Busch Stadium II had one heck of an opening night.
Even before Lou Brock singled to drive home the game-winning run in a 4-3, 12-inning victory over the Braves, the stadium alone was enough to delight the St. Louis crowd.
“This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” declared Mrs. Claudia Hanebrink of Affton. “They couldn’t have found a better place for this stadium.”[1]
Constructed in just under two years, the $26 million ballpark[2] was designed to accommodate both the Major League Baseball Cardinals and the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals. To complement the landmark Arch across the street, the stadium featured 96 arches.
Fans soon discovered that the ballpark offered a very different experience from the previous stadium, initially known as Sportsman’s Park but renamed Busch Stadium in 1953. The new stadium officially was named “Civic Center Busch Memorial Stadium,” though fans quickly began to refer to it simply as “Busch Stadium.”
The new ballpark opened its doors at 5 p.m. ahead of its debut contest between the Cardinals and Braves on May 12, 1966. As Frank Leeming Jr. of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “Its success was immediate and spectacular. The downtown sports center attracted 46,048 persons, probably the largest audience in the history of professional sports in St. Louis. It overwhelmed most of the customers with its size, simplicity, and spaciousness.”[3]
Each fan was given a certificate to verify their attendance at the historic contest. To guide the crowd around the Cardinals’ new home, the team employed 320 ushers, 100 more than had worked at the previous stadium. That total included the introduction of 42 “usherettes,” young women stationed in the box seat area to assist guests.[4]
One of the ushers’ duties for the first game was assisting the fans who were disoriented by the long climb to the upper-level seats and the unique view it offered. As Leeming wrote, “Many fans found they had a long climb to their seats. Because the stadium has four levels, seats at the top were much higher than most persons expected. Sitting in the top row of seats gives one a feeling of looking almost straight down to the distant playing field. Several persons, particularly elderly ones, experienced a sensation of vertigo as they climbed to their seats and turned around to face the field for the first time, ushers reported.”[5]
Once fans settled in, they were greeted by two large scoreboards above the outfield walls. The left-field scoreboard advertised Anheuser-Busch products while the right-field board advertised upcoming Cardinal games. Leeming wrote that many of the fans were disappointed that the scoreboards weren’t as innovative as the Houston Astrodome’s famous “exploding scoreboard” (named for the way it seemed to explode with color and animation) that opened the previous season.[6]
Ray Blades, who played 10 seasons with the Cardinals between 1922 and 1932 and managed the club in 1939 and 1940, was among those who came to see the new ballpark.
“Just came down tonight to see how things were being run,” said the 69-year-old Blades. “Fifteen more feet up and I’d be in heaven.”[7]
Righthander Ray Washburn threw the first official pitch in the new ballpark to Felipe Alou before retiring him on a ground ball to second base. Braves second baseman Gary Geiger, a Sand Ridge, Illinois, native who was only in the lineup because Rico Carty offered to sit out with Geiger’s family and friends in attendance,[8] came to the plate next. His single to right field marked the first base hit in Busch Stadium II’s history.
While Geiger may have collected the first hit, it was St. Louis that pushed across the first run. Facing Wade Blasingame, a 22-year-old lefthander who was coming off a 16-win campaign in 1965, Cardinals shortstop Jerry Buchek led off with a single to center field. With two outs, Mike Shannon smacked a triple into right field to score Buchek, drawing raucous applause from the crowd. The Post-Dispatch reported that a reporter standing at Sixth and Locust streets could clearly hear the crowd’s cheer as Buchek crossed the plate.[9]
Curt Flood followed Shannon’s triple with a single into left that extended the Cardinals’ lead to 2-0.
The Braves rallied back, however. In the top of the fourth, Geiger doubled and then scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lee Thomas. Two innings later, Alou, who was celebrating his 31st birthday, hit a solo home run to left field that tied the game.
The score remained 2-2 until the eighth inning. After seven innings of work, Washburn was replaced with Tracy Stallard, a 6-foot-5 righthander from Virginia who had won 11 games while working primarily as a starter the previous year. Alou greeted Stallard with his second home run of the game, once again putting the ball over the left-field wall to give Atlanta a 3-2 lead.
As the game entered the ninth inning, some of the crowd began to leave and didn’t see the Cardinals’ rally in the bottom of the ninth.[10] After Braves reliever Billy O’Dell struck out Charley Smith for the first out, Alex Johnson singled to left and advanced to second on an error. With two outs, Buchek hit a shallow fly ball that landed between the first baseman, second baseman, and right fielder.
“It was a good pitch, in on me, and you’ve got to be lucky to hit the ball the way I did,” Buchek said.[11]
With Buchek on first and two outs, manager Red Schoendienst called on Bob Gibson to pinch-hit and the Cardinals’ ace came through, singling into left and advancing Buchek to third base. However, O’Dell retired Julian Javier on a ground ball to third base to send the game into extra innings.
Both teams leaned on their bullpens in the extra frames. Hal Woodeshick pitched scoreless 10th and 11th innings for the Cardinals before he was replaced by Don Dennis with two outs in the 12th. Meanwhile, the Braves used O’Dell, Chi-Chi Olivo, and Phil Niekro.
Niekro led off the 12th inning by hitting Flood on the bill of his helmet with a knuckleball “that was attracted to him as if he were a magnet.”[12] With no one out, slugging first baseman Orlando Cepeda laid down a sacrifice bunt. Braves catcher Joe Torre attempted to catch Flood at second base, but his throw sailed wide and Flood and Cepeda each advanced a base. With runners on second and third, Niekro intentionally walked Smith to load the bases and bring Brock to the plate.
Brock, who was mired in a terrible slump, entered the game one inning earlier in place of pinch hitter Bob Skinner. With approximately 18,000 of the original 46,000 fans still in the ballpark,[13] Brock hit a low and inside knuckleball ball back up the middle, scoring Flood and giving the Cardinals a 4-3 win, their first victory at the new Busch Stadium.
“I was trying for a double-play ball,” Niekro said.[14]
Among the Cardinals’ 12 hits, Shannon went 3-for-6 and Buchek added two hits and an intentional walk. Dennis was credited for the win after retiring the lone batter he faced, while Joe Hoerner and Woodeshick combined for four innings of scoreless relief. In seven innings of work, Washburn allowed just two runs on five hits and a walk.
Stallard, who allowed Alou’s second home run, was able to laugh it off after the game.
“Listen, if I hadn’t given up that home run, this game would have been nothing,” he explained. “Think about it. If I don’t give up the home run, Buchek doesn’t start the big rally in the ninth and Curt Flood doesn’t get hit on the head and Brock doesn’t get out of his slump.”
The Braves finished the game with just six hits, five of which came from Alou (two homers) and Geiger (3-for-4 with two doubles).
Busch Stadium II served as the Cardinals’ home for 40 years. In 1970, the grass (which was difficult to keep alive in the hot summers) was replaced with AstroTurf, which only served to make the playing surface even hotter. In 1995, with the St. Louis Rams moving to their new domed stadium, Busch Stadium became a baseball-only complex and natural grass was returned.
The Cardinals’ final game at Busch Stadium II came in the 2005 National League Championship Series. That fall, it was demolished to make way for Busch Stadium III, which became the team’s new home beginning with the 2006 season.
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[1] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[2] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[3] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[4] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[5] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[6] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[7] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[8] Michael Tow, “May 12, 1966: Braves’ Gary Geiger gets first hit in Busch Stadium as Cardinals open new ballpark,” Society for American Baseball Research Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-12-1966-braves-gary-geiger-gets-first-hit-in-busch-stadium-as-cardinals-open-new-ballpark/.
[9] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[10] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[11] Neal Russo, “Cards Give a Bit Extra for Debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[12] Neal Russo, “Cards Give a Bit Extra for Debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[13] Frank Leeming Jr., “46,048 Attend First Game In New Stadium,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.
[14] Neal Russo, “Cards Give a Bit Extra for Debut,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1966.