“During its 100 years of existence, Anheuser-Busch has shared in all St. Louis civic activity,” Anheuser-Busch chairman August A. Busch Jr. said. “The Cardinals, like ourselves, are a St. Louis institution. We hope to make the Cardinals one of the greatest baseball teams of all time.”[1]

Saigh had purchased the club just over five years earlier in November 1947, but had recently pleaded no contest and been sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $15,000 for filing fall income tax returns. Under pressure from Major League Baseball commissioner Ford C. Frick, and with his prison sentence set to begin on May 4,[2] Saigh put the club up for sale.

“I was so disgusted, so horrified that after having such a good name in the community, they would do this to me,” Saigh explained. “I just gave up. I told Frick I didn’t want to embarrass baseball. I said, ‘There is nothing you can do to get me out. I just don’t want to embarrass baseball.’”[3]

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Cardinals were so close to moving to Milwaukee that team employees were told in early February that if they wished to move with the team to Wisconsin, their expenses would be paid and the team would cover any losses they incurred while selling their homes.[4]

The price? Approximately $4 million.[5]

According to the Post-Dispatch, Saigh planned to travel to New York to get permission from Frick to sell the Cardinals to the Milwaukee group. However, Jim Hickock, president of First National Bank, and Dave Calhoun, president of St. Louis Union Trust, asked Saigh to postpone that trip because Anheuser-Busch and its president, August A. Busch Jr., had serious interest. Saigh, eager to keep the ballclub in St. Louis, agreed.[6]

“During the past weeks, I have had several serious offers for the Cardinals, but all involved moving the club away from St. Louis,” Saigh said at the press conference announcing the sale. “From the time I decided to sell, Mr. Busch and his associates, through David R. Calhoun and James P. Hickok, urged that the club remain in St. Louis. They told me Anheuser-Busch might be interested in acquiring the club if necessary to keep it in St. Louis. I kept Mr. Busch and his associates informed of the situation. When it became apparent that an out-of-town group was ready to purchase the Cardinals at a price which I felt was a fair value for the club, I informed Mr. Busch and his associates of the impending sale. They again expressed their serious interest in having the club remain here. For the past several days, we have been working out details with Calhoun and Hickok, Anheuser-Busch officials, lawyers, and others. There has been a complete meeting of minds on all details.”[7]

Calhoun and Hickock issued a joint statement of their own that shared the same series of events.

“Mr. Busch informed us of his keen desire to see the Cardinal baseball club have a continuing home in St. Louis. He felt the team was very much a part of the St. Louis area and authorized us to watch the situation and take whatever steps were necessary to keep the team here.

“We have been in close touch with Fred Saigh. As negotiations continued, it became clear that no serious offers were being made by any St. Louis group which would have any chance of assuring the Cardinals’ remaining here. When we informed Mr. Busch that negotiations were about to be closed for sale of the Cardinals to a group which intended to move the club out of St. Louis, he authorized us to enter discussions with Saigh to buy the Cardinals for Anheuser-Busch. We all felt that if the Cardinals were moved out of St. Louis, this community would have lost a great civic asset. Mr. Saigh made several important concessions to keep the Cardinals here and deserves sincere appreciation.”[8]

While the initial announcement presented Busch as a sportsman who bought the Cardinals as a civic gesture to keep the team in St. Louis, Saigh later changed his tune. In his later telling, Hickock and Calhoun talked Busch into the deal.

“When I made it known I wanted to sell the team, I got an offer from Milwaukee and two from the Houston area. Nobody from St. Louis,” Saigh told author and historian Peter Golenbock. “Finally, Jim Hickock, who was president of First National Bank, and Dave Calhoun, who was president of St. Louis Union Trust, went to Gussie Busch and really had to twist his arm. They bring out that he was a savior, but that was bullshit. The ego of some people is hard to understand. He did not volunteer. No. Hickock and Calhoun went to him and told him Anheuser-Busch should take over the team. They explained to Gussie that it would be a good thing for the city and a good thing for the brewery. We had a couple of meetings. They had to do a good deal of arm-twisting. I could have made between $700,000 and $750,000 more. But I wanted to leave the team in the city. The public had been good to me, and I would have felt I would have let them down otherwise. It mattered because I would have had to answer to this fan or that fan: ‘Why did you do it?’ My reputation was important.”[9]

Regardless of how the deal came about, it’s clear that Anheuser-Busch’s purchase kept the Cardinals franchise in St. Louis and prevented a sale that could have moved the team to a new city.

Busch told reporters that the $3.75 million price included $2.5 million that was paid to Saigh and the assumption of $1.25 million in debt.[10] The sale also included the Cardinals’ minor-league affiliates in Columbus, Ohio; Rochester, N.Y.; Houston, Texas; Columbus, Ga.; Omaha, Neb.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Fresno, Calif.; Albany, Ga.; and Hamilton Ontario.

When reporters asked Busch about the Cardinals’ radio broadcasts, which were sponsored by Anheuser-Busch’s rival Griesedieck Bros. Brewery Company, he said that Anheuser-Busch had no intention of trying to buy the contract from Griesedieck.

“I am going at this from the sports angle and not as a sales weapon for Budweiser beer,” Busch said.[11]

However, in his book, The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, Golenbock writes, “This was public relations drivel to make it appear he had bought the team in the spirit of civic pride. Nothing could have been further from the truth, which was that Gussie Busch, who had never been a baseball fan, thought the game ‘dull.’ As he described it, ‘There’s a lot of standing around.’ When Mr. Busch spoke before the Anheuser-Busch board of directors, he revealed his real motives. He predicted to his directors, ‘Development of the Cardinals will have untold value for our company. This is one of the finest moves in the history of Anheuser-Busch.’”[12]

Indeed, Busch soon capitalized on the potent marketing tool the Cardinals presented. After Busch asked Browns owner Bill Veeck – the owner of Sportsman’s Park and the Cardinals’ landlord at the stadium – to upgrade the facility, Veeck protested that he couldn’t afford the upgrades Busch was requesting. Instead, Busch bought Sportsman’s Park from Veeck and the Browns for $800,000.[13]

Initially, Busch sought to change the name of the stadium to Budweiser Stadium, but the commissioner’s office and Protestant church groups argued against it. Instead, he named the stadium “Busch Memorial Stadium” in memory of his father, grandfather, and late brother.[14] While “Budweiser Stadium” didn’t last as a name, Busch soon made certain that his stadium was filled with Budweiser marketing, and later came out with Busch Beer. Within four years, Anheuser-Busch was the top brewery in the United States.[15]

Ironically, Anheuser-Busch’s success made Saigh even more money than the sale of the Cardinals did. While stock in Anheuser-Busch was not part of the team’s sale, Saigh used the proceeds to invest significant sums into the company. Former St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg estimated that Saigh purchased the equivalent of $6 million in Anheuser-Busch Stock and that its value had increased by $60 million.[16]

“I’ll tell you why I bought Anheuser-Busch stock when I sold them the Cardinals,” Saigh explained in 2011. “It’s a matter of history. Schlitz, the leading beer company in this country, had Cub television and radio, and they lost it. Within two years, you never heard anything of Schlitz. When Anheuser-Busch took over the Cardinals, they were third behind Schlitz and Miller. And I knew it. And I knew baseball was going to make Anheuser-Busch. So that’s why I bought the stock.”[17]

While the sale benefitted Busch and Saigh and allowed Cardinals fans to keep their team in St. Louis, Browns fans were not so fortunate. After the 1953 season, recognizing that he could never compete with Anheuser-Busch’s deep pockets, Veeck sold the Browns to a group led by Baltimore attorney Clarence Miles. The new ownership group moved the Browns to Baltimore and renamed them the Orioles in time for the 1954 season.

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[1] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[2] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[3] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 397.

[4] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[5] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[6] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[7] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[8] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[9] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 397.

[10] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[11] “Cardinals Ball Club Sold To Anheuser-Busch Inc. By Fred Saigh For $3,750,000,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 1953.

[12] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 405.

[13] “Busch Buys Sportsmans Park,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1953.

[14] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 405.

[15] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 406.

[16] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 398.

[17] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 398.

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At the time of the sale, the Browns signed a five-year lease to rent the park from the brewery for $175,000 per year.[1] The Cardinals, who had been tenants at Sportsman’s Park since 1920, paid $35,000 per year but also shared in the maintenance costs. In 1952, their total cost came to $108,500.[2]

“It only eases the load on us,” Veeck said. “It amounts to this. It was a matter of selling the park or selling the players, and the park was a luxury that we did not feel we could afford.”[3]

Located at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, Sportsman’s Park had a rich history as the epicenter of St. Louis baseball, beginning with its role as the home of Chris Von der Ahe’s old St. Louis Browns franchise beginning in 1885. After Robert Lee Hedges resurrected the Browns in 1909, he rebuilt the stands, and in the 1920s, the stadium underwent a $750,000 renovation that expanded the park’s capacity to 34,000.

Veeck purchased the Browns in 1951 and immediately attempted to draw fans away from the Cardinals. In addition to hiring former Cardinals stars Rogers Hornsby and Marty Marion to manage the team, Veeck introduced one-of-a-kind stunts, including sending 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel to pinch-hit on August 19, 1951, and introducing “Grandstand Managers Day,” in which fans voted on in-game strategies.

As Veeck sought to draw the city’s attention to his underdog Browns, he also made enemies around the league. When the Yankees were embroiled in a contract dispute with Joe DiMaggio, Veeck attended a baseball dinner and told the audience, “If the Yankees don’t want to pay him what he’s worth, well, I’ll take him and pay him $200,000,” prompting Yankees general manager George Weiss to storm off.[4]

In 1952, he asked that road teams receive a share of each game’s television revenues. The other American League owners turned down this proposal at their winter meetings, and in response, Veeck threatened to fight back with a “secret weapon.” In response, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians removed the Browns from their night-game schedule, when revenues were highest. Given their dependence upon road gate proceeds, this only harmed the Browns’ already precarious financial situation. Veeck appealed to Commissioner Ford Frick, but the commissioner ruled that he had no oversight of such matters.[5]

Once Anheuser-Busch owned the Cardinals, Veeck knew his days in St. Louis were numbered. At first, he sought to move to Milwaukee, but under the rules of the day, the Braves had first rights to the Milwaukee market since they already had a Triple-A team playing there. After Veeck’s attempt to move to Milwaukee was thwarted, the Braves moved to Milwaukee themselves.

While Veeck believed he could have beaten former Cardinals owner Fred Saigh for the hearts of St. Louis baseball fans, Saigh’s arrest for tax evasion ironically spelled the end for the Browns in St. Louis. Turning down offers from other cities, Saigh sold the Cardinals to Anheuser-Busch, pitting Veeck against a brewery that had significantly more resources at its disposal than he could muster. The sale of Sportsman’s Park marked an early step in Veeck’s plan to leave St. Louis.

Anheuser-Busch issued a statement to announce its purchase of the historic ballpark:

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. has bought Sportsmans Park from the Browns for $800,000. We will take immediate possession and an extensive rehabilitation and improvement program is under way right now. It will continue throughout the playing season. We want to do everything possible to get the park in the best shape in the few days remaining before the official season opens, for the comfort and convenience of fans.

The Browns have signed a lease with us for five years at an annual rental of $175,000. The Cardinals will assume all taxes, maintenance costs, etc. The Browns will not pay anything towards the new rehabilitation and improvement program, which will cost us approximately $400,000 this year alone. The Browns, however, will share in the vastly improved facilities. Last year, including rent, the Cardinals paid the Browns $108,500 for maintenance.

There are several very important reasons for our purchase of Sportsmans Park. Several days ago I made a tour of the park and found that it was not maintained on a scale we regard as meeting major league baseball standards. Sverdrup & Parcel, consulting engineers, were called in to make a thorough survey. They informed us that the park had not been improved for many years and that it now needed considerable rehabilitation. We believe that sports fans in St. Louis deserve better than that.

We immediately met with officials of the Browns to undertake these improvements. They informed us that they were heavily in debt, had no funds with which to make these improvements or to maintain the park in what we would consider adequate shape. There was serious doubt, they said, that they could even go through a full playing season unless actual funds for operating the club were forthcoming from some source.

While we have a lease which runs through 1960, we could not see our way clear to make an expenditure of $400,000 for the next year and additional sums for years to come … on property we did not own. Further, with the financial condition of the Browns, it was obvious that we would be playing in a park in which the owner, even with the best intentions, could not possibly afford to take the steps necessary to keep the park in first-class condition.

The decision which we made was the only way to improve Sportsman’s Park and also give the Browns funds with which to operate their club.

Fans will see many improvements during the season since I have given the contractors the full-speed-ahead sign. Basic improvements will be made first. Many others will follow as the season gets under way.

Now that the ownership of the park will pass to Anheuser-Busch, it will in the future be known as “Budweiser Stadium.”[6]

Rudie Schaffer, general manager of the Browns, issued a separate statement:

Purchase of the park by Anheuser-Busch, Inc., will materially help the Browns’ immediate operations and enable the club to clear debts incurred in recent years. The brewery will launch an immediate rehabilitation program which will put the park in first-class condition for the comfort of all baseball fans. We will benefit from these improved conditions as well as the Cardinals.

Though we have made essential maintenance improvements since owning the club, we have never been in a position to recondition the entire park, which has been a long-time need. The program as outlined to us by Mr. Busch is a most ambitious one and certainly the new Budweiser Stadium will compare favorably with other major league facilities.

This decision on our part is not related in any way to the proposed move which was rejected by the American League owners recently. It was prompted entirely by our inability to make the necessary repairs and improvements and we are most appreciative of the fine cooperation we have received from all the Anheuser-Busch officials.[7]

The name “Budweiser Stadium” didn’t last long. Frick objected to the stadium being named after a beer brand, forcing Busch and the brewery to pivot.

“Realizing that Budweiser is a brand name of our product, we have decided the name Budweiser Stadium would not be appropriate,” August A. Busch Jr., brewery president, said. “Sportsman’s Park will be officially named Busch Stadium in memory of the founder and past presidents of Anheuser-Busch. These are my grandfather, Adolphus Busch, founder; my father, August A. Busch; and my brother, Adolphus Busch III.”[8]

By 1955, Anheuser-Busch had found a way around Frick’s edict, launching a new product: Busch Bavarian Beer.[9] Additionally, though the ballpark could not be named after a brand of beer, advertising within the stadium was certainly allowed. With its strong ties to the Cardinals, Anheuser-Busch soon became the market leader.

After the sale of Sportsman’s Park, Veeck told the local media that the move would not affect the team’s future and that, from a financial standpoint, “we’re much better able to stay in St. Louis if we want to or to leave if we want.”[10]

“That situation is the same as it always has been,” he said. “I don’t intend to sell unless some fantastic offer is made, and so far, I have not received any kind of offer.”[11]

That soon changed. After the 1953 season, Veeck agreed to sell half his stock to a Baltimore group led by Baltimore attorney Clarence Miles, with Veeck remaining the principal owner. Once again, however, the other American League owners voted Veeck’s proposal down. Realizing that the other owners would do whatever they could to either destroy him or run him out of the league, Veeck took the only action available to him, selling his entire ownership stake to Miles and his group. The new ownership group moved the Browns to Baltimore and renamed them the Orioles.

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[1] “Busch Buys Sportsmans Park,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1953.

[2] “Cardinals Buy Ballpark for $800,000; Lease Signed By Browns,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 1953.

[3] Robert Morrison, “Sale of Park Won’t Affect Future of Browns, Veeck Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 1953.

[4] Peter Golenbock, The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, It Books (Kindle Edition), Page 352.

[5] Peter Golenbock, The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, It Books (Kindle Edition), Page 353.

[6] “Busch Buys Sportsmans Park,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1953.

[7] “Busch Buys Sportsmans Park,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1953.

[8] “Ballpark Renamed ‘Busch Stadium,’ Not ‘Budweiser,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 1953.

[9] “The History of Busch Beer,” www.busch.com/history.

[10] Bill Fairbairn, “Browns’ Future Next Poser,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1953.

[11] Robert Morrison, “Sale of Park Won’t Affect Future of Browns, Veeck Says,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 1953.

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