incredible as it may seem, there are still parts of the old busch stadium that you can buy. thousands of them, matterafact -- from the owners' box, the clubhouse, the concession stands, you name it. and they're going up for public auction tomorrow at the millennium hotel, right across the street from the new yard, starting at 9 a.m. you can bid online too, if you live out of town; all the details at this link.
full disclosure: the company running the auction is owned by a dear old family friend, with whom i sat through innumerable games at the old stadium in the '70s and '80s. this person also nearly decapitated me once by steering our canoe straight into a sweetgum tree jutting out from the bank in a class 3 rapid on the north fork of the white river, but i have gotten over that. mostly.
so what's left of busch to buy? well, no more urinals available; let's get that right out of the way. but you can purchase the two pitching rubbers from the mounds in the visitors' bullpen (lot nos. 1131 and 1132). you can get a set of grounds-crew tools -- rake, broom and squeegie (lots 1195-98). there's mark mulder's clubhouse locker (lot 1133); a set of manual-scoreboard numbers (lots 1186-88); schoendienst's "Red 2" banner from the retired-number display in center field, autographed by the redhead himself (lot 1153); and the official scorecard from game 6 of last year's nlcs, the last game ever played at the stadium (lot 1050). also:
- a game-used resin bag from last year's labor-day tilt vs the cubs (lot 1052)
- jason marquis' locker (lot 1048)
- a set of game-used bases, unspecified date (lot 1182)
- ray king's clubhouse locker (lot 1059)
- the 2004 nl pennant that flew atop the stadium roof (lot 1087)
- jason is'hausen's locker (lot 1085)
- a section of the home dugout wall (lot 1104)
- a rusted-out turnstile (lot 1229)
- 25 chairs from the press box (lot 786)
there's also a ton of stuff you either never knew was at the stadium or just took for granted. like televisions: 307 of them will be auctioned off. at least 64 pairs of bar stools will be on the block, as will some 94 blue trash cans. if you're in the food business or live on a commune, you can buy flat-top grills, ice bins, soda dispensers, nacho pots, condiment stands, hot chocolate makers, and all other manner of cook-em-feed-em accoutrement. you want bun warmers? here they are: on wheels or with legs; 1-drawer, 2-drawer, even 4-drawer.
a few of these items i'd rather not know too much about. for example, lot no. 2296: mattresses and bed springs. uh huh. lot 1169 is labeled "St Louis Cardinals player"; looks like they've given up on john gall. lot 1128 is "Busch Stadium stlcardinals.com Gel"; never having been a very big gel guy, i'll stay away from that one. and we end with the very first lot, no. 1: a blue love seat. in which, i can only guess, tony and dave used to cuddle after each home-game victory.
here's a more complete list of what's for sale.
shifting now from stadium past to stadium present: buncha nice new pictures of busch iii available at this link, which i lifted from the p-d's cards talk forum. take a look at this shot, and look closely at the scoreboard; the lineups are from game 2 of the 1989 world series -- the only world series tony la russa ever won. interesting selection, no? i could understand them tinkering around with game 7 of the '82 series, or game 1 of '68 -- hell, any game involving the cardinals. the scoreboard guy apparently is a giants fan; he has the giants winning the game 3-1, when in fact san fran only scored 1 run that night and ultimately lost 5-1 to fall into an 0-2 series hole.
whatever. . . . .