Ballpark Game Plan: St. Louis Cardinals & Busch Stadium

Parking & Transportation:

Busch Stadium has two parking lots available for prepaid parking. The Starr Lot is across the street from Gate 2, and the One Cardinal Way Garage is a short walk away.

Tailgating is not mentioned, but the Cardinals host an official pre-game party before every home game. Tickets give fans access to a full buffet and full-service, all-inclusive bar. The party begins 2 ½ hours before game time and ends at the first pitch.

Fans in Facebook’s Ballpark Chasers group say that street parking is relatively easy to find. Parking is free after 7 p.m. and on Sundays.

Oversized vehicle: The stadium website does not mention parking for buses or RVs.  

Fans can also attend the game using mass transit. The Metrolink station is located next to the Westin on 8^th Street and runs until midnight.

Stadium Tours:

Game day tours are available unless the game begins before 6:00. The Classic Tour takes an hour and includes a visit to the Cardinals Museum. Adults pay $20, seniors and military pay $18, and children 3 to 15 are $16. The new 360 Tour is a 30- to 45-minute guided tour of the best locations in the ball park, including the press dining room and the scoreboard patio. Tickets are $12, $10, and $8, respectively.

General Information:

Bags: Busch Stadium prohibits bags larger than 10” x 8” x 10”, with the exception of medical bag and diaper bags with children. Unfortunately, the MLB site does not mention any storage options for larger bags.

Food & Beverages: Fans may bring in their own food and non-alcoholic beverages. Food choices need to comply with the bag policy. Beverage choices are limited to water and soda factory-sealed, clear, plastic bottles no larger than 2 liters in size.

Cashless transactions: All transactions are cashless.

Signs: Signs are permitted as long as they are baseball-related, don’t block views, interfere with the game, contain advertising, or contain offensive materials.

Foul Balls: Fans may keep foul balls, as long as they don’t interfere with play or enter the playing area to retrieve them. Fans who catch a ball on the fly are awarded a foul ball contract.

Cameras: Allowed, but lenses longer than the length of the camera body are prohibited. Tripods and monopods are also prohibited.

Umbrellas: Busch Stadium allows fans to bring umbrellas into the stadium if rain is forecast and on hot days. Please be respectful of those around you when using them.

Gates: Gates open 90 minutes prior to game time Monday through Thursday, and 2 hours prior to first pitch on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Where to Sit:

The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip recommends using the seating map when choosing seats. The arrangement of sections is confusing. At field level, they recommend the Infield Field Boxes (141 – 160), or the Dugout Boxes (lower sections 132 – 139 and 161 – 166) if you want a chance at a foul ball. In the higher levels, try sections 435 – 445 for shade and a better view than the 200 level seats below them.

For mid-day games, Baseball Road Trips recommends looking for seats in the shade. These include the back rows of the 100 level along the third-base line (sections 163 – 167) and the infield Redbird club (sections 241 – 246). The best view of the park is from section 258, which includes the field and the Gateway Arch. The best seats in the field are in section 145 – 148, in the home field box.

Baseball Bucket List agrees with the recommendation for Infield Redbird Club seats, and includes both sections 241 – 246 and sections 254 – 257 for best game views. The best places to catch foul balls are sections 153 – 156 and sections 141 – 146.

Food:

• According to The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, the trademark food at Busch Stadium is the beef brisket at Broadway BBQ. It can be found in sections 109 and 148.
• InsideHook lists the team’s trademark dish as the St. Louis Cardinals Gioias Hot Salami Sandwich.
• There is also debate over the Busch Stadium’s signature hot dog. The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip claims it is a St. Louis-style jumbo dog wrapped in Applewood smoked bacon and topped with baked beans, pico de gallo, spicy aioli, and crispy fried onions. It can be found in Sections 147, 168, and 250. Ballpark Savvy says it is a St. Louis Dog: a jumbo sausage covered with crispy potato chips covered in cheese and BBQ sauce. Find this hot dog in Section 132.

First Time Visitors:

The Cardinals let you print out your own first game certificate on their website.

Autographs:

Permitted before game time, if time permits.

Other Stadium Tips & Highlights:

The Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum is open through the seventh inning on game nights, and costs $12 for adults, $10 for seniors/military, and $8 for children 4 to 17.

Ballpark Village is just beside the stadium, and includes many places to eat, drink, and shop before and after the game.

Outside the stadium, The Plaza of Champions features statues of former Cardinals Stan Musial, “Red” Schoendienst, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, George Sisler, Enos Slaughter, Rogers Hornsby, and Dizzy Dean, along with Negro Leagues star Cool Papa Bell. A larger statue of Stan Musial greets fans at the Third Base entrance to the park. As you walk around the outside of the stadium, be sure to look down as well as up! The Cardinals Walk of Fame includes highlights the team’s history from 1902 to present, all embedded in the sidewalk around the park.

The Cardinals’ retired numbers are displayed in centerfield, above sections 501 – 505. They are also displayed along the outfield fence in the left-field corner of the stadium. The retired numbers include:

• 1- Ozzie Smith
• 2 – Red Schoendienst
• 6 – Stan Musial
• 9 – Enos Slaughter
• 14 – Ken Boyer
• 17 – Dizzy Dean
• 20 – Lou Brock
• 24 – Whitey Herzog
• 42 – Bruce Sutter
• 45 – Bob Gibson
• 85 – former owner Augutst (Gussie) Busch, Jr.
• Microphone symbol – Jack Buck
• SL – Rogers Hornsby, the Hall of Famer who played before players wore numbers on their uniforms
• 42 – Jackie Robinson (retired by the MLB)

References: