Photos

The first Cardinals game we went to this season. One thing I have noticed since the new stadium was built here in St. Louis is the lack of color there. No, not that sort of color, there is plenty of red and green, red being the Cardinals color and green being the field and the amount of money it takes to enjoy an evening at the ballpark. No, it's skin color. I remember going to the Card's game back in the '60's with my old man. We would sit where ever he got tickets, a couple years he actually had season tickets and we went to practically all the home games we could. Being a "county boy" (living in the white-bread St. Louis County), I was somewhat intimidated by the large groups of black men (and sometimes women) that would be in the stands - they always seemed to be the loudest and most noticeable. They were the ones who really could heckle, really could yell to root on the home team, but it was intimidating stuff for "white bread" like me.

Now when you go to the stadium, there are still black folks there. Not as many as at the old stadium, but there are some. They are the ones working while we watch the game. They are carrying cases of beer and soda around the stands so we don't have to leave our seats. They are the ones cooking the hot dogs and bratwursts and nachos, stocking the vendor's booths, running things.

They are the backbone of the stadium. Where are they in the stands, though? Almost non-existent unless they have that yellow vendor shirt and white ID tag an big buttons advertising the price... The price! Almost eight bucks for a 16 ounce beer (and we are talking Anheuser-Busch, here, after all, it is Busch Stadium). How much were those tickets? A hot dog is how much? Wow, it takes an upper-middle class income at least.

I have to admit I miss that "color" of the old stadium, of my youth. It was part of it. Like the smell of stale cigars and cigarettes and spilled beer and that somewhat pukey smelling stuff they clean the floors with in the old neighborhood taverns in the cities - Chicago, St. Louis, New York they all had the same odor. It is how I expected them to smell, now there is NO SMOKING in bars and restaurants in Illinois, and soon will not be in St. Louis, and probably it is banned in plenty of other places (not that it's a bad thing, really, it's just different). That smell was part of the place to me... It's a good thing, right? This is progress.

Cold Beer Here! Coooold Beeeeeer!