I may live in Colorado now, but I was raised in Central Illinois and spent a lot of time during the Summer at the games in the last Busch Stadium. We were there so often that when someone mentions the song "Meet Me in St. Louis", the first thing I think of is the version played at every game on the stadium's organ. I have great memories of Fredbird dancing on the dugout and Ozzie Smith doing backflips on the track. There's only one ball that ever left the old Busch Stadium by way of a bat that I know of, and I was there - it was a minor leaguer just called up named Mike Lagas who foul tipped it backwards. He homered at his first at bat in the majors (I was there for that, too), and I think lasted a whole three games before the club sent him back down. I've never been able to find a record of his time with the club, but I remember it quite vividly.
If we weren't at the games, we usually had them on TV.
In a shoebox somewhere, I have a snapshot of my name scrolling up the scoreboard during the 7th inning stretch in honor of my 10th birthday.
The first pair of earrings I got when I got my ears pierced at age 12 were a small pair of Fredbirds. For my 14th birthday, my Grandma gave me a Cardinals Starter jacket, which I still have and amazingly still fits (it must have been huge on me back then!)
My sister and her husband, who themselves grew up to be rabid Cardinal fans, were lucky enough to attend game three of the World Series at Busch this year - and she sent me a phone pic from inside the stadium, of course. They couldn't meet my t-shirt request, but I am told there is another surprise in the works.
What a way to break in the new digs! YAYAYAYAY CARDINALS WOOOOOOOO!!!! I'm all misty eyed now... *happy sigh*
Message edited by author 2006-10-28 00:01:38.
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