Sportsman's Park | Living St. Louis

Living St. Louis Producer Jim Kirchherr takes a look back at Sportsman's Park-the first baseball field for the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns. Located in North St. Louis, Sportsman's Park was a unique venue that gave baseball fans the opportunity to watch the game up-close and interact with the players. Kirchherr also shows rare archival footage of baseball games and an interview with hall-of-fame Cardinal, Stan Musial.

[@artpekarekiii4320]

Millions of children like myself born in the 70s are very jealous of missing this era of baseball, but grateful to respect and appreciate this. Great video.

[@richardhausig9493]

I remember the first time I saw baseball grass too. Its a beautiful thing.

[@doyleholloway1818]

When i was attending high school in 1956 i worked after school and also all day on Saturdays for coca cola and one Saturday i was told by my boss to go with the delivery driver to make a soda delivery to Sportmans park... there wasn't a game being played that day so while making the soda delivery i asked if i could just walk a little bit near third base... i was allowed to do that and remember thinking that i was walking in the footsteps of one of the best third base player in cardinals history Mr, Ken Boyer.. The ball park was empty and as i stood there near third base i looked all around the park.. how prowed i was to be able to do that... its a memory that i will never forget even tho i am now 84 years old...

[@eold2412]

I was fortunate to see both the Cards and the Browns play ball here. I was 12 years old and my friend and i would take the bus and then the street car to the game by ourselves. Those were the good old days when a kid could go anywhere without fear.

[@PeterRose-id7ce]

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[@glennhendry8600]

The first professional baseball game I went to was in 1948. The Cardinals were playing the Brooklyn Dodgers. We sat in the pavilion. Seating at that time was segregated, but my father was a WWII veteran and insisted that we sit where his troops could also sit.

[@TheBatugan77]

Your father was a hero.

[@milsim890]

could you tell me what it was like in the 40’s i want to learn more

[@Lizerator]

Loved going to Sportsman's Park to see the cards back in the day!

[@larryloveless2967]

Born in 1953 this was the ballpark during my grade school years. ,My memories of the Cardinals start in 1960 I can tell from looking back at their rosters. My mom kept a diary book on me and my family started first going to games there in 1961. I remember sitting all over when we attended, but never down on the field that close. Those seasons of 1963 and 1964 (WS winner) were very exciting with Harry Caray and Jack Buck on the radio. Stan Musial had a great year at age 41 in 1962 with his last in 1963. Almost forgot to mention a couple St. Louis football Cardinal games as well we saw there. Thanks for placing on KZbin.

[@jimsievers9825]

My first major league baseball game was the last game of the 1964 regular season at Sportsman Park. The Cardinals played the New York Mets and the Cardinals not only won the game 11 to 3 and won the National League Pennant. Was something I still remember to this day the game and the monster home run hit by Bill White. Really was something.

[@kevinmontgomery1383]

Our teacher had us listen to that game in class. Different times!

[@bjrizen2188]

Thank you for showing some of the surrounding areas. Most videos stay focused on the arch, downtown etc. It's nice to be able to point out one's house, apt etc.

[@loveyouall66]

bob broeg stated that the first time he went to sportsman's park, the grass seemed greener than most, and the sky was a special blue. the park had the same effect on me when i went for the first time in 1963. us kids had been playing ball on vacant lots full of rocks and glass. so when i saw sportman;s for the first time, i thought i had died and gone to heaven.

[@Briansongman]

Wow. Exactly . Here is my song about that exact thing. .kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKqrmHyges5lgLs

[@StLouisEarl]

Ahhh nice to look back on the "good old days" when baseball players & fans were closer. Thank You KETC for documenting our cities history for all to see.

[@thomashayworth3490]

My uncle, Myron "Red" Hayworth was the catcher on the 1944 Browns team. He was the only catcher to catch all games as a rookie in the 1944 world series won by the Cardinals 4 games to 2. This record was broken by Buster Phosey of the Giants.

[@ldlanter]

The first game I went to was early 60's at sportsman park, Cards vs Braves, sitting in the left field bleachers. Maybe 7 yrs. old. I think the name was changed to Busch stadium by then, before the later Busch stadium.

[@lionstone1000]

Does anyone remember the joy (!) of scoring a parking spot on the Carter Carburetor Corporation lot for a game? It was not only right next door to the park, it was free! Ah, the good old days! ;-|

[@portobob]

The biggest thrill I had as a youngster was playing in a Khoury League All Star Game in the old Sportsmans Park. It was 1950. The second biggest thrill was seeing Babe Ruth at the park a few months before he passed on. I was a serious Brownie fan because you could knothole every game for free.

[@1985OldSkool]

Surprisingly, my first trip to Sportsman's Park (a.k.a. Busch Stadium I) occured on November 10, a Sunday, in 1963, and it was not a baseball game. It was actually a National Football League game, won by the Football Cardinals, 24-20 over the Washington Redskins. Yes, there was an NFL team called the St. Louis Cardinals (1960-1987), who are now the Arizona Cardinals.

[@Juscz]

Of potential interest with regard to the Carfdinals football team (from Wikipedia): ''The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons.'

[@laceydays1]

my dad used to go to sportsman's parkwhen he was a boy and met babe ruth there on several occasions. ruth would toussle my dad's hair on his way out to the field, saying 'hiya, red!'...great memories my dad relayed to me....

[@CheetoSantana]

I love St. Louis and the Cardinals

[@doyleholloway1818]

Me and my cousin would sneak into Sportmans park and sit in the left field bleachers... there we would see Stan Musial at first base, Ken Boyer at third base, curt flood in center field, plus other great baseball players... once i saw stan the man hit a ball up into a small camera window in the high wall in right field... small little window and the ball went right in..ahhh those were the days...

[@Juscz]

WOW!

[@susprime7018]

Shriners circus was held at Sportsman Park. I learned to swim at that Y. I loved the city.

[@kenwatts6865]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Sportsman's Park renamed Busch Stadium in the mid-1950s after Anheuser Busch bought the Cardinals? That would make the current Busch Stadium the third St. Louis ballpark to bear that name.

[@davanmani556]

Ken Watts yes.

[@lonn761]

I grew up in N.County a little place called Burke city before it came into ruin. I went to a game in 1957 was given a ball by an outfielder named Sam Jones who took it into the dugout and had most of the team sign it . Stan Musial,Don Blasingame,Alvin Dark,the brothers Lindy and Von McDaniel, Ken Boyer,Enos Slaughter, Wally Moon,it was the thrill of my life then . I was born 1946 the year the Cards won the WS.Still a fan.

[@WBDE]

I remember that the restrooms smelled strikingly similar to the Elephant House at the St Louis Zoo

[@virginialpinon748]

Yep. I grew up. Member of knot hole fans. We went for free I was 11 thru 13. 1947.

[@globalnettuber]

Because Busch bought the stadium, refurbished it, and re-named it "Busch Stadium" in 1954, I never heard it called "Sportsman's Park" in my childhood.

[@ronclark9724]

Well the Bill Veeck's Browns owned Sportsman Park, not Busch's Cardinals. When the Browns left for Baltimore the Cardinals bought it...

[@harshaare]

i dont know baseball..but i know cardinals..they are all time great..

[@cpatr3208]

can t seem to get anything to post,. so I sent this to facebook Pat Roth @ Phoenix , AZ

[@nicklanese2210]

Don’t remember my Grandmother’s street but I do know we walk up the street and we ran right into Sportsman’s park . The right field side . Can someone tell me the street. I do know the date. July 31, 1960 and August 5th 1960. The first homer I saw hit was by Stan Musial.

[@joeypowell7115]

I did security there around 2008 . Boys n girls club. Besides that board that says sportsmen park u wouldn't even know

[@hb2019]

What a thrill it was for the 109-cm dwarf Eddie Gaedel to make his one appearance at bat for the Browns in August 1951.

[@fastfootedone]

every team should have their own dwarf

[@jkgjihghb]

@THEPHILADELPHIAPHART Stan The Man is still alive, @ the age of 91.

[@kevinmontgomery1383]

I talked to him in line at a grocery store in the late 90s. What a great guy.

[@thomasedward1319]

Urban Shocker, Cooperstown 2025.St louis Browns 1919 through 1924

[@Britton_Thompson]

They actually signed a midget to the team just so he could draw walks in critical game situations?! B-b-but that's..... that's..... .... brilliant.

[@loyaldude10]

owner of Browns at time was Bill Veeck who was quite a character and showman. He owned the White Sox for a time also. I heard the pitcher was laughing so hard when the midget was at bat he couldn't even come close to throwing a strike

[@Cubroncs03]

It was just a sideshow. Geddel came in for one at bat, walked, and was taken out immediately for a pinch runner. Bill V3eck was a showman as the previous commenter stated... but he was also broke. Soon after this he would have the St. Louis Browns use one of their days off, mid season, to play an exhibition game against a female team. There's a reason the Browns don't exist any more. Great stories, but it was a circus.

[@loyaldude10]

well Browns lack of success wasn't entirely his fault. They were competing in same city as the Cardinals. Were bad team b4 he bought them, which was in early 50s. Veeck later owned the White sox when they won pennant in 59. He also owned Clev Indians in late 40s and won World Series with them in 48. signed larry Doby, first black player in AL, to play in 47 or 48. He was a genius in some ways.

[@davidllewis4075]

"I believed it all, didn't you?"

[@Creepingdeathx81]

@ridgerunner721601 I'm not sure , I think it had something to do with low ratings probably due to the fact that mlb games can be shown anywhere now days , the days of people from states outside georgia having only 1 team to watch on a regular basis are long gone thanks to all the regional networks and satellite tv you can watch more than 1 team a night now, I also heard it had something to do with MLB making stricter rules on who can show what games out of their market or something like that .

[@Creepingdeathx81]

@ridgerunner721601 so while the braves don't have the long history in Atlanta like the Cards do in St Louis they do have a large fan base even though the attendance numbers don't always show that. And oh yea i think if any part of florida likes the Braves it would have to be the northern part of the state mostly.

[@Creepingdeathx81]

@ridgerunner721601 True but the braves of course used to be on tbs so you could say they reached more places than the south and still to this day the Braves have the largest radio network in all of baseball they reach into markets that other major league teams draw from with their radio network , I would say though that the braves draw from more states in mlb that most if not all teams , Georgia obviously , Tennessee, Alabama , Mississippi , South Carolina , North Carolina , parts of ark, la, va

[@ronclark9724]

Before 1960, long before there was a Atlanta Braves, the Cardinals owned almost all of America west of the Mississippi River with a large radio network, especially with clear channel KMOX... And yes I recall my father listening to Cardinals games on KMOX after sun set in El Paso, TX and Ft. Smith, AR...

[@Creepingdeathx81]

@@ronclark9724 1960 is not that long before the Atlanta Braves

[@josephagnello9335]

Why. . . . thieving corporate greed. These greedy developers , if the "old" was left alone , tradition would be saved; respect for the elderly and the tried and true !!!!!! These robbers would have a return on their money . . .a hundredfold.

[@themapletree2310]

The way he says midget shows how old this was and how old school this was

[@Creepingdeathx81]

@ridgerunner721601 That may have been true back then but now the Braves are the team of the south :o) and some would even say america's team .

[@Creepingdeathx81]

@ridgerunner721601 lol yea well at least he wasn't saying it as an insult like a lot of mets fans started doing , they are idiots it doesn't make sense to make fun of a guys name that just comes out and straight dominates you like chipper did when we played the mets.

[@QuaaludeCharlie]

Coke N Grass :) QC

[@Ariamaluum]

Maybe he was Catholic.

[@bolt4694]

By the early sixties the area had turned into a dangerous cesspool with rock throwing ^%$#@#% walking the streets. It was ugly.