255 with the Red Birds between 1962 and 1970. This is a family place with great steaks. Mind you, the grub will not come cheap. When we say upscale, that’s secret code for expensive.
www.ozziesrestaurantandsportsbar.com
Is everything related to Cardinals baseball on the move in St. Louis? Ozzie’s was changing locations at the time of this edition’s publishing. We hope it’s moving closer to the ballpark, as the first location was excellent, but more than a mile walk from the ballpark.
Named after Cardinals Hall of Famer and fifteen-time All-Star Ozzie Smith, this reasonably priced restaurant and excellent sports bar has a huge menu that ranges from All-Star steaks, to Hall of Fame pastas, to Grand Slam ribs, to Shortstop of the Border Mexican food. The decor is not surprisingly composed entirely of Cardinals memorabilia, with plenty of pictures of “the Wizard” featured throughout, as well as all of his Gold Gloves.
1200 Russell Blvd.
With more than sixty beers, live Irish music seven nights a week, and a menu that includes such items as lamb stew, potato soup, and homemade chips, McGurk’s offers the quintessential Irish pub experience. On hot days, take advantage
of their eight-thousand-square-foot outdoor garden. Arrive early on weekends to get a seat near the band.
5226 Shaw Ave.
Located in southwest St. Louis on “The Hill” where Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola spent their childhoods in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Charlie Gitto’s offers the authentic Italian dining experience—Tommy Lasorda reportedly comes to St. Louis just to eat there. The specialties range from homemade pastas and breads to fine wines and delicious Sicilian beef, pork, chicken, and seafood. Expect to pay a few dollars extra, but to go home feeling more than satisfied. And be sure to order the cannelloni for an appetizer.
5141 Wilson Ave.
For a sandwich you’ll not soon forget, visit Amighetti’s in Rock Hill. They have pasta and salads, but the specialty is their sandwich. They start with freshly baked Italian bread, toss on a mélange of meats—genoa salami, ham, and roast beef—cover it with cheese, pickles, onions, and pepperoncini, and pour on a house dressing that ties all the flavors together. If you find your way up The Hill and want to eat well on the cheap, Amighetti’s is your place. A cannoli for dessert tops things off just right!
As for the neighborhood known as “the Hill,” it is still largely populated by descendants of Italian immigrants who began settling in St. Louis in the 1850s. The lawns are well manicured, the community is close-knit, and the many restaurants are top-notch. Even the fire hydrants in this part of town are painted with the red, green, and white of the Italian flag.
6726 Chippewa St.
Don’t miss out on this local dessert if you can help it. The frozen custard is incredible and nearly as famous as the St. Louis Arch. Remember Bill Cosby shilling for pudding pops? Well, this stuff’s even better than the stuff the Coz was peddling. Articles have been written in the
Wall Street Journal
and other national publications about Ted’s, the city’s favorite custard joint since 1929.
One area that we can recommend is Laclede’s Landing, which is a decent walk or a two-stop Metrolink ride from the park. This historic district, with cobblestone streets and warehouses, boasts a large selection of pubs, restaurants, micro-breweries, comedy clubs, and live music venues. We wished the ballpark had been built across the street. But at least you can park at the Landing, have something decent to eat and drink, and then take advantage of the shuttle service to the ballpark.
Kevin:
You know the band Wilco mentions “the Landing” in its song “Heavy Metal Drummer.”
Josh:
Whatever. I’m hitting the Wax Museum.
Beginning at about 8th Avenue and continuing down Washington Avenue down to 17th or so, you’ll find plenty of bars and restaurants. This loft district offers higher-end clubs, pubs, and places to grub.
12th Street and Lynch Street
www.budweisertours.com/toursSTL.htm
Two miles south of the ballpark, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery offers free tours Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and Sunday 11:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Tours of the one-hundred-acre facility are free, and include visits to the Clydesdale stables, as well as to the beech-wood aging cellars, brew house, and Hospitality Room. From the ballpark, follow I-55 south to the Arsenal Street exit and then follow the signs to the Brewery.
We encountered a few vendors selling peanuts, Cracker Jack, and pretzels on 8th Street. Their prices were much more affordable than the cost of the same items inside the ballpark. This is also a good spot to pick up a scorecard and game-program for cheap bucks. The “Red Bird Review” costs just $1.00 outside the park, while inside the official program published by the team costs nearly five times as much.
The designers of New Busch Stadium gave the interior of the ballpark a feel that is distinctively St. Louis. The seating decks are neatly stacked atop one another to protect sight lines. The steel roof is prominent, along with decorative elements practically everywhere you look. And many of the folks inside enjoy sweeping views of the Arch and downtown beyond the open outfield.
While the design elements of Busch Memorial were dedicated to the Arch, the overriding theme at New Busch is The Eads Bridge, an iconic bridge that carries people, cars and trains across the Mississippi River. You find architectural nods to the Eads Bridge primarily in the steelwork of the ballpark, but most especially in the lighting stanchions and the bridge that spans Stan Musial Plaza at the Third Base Entrance.
As we’ve stated before, it’s really the little touches that add so much to the classic feel of the ballpark. Little baseballs top the fences and are set into decorative pieces, little bats adorn seats, and of course there are all the many cardinals that the team has used on its uniform appearing throughout the ballpark. The significance of the cardinal the team currently dons on player uniforms (which can be found throughout the ballpark) is that it is the first of all the birds that is ornithologically correct. In other words, it looks more like a real cardinal than a cartoon one.
And hey, the Cards even took our advice and painted the exposed concrete at the base of the seating decks green, which really adds to the park’s classic look.
Kevin:
Hey, someone out there is listening to us!
Josh:
Don’t bank on it.
One fairly serious miss with this ballpark: Why, in this day and age, did they not allow for open viewing of the field as you walk the concourses? Or at least allow fans to walk the park from inside concourses that circle the field. You can’t do either at New Busch. This really is the biggest flaw with the ballpark, and a fairly inexcusable one in our modern times. Compared to Citizens Bank Park or New Yankee Stadium, where the concourses are open to view the game from nearly every level, the fact that you can’t see the game from behind home plate brings Busch Stadium back a few decades in its design.
DUGOUT BANNERS
The top of the home dugout is painted with banners that commemorate the years in which the Cards won the World Series. Meanwhile the top of the visitors’ dugout lists the years in which St. Louis won the National League pennant but lost in the World Series.
Being the second winningest franchise ever in terms of World Series titles is a strong point of pride for the Cards and their fans. And they are quick to point out that of the five times the Red Birds have faced the Yankees in the Fall Classic, the Cards have won three.
Kevin:
Does that mean they’re throwing their NL brethren under the bus for not doing their part?
Josh:
All I know is I’ve heard the same stat four times since we’ve been in town.
Electronic display boards mounted above the bullpens—the Cardinals’ in right field and visitors’ in left—show up-to-the-minute statistics for the two pitchers currently in the game. Fantasy baseball buffs will love this, as it spares them the mental undulations of multiplying their pitchers’ earned runs allowed times nine, then dividing by the number of innings pitched while the game is ongoing. On these display boards, pitchers’ season-long ERAs fluctuate to reflect each out recorded or run allowed.
Notice that New Busch’s pitching rubber is exactly ten inches higher than the rest of the playing field. It should come as no surprise. That’s the height of all regulation MLB mounds ever since it was lowered from fifteen inches after a 1968 season in which Cardinal icon Bob Gibson posted a modern-era-record 1.12 ERA in 304 innings pitched. Gibson completed twenty-eight of his thirty-four starts, including thirteen shutouts.
After Gibson and Denny McLain took home the Cy Young Awards in their respective leagues and league MVP honors to boot, MLB decided to lower the mound by 33 percent to encourage more offense. With less of a height advantage, pitchers would get less leverage, and pitch planes would be more level. In another adjustment, the top boundary of the strike zone, which had been raised in 1963 from the batter’s armpits to the top of his shoulders, was lowered to its previous level.
These modifications, in tandem with the arrival of four expansion teams in 1969—the Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Pilots—tipped the scales back a bit in the hitters’ favor. In 1969, the overall batting average climbed to .250 in the NL and .246 in the AL. During the height of the Steroid Era, we suggested raising the mound back up to fifteen inches to level the playing field once again, but as testing for PEDs took hold in MLB, baseball became a pitcher’s game once again.
Having said all this, and as against steroid use as we are, we know there are other factors that went into MLB’s home run binge during the late 1990s and early years of 2000s, the lower mound being only one of them. Ballparks are much smaller these days than they were a generation ago. Outfield
fences have been moving toward the plate faster than Josh moves upon hearing the dinner bell ring. Were PEDs bad for the game? Of course. But remember, pitchers were using them as well, which one might think would even things out a bit. There have been other factors that have also contributed to the increase in the overall number of dingers players hit during the Steroid Era, including the shrinking of the strike zone. Let’s face it, all of the homers were great for TV ratings and the fans filled the seats better than they ever had before.
Now, we aren’t crazy idiots who want to see everything in baseball return to the way it was back before Bob Gibson decimated NL hitters. As if that era was any better than this one. Baseball is a game of eras, each with its own positives and negatives. We’re just tired of seeing MLB turn its back on players, letting them take the fall for an entire era known as the Steroid Era, after MLB itself did more than any single player to disrupt the natural order of how the record books read. Were the steroid players wrong? Yes. Every single one of them. But there’s blood on MLB’s hands as well. That’s all we’re saying.