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BUSCH STADIUM
St. Louis, Mo.
Opened: 1966
Capacity: 50,345
Average Ticket Price: $25.29
Average Cost of Concessions and Souvenirs: $81
Pluses:
Metrolink, the public light rail system, operates a stop at the stadium; two sizable parking lots, priced at $10 a car, flank the park while nearby surface lots offer additional spaces.

Minuses:
Like any big city, traffic in downtown St. Louis can get snarled in the evening, often making trips to the park an exercise in patience.
Rare is the player who suits up for the Cardinals and doesn't fall in love with baseball's most loyal fans.
Photo by John Biever/SI
Busch is the only stadium to offer fans a substance that removes gum from seats (it's available at the stadium's First Aid station); fairly standard 44 concessions; fairly limited 38 total restrooms; first four levels of seating wheelchair-accessible.
As the new Busch Stadium rises next door (it opens in 2006), the ol' concrete bowl -- a step above the cookie-cutter era from which it hails -- still packs in the red-clad faithful. At the heart of downtown, in the shadow of the Arch, Busch is pure middle America. Nothing fancy, nothing outrageous. Just baseball and hot dogs. -- John Donovan  
A safe, Midwestern downtown has plenty to offer. Hey, the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame is right next door to Busch! Some good eats, plenty of places to get a drink, an OK mall within a longish walk and the Broadway Oyster Bar, for jazz and good Cajun food. --John Donovan  
2005 Record: 84-48 (all statistics through Aug. 29)
Players worth the price of admission: Albert Pujols (.331 average, 35 HRs, 99 RBIs), Jim Edmonds (.266, 22 HRs, 72 RBIs), Chris Carpenter (19-4, 2.29 ERA).  
Like a typical Midwesterner, Busch isn't flashy nor does it claim to be. It's a comfortable stadium with reasonable prices that does its job without much fanfare. And what a job it has done, ably hosting six National League pennant winners as it prepares to retire after this season.  

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