Busch Memorial Stadium 2005 ... The Big Souvenir

Since baseball season is in full swing, I thought I would post some of my photos of the old stadium.  This was my first body of work.  I shot the stadium in its last year (2005) from opening day until it was rubble.  I named this body of work "Big Souvenir" because nearly every piece of the stadium was sold as keepsakes.  I exhibited prints in 2006, and re-edited them in my "high dynamic range" style in 2010.  If you are interested I have many more stadium photos posted on my website - www.ferdworks.com.  I am considering a book in the future.

Here is a little history:

Busch Memorial Stadium, later known as Busch Stadium, was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals National League baseball team from May 12, 1966 to October 19, 2005.  It opened four days after the last game was played in their old home, Sportsman's Park (which had also been known since 1953 as Busch Stadium). It was sometimes referred to as a "Cookie cutter"-style stadium, and supported both football and baseball..

The stadium was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel and built by Grun & Bilfinger.  Edward Durrell Stone designed the park's most enduring feature, the roof's 96-arch "Crown of Arches.  The Crown echoed the iconic Gateway Arch, which was completed only a year before Busch Stadium officially opened. It was one of the first multipurpose facilities built in the United States from the early 1960s through the early 1980s, along with those in Washington, New York, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and some others.

The original design of the stadium had called for a baseball-only format, but the design was altered to accommodate football, a fact which arguably shortened its existence. The stadium was demolished by wrecking ball in late 2005, and part of its former footprint is used by its replacement stadium of the same name.