2) Busch Memorial Stadium (1966-2005)
St. Louis, MO
Home to: Cardinals
A: As one of the multipurpose “cookie cutter” stadiums of the 1960s, there was little in the field of play to distinguish Busch Stadium from its contemporaries. Rather, the defining feature of Busch II was the series of archways encircling the stadium rim, meant to invoke the imagery of the famous Gateway Arch, which was visible over the outfield beyond the out-of-town scoreboard and World Championship pennants.
Originally designed to be shared between the baseball and football Cardinals, much like many other stadiums of its era, Busch Stadium fell out of fashion with the return to baseball-specific ballparks and was replaced with Busch III, an open-outfield design inspired by the retro-modern movement of the 1990s. Following the 2005 season, Busch Stadium was slowly dismantled piece by piece as its successor stood half-constructed on the adjacent lot, waiting to be finished on the overlapping property.
J: Very much my home stadium growing up, Busch Memorial Stadium is the second of (currently) three stadiums to bear the name “Busch”. In fact, the current Busch Stadium overlaps the site of the previous one, and there is a marker in the new one designating where the foul pole from BMS once stood. The music presents this duality in its two contrasting sections, in which a sedated, circular waltz gives way to a flashier funk groove, only to return to a hint of the former character at the end.