Take Me Out To The Ball Game

St. Louis has one of the one of baseball’s most consistently successful franchises. with the St. Louis Cardinals:  Eleven (11) Word Series titles (since 1926)...  STL is a baseball town.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about.  The STL area also has minor league baseball.  The Gateway Grizzlies home park is about 5 miles south-east of where the Cardinals play, but worlds away.  This is Sauget, Illinois, and this is unaffiliated minor league baseball.

 A different experience.  Not better, not worse.  Different.  More relaxed, for sure.  And WAY less expensive.  WAY WAY less expensive.

I used to be a pretty big baseball fan, but I don't follow it so closely anymore.  In fact, I don't think I've been to a Major League game in 3-4 years.  And only a couple of minor league games.  Just life, I suppose.

Meanwhile, we saw a great sunset, looking out the back of the stadium towards STL. The Cardinals' staium is towards the left side of the skyline, from this angle.  Not too bad for an iPhone!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame....

So, last week (Thursday) my company hosted a night at the baseball game.  Almost 30 folk attended, about 50/50 with employees and SOs / kids...  The selected game was a visit by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  One of the organizers told me they picked a night when the Bucs were in town knowing that I'm a Pirates fan.  A nice gesture (or a nice story, at least).

And a good chance to play with the pano feature on my iPhone:

Busch stadium is a good spot to see a game, good sight lines, nice view of the skyline / arch....    And generally good baseball.  The image above is not from our seats, but from the SRO area behind section 346.  We went down that way looking for dinner, and hung around a while until the sun dropped a bit lower.  You see, our seats were in section 433 which is at the top right of this image.  We were in the shade at game's start, but as the sun sank, we had a full blast of glare and heat.  All good though.

The image below is from our seat, when we were back in the shade:

Not the best seats in the house, but can't beat the price.  They were free to us, but face value was $5 with a $5 credit at concessions.

It started out looking like a dull game, as the Cards scored 4 runs in the bottom of the first.  But the Pirates edged back to tie, and the game went back and forth through the last few innings until the Cards won with a "walk-off" home run in the bottom of the 9th.  But, truth be told, my son and I left early to beat the crowds and traffic and get home at a reasonable time.  But we did have a good time!

Arched

St. Louis Arch, icy Mississippi River, northbound Barge....   From 33 floors up.

Old St. Louis County Courthouse

So, my son had a college interview in downtown St. Louis today.  We dropped him off on the 33rd floor of some tall building, and wandered around for a little.  We ended up at the Old Courthouse, which was pretty close.  We've lived in St. Louis area for 28 years, and I'd never been inside.   

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Pretty cool place, and I managed a few photos that make me happy.  The best (IMHO) is of the rotundra, from the 2nd floor.  Check out full version at 365project.

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Below is a panorama shot taken with my iPhone of the restored courtrooms.  Again, check out full size version at 365:

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And, of course, I had to squeeze in the obligatory b-and-w "artsy" shot:

Anyway, it was a very cool visit, but short.  We need to check it out for real sometime soon.