Quick Facts
 
Modern Era Tenants: St. Louis Browns (Baltimore Orioles), April 23, 1902 to September 27, 1953; St. Louis Cardinals, July 1, 1920 to May 8, 1966.
 
Owners: American Association (1880's); St. Louis Browns (1902-1952); St. Louis Cardinals (1953-1966);
 
Opened: April 23, 1902 (as part of American League)
First night game: May 24, 1940
Capacity: 8,000 (1902); 18,000 (1909); 34,000 (1926); 30,500 (1953). Last game: May 8, 1966
Demolished: 1966

Measurements
 
Dimensions: Left field: 368 (1909), 340 (1921), 356 (1923), 355 (1926), 360 (1930), 351.1 (1931); left-center: 379; center field: 430 (1926), 450 (1930), 445 (1931), 420 (1938), 422 (1939); deepest corner just left of dead center: 426 (1938); deepest corner just right of dead center: 422 (1938); right-center: 354 (1942); right field: 335 (1909), 315 (1921), 320 (1926), 310 (1931), 332 (1938), 309.5 (1939); backstop: 75 (1942), 67 (1953).
 
Fences: Left to center: 11.5 (concrete); 354 mark in right-center to right: 11.5 (1909), 33 (11.5 concrete below 21.5 wire, July 5, 1929), 11.5 (1955), 36.67 (11.5 concrete below 25.17 wire, 1956).

Ballpark History
 
In the 1880s, Sportsman's Park was owned by the then-major American Association entry, the St. Louis "Brown Stockings" or "Browns", later to become the "Cardinals" we know today. In 1892 when the National League absorbed many old Association teams, the Browns were brought along and moved to a new ballpark just a few blocks away named "New Sportsmans Park" (later renamed "Robinson Field"). The team changed their color to Cardinal Red and left Brown available.
 
In the modern era, Sportsman's Park was initially owned by the newly-formed Browns of the American League (not to be confused with the original Browns or Brown Stockings mentioned above). The new Browns began play in St. Louis in 1902 after moving from Milwaukee. By 1910 the structure had been rebuilt in steel and concrete and a second deck had been added, reaching out to first and third bases. The Cardinals came on board as tenant in July of 1920 after abandoning the outdated, mostly-wooden Robison Field. In 1925 a $500,000 refurbishment nearly doubled the crowd capacity. The second deck was extended to the foul poles and bleachers were added to parks of the outfield.
 
Although the Browns had been the stronger team in the city for the first quarter of the century, they had never been quite good enough to win a pennant. After the previously weak Cardinals moved in, the two teams' situations started to reverse. In 1944 the Cardinals and Browns faced each other in the World Series, the Cards won 4 games to 2.
 
In 1953, when Cardinals owner Gussie Busch bought the ballpark from the Browns, he initially intended to name it "Budweiser Stadium". The name didn't sit well with the league and, after it applied pressure, Gussie Busch named the ballpark Busch Stadium instead.
 
Sportsman's Park / Busch Stadium was the site of a number of All-Star Games (1940, 1948 and 1957), as well as World Series contests, first way back in the mid-1880s, and then in the modern era. The 1964 Series was particularly memorable, and was also the park's last Series. The Series featured brother against brother, Ken Boyer of the Cardinals versus Clete Boyer of the Yankees. The Cardinals' triumph in seven games led to Yankees management replacing Yogi Berra with the Cardinals' ex-manager Johnny Keane (he had resigned after winning the Series), an arrangement which lasted only to early 1966.
 
Sportsman's Park was the home of the Cardinals until it was demolished early in the 1966. After the final ballgame at the park on May 8, 1966, a helicopter carried home plate to Busch Memorial Stadium.

Sportsmans Park Today
 
The Herbert Hoover Boys’ Club, with a baseball diamond where the major league one used to be, now stands on the site of the stadium. Tennis courts now sit where homeplate used to be in this bird's eye view from Google Maps.

Miscellenous Info
 

• The local newspaper, the Globe-Democrat, had an ad on the right-center wall that showed the star of the previous game. Just to the right of this ad, the league standings for both leagues were listed.
• The Busch eagle would flap its wings after every Cardinal home run. It sat on top of the left-center scoreboard. During World War II there was a War Chest sign there.
• Cardinals office was at 3623 Dodier; Browns office was at 2911 North Grand.
• There were pavilion seats in the power alley in right-center.
• The flagpole stood in fair territory until it was removed in the 1950s.
• Bill Veeck’s family lived in an apartment under the stands in the 1950s.

Ballpark Photographs
 
        
 
You can find additional photographs of Sportsmans Park in our Photo Gallery.

Sources
 
"Green Cathedrals", by Phil Lowry; Ballparks.com; Wikipedia.org