Busch Memorial Stadium
Home of the NFL Cardinals from 1966 to 1987 and the MLB Cardinals from 1966 to 2005.
Busch Memorial Stadium (originally Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium) was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri, that operated for 40 years from 1966 through 2005. While it served as the primary home for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team throughout its entire existence, it also hosted the National Football League's Cardinals franchise for 22 seasons, running from 1966 until 1987. The stadium briefly welcomed the St. Louis Rams during part of the 1995 season before being demolished by wrecking ball in late 2005.
- location
- St. Louis, Missouri
- era
- 1966–2005
- surface_type
- AstroTurf (later natural grass)
- capacity_approx
- None
- previous_tenant
- Sportsman's Park (renamed Busch Stadium in 1953)
- notable_feature
- 96-arch "Crown of Arches" roof designed by Edward Durell Stone
- demolition_method
- Wrecking ball (piece-by-piece)
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
The stadium opened on May 12, 1966, just four days after the final baseball game at Sportsman's Park. Designed by Sverdrup & Parcel with a distinctive 96-arch "Crown of Arches" roof created by Edward Durell Stone, it mirrored the Gateway Arch completed only a year prior. The facility was built to modernize St. Louis sports, replacing a venue that had gone to seed and lacked parking. In its early years, the stadium hosted the All-Star Game in its opening month, followed quickly by a performance from The Beatles. The NFL Cardinals moved into this new home for the 1966 season, sharing it with their baseball counterparts until they departed for Phoenix after the 1987 season. Over time, bronze statues of legends like Stan Musial, Lou Brock, and Ozzie Smith were erected on the grounds, cementing the site's legacy in baseball history.
In Their Own Story
Construction began on May 25, 1964, utilizing eminent domain to clear rundown areas including a historic opera house that had become a strip club. The project was massive, adding parking garages and office buildings to revitalize a 31-block business district. When the NFL's Chicago Cardinals moved to St. Louis in late 1959, the original baseball-only design was altered to accommodate football, leading to a unique dual-tenant arrangement. By 1970, the intense heat of St. Louis summers forced the replacement of natural grass with AstroTurf, though the team kept a full dirt infield for eight seasons. The artificial surface created playing conditions among the hottest in baseball, with temperatures well above official readings. In 1981, Anheuser-Busch purchased the stadium for $53 million and removed "Memorial" from its name. Following the Rams' departure after October 22, 1995, the Cardinals retrofitted the venue into a baseball-only facility, closing upper deck seats and restoring natural grass.
Reader's Guide
Fans visiting Busch Memorial Stadium in its later years would have seen a transformed venue compared to its multipurpose past. After the NFL tenants left, the team closed off a large section of the upper deck outfield seats, replacing them with a hand-operated scoreboard and flags for retired numbers. The outfield walls were re-painted green from their original blue color. The stadium hosted World Series games in six different seasons, including victories in 1967 against the Boston Red Sox and in 1982 against the Milwaukee Brewers, where they overcame a 3-1 deficit to win their ninth title. A defining moment occurred during the 1985 National League Championship Series when Ozzie Smith hit his first left-handed home run with three runners on base, prompting announcer Jack Buck's iconic line: "Go Crazy Folks!" The facility served its final event on October 19, 2005, during Game 6 of the NLCS, before demolition began on November 7, 2005.
Did You Know?
- The stadium opened just four days after the last baseball game was played at its predecessor, Sportsman's Park.
- In 1982, the official name was shortened from Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium to simply Busch Stadium.
- The NFL Cardinals played their final season in St. Louis there in 1987 before relocating to Phoenix.
- Demolition took place over several weeks using a wrecking ball instead of an implosion due to the nearby Stadium MetroLink station.
- The stadium hosted The Beatles shortly after its opening in 1966.