The Severed Cortex

May 19th was Ballpark Founders Appreciation Day. Busch Stadium was opened to all season ticket holders as a way to 'thank' the loyal Cardinal faithful. I laughed too, at first, but it turned out to be a pretty cool thing to do. I know what you're thinking. No, I'm not a season ticket holder, however I do know someone who offered them to me. At first I took them because I thought it was for a game. Then I realized that the Cards were out of town for the weekend. When I understood what I'd agreed to, I figured it would be a good thing to take Robert to.

The Cardinals didn't exactly cheap out on this extravaganza, although the parking lot owners still felt the need to charge $2. Every concession stand on the main level was open and all the food was given away for free. There were hot dogs, bratwurst, pretzels, peanuts, nachos, big cookies, and popcorn, along with soda, all gratis. They even had beer at $1 a cup, which makes you wonder why they charge $8 a cup at games. Still, there were around 5,000 people there over the 4 hour period and that had to cost the Cardinals some coin for the vendors, food, and cleanup. In addition to the free food, the Cardinals had giveaways, gave tours of the dugout and clubhouse, granted access to the bullpens and field (warning track only, no grass), and gave fans the chance to get their picture made with the World Series trophy. They also had some playthings for the kids out in the Ford Plaza behind center field. Considering the whole thing only cost me gas and the $2 parking fee, it was a pretty fun, inexpensive way to spend the afternoon.

I picked Robert up around 4 in the afternoon and we headed downtown. When I crossed the Missouri on 367, I realized I forgot the camera. Luckily Nancy agreed to meet us at 157 and 270 with the forgotten camera so I doubled back. We arrived at Busch, picked up the tickets at will call, ... thank you Ken ... and headed inside. We walked down to the field and checked out the itinerary before walking back up to grab some food. We both got nachos (with peppers) and Sprites. We hung out in the first row of the outfield seats and ate while the crowd milled about below on the field and in the visitors bullpen. Robert went back for a big cookie and I got a hot dog. After eating we walked down on the field and bullpens. I took a bunch of pictures of him. We decided to go see if we could tour the clubhouse, but the line was ridiculously long. I decided we should get our picture with the World Series trophy instead. The line for the trophy was probably just as long, but because it formed on the ramps to the Redbird Club instead of one long line on the main level, it appeared to be shorter. It took almost an hour for us to get our picture snapped, which of course was over with in less than 10 seconds. After that we decided to grab some more food. I got popcorn and Robert got a pretzel. After eating for the third time, Robert wanted to play on the stuff they had set up in the Ford Plaza. I took his picture a couple of times and then we headed home. Robert rode piggy back all the way out to the truck, then proceeded to fall asleep on the ride home.

Lou Brock and Jackie Robinson
The World Series Trophy
My Favorite Pic