Fansided

Ranking the best in-game experiences for each MLB team

By Joshua Sadlock

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 29 : Freeze races during game one of the 2019 Major League Baseball London Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on June 29, 2019 at West Ham London Stadium in London, England. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 29 : Freeze races during game one of the 2019 Major League Baseball London Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on June 29, 2019 at West Ham London Stadium in London, England. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
25 of 30
Next
ST LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 18: Tommy Edman #19 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds third base after hitting a home run against the Washington Nationals in the third inning at Busch Stadium on September 18, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 18: Tommy Edman #19 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds third base after hitting a home run against the Washington Nationals in the third inning at Busch Stadium on September 18, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

St. Louis Cardinals: The best fans in baseball

Somewhere in the middle of the 2000s, Major League Baseball hit critical mass with the retro-vintage stadium trend. It may in fact have been St. Louis’s third iteration of Busch Stadium that pushed us over the edge. There is just absolutely nothing special about Busch III — no distinguishing features, very few bells and whistles; heck, there’s not even an open concourse. Busch Stadium is just a solid place to watch a baseball game and nothing more.

Nothing against the Cardinals and Busch Stadium, but if you’re taking millions of dollars from taxpayers to build a stadium, throw them a bone with some extra amenities. Perhaps that’s just the Midwestern sensibility. After all, Busch Stadium came with the lowest price tag of all the recently-constructed stadiums. It’s just funny that the Cardinals replaced one cookie-cutter park with a cookie cutter of a different type.

Few teams outside of the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants can boast the type of long-term winning of the Cardinals, and their fans are definitely happy to tell you all about their franchise’s illustrious history. They’ve earned plenty of derision from fans around the league for their extremely high opinion of their place in baseball.

The mythology the Cardinals fans have built around their fandom is maybe 75 percent earned and 25 percent hyperbole (yeah, bro, Yadier Molina is pretty good, but you’d definitely trade him in a heartbeat for Mike Trout). Regardless, the Cardinals fans take their baseball seriously, and you will learn something new or have at least one interesting conversation about the game at Busch Stadium.

Home/MLB