St Louis Cardinals Baseball
The history of the St. Louis Cardinals dates back to 1892 when the St. Louis Browns rejoined the National League as part of the reformed 12-team circuit. In 1899, the team was renamed to the Perfectos, but that didn’t last long. The following year the name was changed to the Cardinals and they’ve been making history ever since.
In 1963, Musial who had won seven N.L. batting titles in his 22-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals announced his retirement. His number 6 became the first Cardinal number to be retired on September 29.
Mark McGuire had a record season in 1998 breaking Roger Maris’ 1961 single season record of 61 homers. Big Mac eclipsed the record with his 62nd homer at 8:18 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The record-breaking homer came with two outs in the fourth inning - a solo shot to left field off Cubs' right-hander Steve Trachsel. He went on to hit 70 homers that season for the St. Louis Cardinals. He walked 162 times to set a new N.L. standard, averaged one home run every 7.27 at-bats to break his 1996 major league record of one homer every 8.13 at-bats, hit an N.L.-record 38 home runs at home and became the first player to hit at least 50 homers in three consecutive seasons.
In 2001, Albert Pujols made the starting roster when Bobby Bonilla got hurt. Pujols, primarily been a third baseman who had appeared in 133 games with three minor-league clubs as a first-year professional in 2000, hit a National League-record eight April home runs and never turned back. Albert Pujols was the first Cardinal rookie selected for the All-Star Game since left-handed pitcher Luis Arroyo in 1955 and the first to play since third baseman Eddie Kazak in 1949. He went on to play in 161 games, drew 154 starts at four different positions, and batted .329 with a Cardinal rookie-record 37 home runs and an NL rookie-record 130 runs batted in. His club Triple Crown was the first by a Cardinal since Ted Simmons in 1973 and the first by a Cardinal rookie since Rogers Hornsby in 1916. He earned unanimous selection as NL Rookie of the Year.
Busch Stadium
Groundbreaking of the new Busch Stadium occurred on January 17, 2004 and the inaugural game was April 10, 2006. Albert Pujols was the first to hit a home run in the new stadium.
In the mid-1950s, several years after he persuaded the board of directors of Anheuser-Busch to purchase the St. Louis Cardinals, August A. Busch Jr. decided that if the team were to prosper and attract the fans necessary to support a major league franchise, it would have to move to a new stadium. In 1964, ground was broken, and on May 12, 1966, Busch Stadium officially opened as the new home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame" was played on the organ during the seventh-inning stretch and the Anheuser-Busch "King of Beers" theme song was played at the end of the seventh inning. Parts of the left field bleachers were taken out in 1996 to accommodate a new bullpen for the Cardinals as well as a family pavilion and picnic area. The visitor's bullpen was hidden behind the left field wall. In 1997, a 17' high x 270' wide manually operated scoreboard was built in center field and the visitors bullpen was moved to right field.