Poll: Thoughts on the former Sportsman’s Park
Sportsman’s Park had two addresses:Â 3623 Dodier St. (Cardinals) & 2911 N Grand Blvd (Browns). Yes, St. Louis’ two major league teams played at the same ballpark on North Grand until the Browns became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. Â The last game at the ballpark was played 45 years ago today, May 8, 1966. That day the Cardinals lost to the San Francisco Giants 10-5 (source).
Many in St. Louis enjoyed games from the Grand Stand for decades, others not as long:
[Dateline: May 4] 1944 – Blacks were allowed to buy grandstand seats for the first time in St. Louis history. St. Louis was the last of the major league clubs to integrate seating. Blacks had been restricted to the bleachers. (Source)
The last to integrate? Hmm, not surprised.
I personally feel it was a mistake to relocate what had been renamed Busch Stadium to a razed section of downtown (see Urban Renewal Destroyed St. Louis’ Early Chinatown, Hop Alley). Baseball was first played on this site in 1866! A field does remain as part of the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club.  I wonder what Grand & St. Louis Ave would be like today if the Cardinals had remained on the site of Sportsman’s Park. Would it be a diverse & bustling neighborhood or would the surrounding neighborhoods have been razed for surface parking?
I realize the 1960s were a turbulent decade. The 8th Inning of Ken Burns’ Baseball series looked at this period. It starts with the razing of Ebbets Field, vacant after the Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers. Â Ballpark after ballpark was razed in this decade as baseball fought for fans, many interested in football.
The poll this week, upper right of blog, is about Sportsman’s Park.
– Steve Patterson
I never knew the place, but I do remember vists to Wrigley, Comiskey and Yankee Stadium as a kid with my dad. My guess is if the Cards had stayed, unlike in NYC or Wrigleyville, surface parking would’ve replaced existing structures and a freeway spur would’ve been added to “improve” access. The public’s wholesale embrace of switching from public transit to the SOV was, and is, very apparent in many, many of St. Louis’ land use and development decisions, and not just here. You can blame racism, segregation, land values or the weather, but a level of density remains around the other older urban ballparks that vanished from here decades ago . . . .
I never knew the place, but I do remember vists to Wrigley, Comiskey and Yankee Stadium as a kid with my dad. My guess is if the Cards had stayed, unlike in NYC or Wrigleyville, surface parking would’ve replaced existing structures and a freeway spur would’ve been added to “improve” access. The public’s wholesale embrace of switching from public transit to the SOV was, and is, very apparent in many, many of St. Louis’ land use and development decisions, and not just here. You can blame racism, segregation, land values or the weather, but a level of density remains around the other older urban ballparks that vanished from here decades ago . . . .
Nevermind that Busch II revitalized a dying area of downtown filled with slums. Nevermind that corporate leaders wanted a ballpark downtown. Nevermind that they had money to do it. Maybe, just maybe, some forward-thinkers realized that Grand and Dodier wasn’t the best place for an obsolete ballpark.
Nevermind that Busch II revitalized a dying area of downtown filled with slums. Nevermind that corporate leaders wanted a ballpark downtown. Nevermind that they had money to do it. Maybe, just maybe, some forward-thinkers realized that Grand and Dodier wasn’t the best place for an obsolete ballpark.
There isnt much that is vital about a stand-alone stadium surrounded by acres of parking and not in use 75% of days in the year. Regardless it was proably an inevitable move with the maturation of major league baseball from a club of eccentric businessman to a bottom-line-focused corporation.
Even compared with the ballparks of the day, Sportsman’s Park was outdated due to only having capacity for 30,500 people. Plus rebuilding on the site would have likely been impossible anyway due to the continuous need for the Cardinals to be in a home ballpark, which is why the new stadium was built in stages next door.
Given the urban policies of the time, had the Cardinals attempted to build a new stadium on the Sportsman’s Park site, the old neighborhood would have likely been destroyed anyway with the addition of parking garages, widened roads, and probable addition of an interstate access point. In short, given the timeframe in which these events occurred, I don’t think moving downtown was the tragedy that some make it out to be.
Even compared with the ballparks of the day, Sportsman’s Park was outdated due to only having capacity for 30,500 people. Plus rebuilding on the site would have likely been impossible anyway due to the continuous need for the Cardinals to be in a home ballpark, which is why the new stadium was built in stages next door.
Given the urban policies of the time, had the Cardinals attempted to build a new stadium on the Sportsman’s Park site, the old neighborhood would have likely been destroyed anyway with the addition of parking garages, widened roads, and probable addition of an interstate access point. In short, given the timeframe in which these events occurred, I don’t think moving downtown was the tragedy that some make it out to be.
Having lived in Baltimore, I can tell you the old Veterans’ Stadium didn’t sustain the neighborhood. It declined into one of the worst neighborhoods in the city; it’s no surprise they moved both teams downtown to the Inner Harbor. Wrigley works because it has the El line.
Having lived in Baltimore, I can tell you the old Veterans’ Stadium didn’t sustain the neighborhood. It declined into one of the worst neighborhoods in the city; it’s no surprise they moved both teams downtown to the Inner Harbor. Wrigley works because it has the El line.
There isnt much that is vital about a stand-alone stadium surrounded by acres of parking and not in use 75% of days in the year. Regardless it was proably an inevitable move with the maturation of major league baseball from a club of eccentric businessman to a bottom-line-focused corporation.
Your post is really informative. The Busch eagle would flap its wings
after every Cardinal home run. It sat on top of the left-center
scoreboard. During World War II there was a War Chest sign there.
Hasn’t the stadium been a good thing for downtown STL? I just moved here a few years ago. What was in downtown before the baseball stadiums, either at the site or in general? And don’t say the Arch. 😉
Hasn’t the stadium been a good thing for downtown STL? I just moved here a few years ago. What was in downtown before the baseball stadiums, either at the site or in general? And don’t say the Arch. 😉
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