Ballpark
Main articles: Busch Stadium, Busch Memorial Stadium, Sportsman's Park, and Robison Field

Busch Stadium
Busch Stadium III
Busch Stadium
Broke ground	January 17, 2004
Opened	April 4, 2006 (MLBexhibition) April 10, 2006 (MLB)
Owner	St. Louis National Baseball Club Inc.
Operator	St. Louis National Baseball Club Inc.[86]
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$365 million[87][88] ($416 million in 2013 dollars[89])
Architect	Populous and Kennedy Associates/Architects Inc.[90]
Capacity	43,975 46,861 (with standing room)[91]
Field dimensions	Left Field — 336 feet (102 m) Left Center Field — 375 feet (114 m) Center Field — 400 feet (122 m) Right Center Field — 375 feet (114 m) Right Field — 335 feet (102 m)
Tenants
St. Louis Cardinals (MLB) (2006–present)

The Cardinals play their home games at Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. Busch Stadium, also called Busch III, located at 700 Clark Avenue. The stadium opened for the 2006 season at a cost of $346 million[92]and can hold 46,861 people.[93] Due to increased demand, Game 7 of the 2011 World Series accommodated a record 47,399 by increasing the number of standing room only tickets. The Cardinals finished their inaugural season in the new Busch Stadium by winning the 2006 World Series, the first team since the 1923 New York Yankees to do so. Outside of Busch Stadium stand numerous statues of former Cardinal players who are Hall of Fame inductees, including the iconic statue of Stan Musial in front of the third base entrance.
Busch Stadium is the Cardinals' fourth home ballpark and the third of that namesake. The Cardinals' original home ballpark was Sportsman's Park from 1882–1892 when they played in the American Association and were known as the Browns. In 1893, the Browns moved to a new ballpark five blocks northwest of Sportsman's Park which would serve as their home from 1893-1920. The new park was originally called New Sportsman's Park but became more commonly referred to as Robison Field.[19] Midway through the 1920 season the Cardinals abandoned Robison Field and returned to the original Sportsman's Park and became tenants of their American League rivals, the St. Louis Browns. In 1953, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery purchased the Cardinals and the new owner subsequently also purchased Sportsman's Park from the Browns and renamed it Busch Stadium, later becoming Busch I. The Browns then left St. Louis for Baltimore after the season. The Cardinals built Busch Memorial Stadium, or Busch II, in downtown St. Louis, opened it during the 1966 season and played there until 2005.[40] It was built as the multi-purpose home of both the baseball Cardinals and the St. Louis football Cardinals, now the Arizona Cardinals. The current Busch Stadium was constructed adjacently south, and partly on top, of the site of Busch Memorial Stadium.
The Cardinals home field in spring training is Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. They share the complex, which opened in 1998, with the Miami Marlins. Before moving to Jupiter, the Cardinals hosted spring training at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1937–1997.

Logos and uniforms

 

 

 
 
The original "birds on the bat" logo, which first appeared in 1922.

The Cardinals have had few logos throughout their history, although those logos have evolved over time. The first logo associated with the Cardinals was an interlocking "SL" that appeared on the team's caps and or sleeves as early as 1900. Those early uniforms usually featured the name "St. Louis" on white home and gray road uniforms which both had cardinal red accents. In 1920, the "SL" largely disappeared from the team's uniforms, and for the next 20 years the team wore caps that were white with red striping and a red bill.
In 1922, the Cardinals wore uniforms for the first time that featured the two familiar cardinal birds perched on a baseball bat over the name "Cardinals" with the letter "C" of the word hooked over the bat. This logo, colloquially referred to as the "birds on the bat," initially appeared with the birds perched on a black bat and "Cardinals" in printed letters. An alternate version of this logo with "St. Louis" replacing "Cardinals" appeared in 1930 and was the primary logo in 1931 and 1932 before "Cardinals" returned. In 1940, the now-familiar "STL" logo was introduced on the team's caps. The interlocking "STL" has undergone several slight modifications over the years but has appeared on the team's caps every year since. The first appearance of the "STL" in 1940 coincided with the introduction of navy blue as a uniform color. From 1940 until 1955, the team wore navy blue caps with red bills and a red interlocking "STL" while the jerseys featured both cardinal red and navy blue accents. In 1951, the "birds on the bat" logo was changed to feature a yellow baseball bat.[95]
 

 

The current "birds on the bat" logo introduced in 1998.

In 1956, the Cardinals changed their caps to solid blue with a red "STL," removing the red bill. Also, for that season only, the Cardinals wore a script "Cardinals" wordmark on their uniforms excluding the "birds on the bat." An updated version of the "birds on the bat" logo returned in 1957 with the word "Cardinals" written in cursive beneath the bat. In 1962, the Cardinals became the first National League team to display players' names on the back of their jerseys. In 1964, while retaining their blue caps for road games, the Cardinals changed their home caps to all red with a white interlocking "STL". The next year, they changed their road caps to red as well. In 1967, the birds on the bat emblem on the jersey was again tweaked, making the birds more realistic and changing the position of their tails relative to the bat and this version remained on all Cardinals game jerseys through 1997.
In 1971, following the trend in baseball at the time, the Cardinals replaced the traditional flannel front-button shirts and pants with belts with new pullover knit jerseys and elastic waist pants. Another trend in baseball led the Cardinals to change their road uniforms from gray to light blue from 1976–1984. In 1992, the Cardinals returned to wearing traditional button-down shirts and pants with belts. That same year they also began wearing an all-navy cap with a red "STL" on the road only while wearing the same red and white cap at home games. In 1998, the "birds on the bat" was updated for the first time in 30 years with more detailed birds and bolder letters. That year, St. Louis introduced a cap featuring a single cardinal bird perched on a bat worn only on Sunday home games. The new birds on the bat design was modified again the next year, with yellow beaks and white eyes replacing the red beaks and yellow eyes of the 1998 version. Uniform numbers also returned to the front of the jerseys in 1999 after a two-year absence.[95]
On November 16, 2012, the Cardinals unveiled a new alternate uniform to be worn at home games on Saturdays beginning with the 2013 season.[dated info] The modified jersey, cream-colored with red trim on the sleeves and down the front, was the first since 1932 in which "St. Louis" will be used instead of "Cardinals" and retained the "birds on the bat."[96] Over the years, the Cardinals have released various marketing logos depicting anthropomorphized cardinals in a pitching stance, swinging a baseball bat, or wearing a baseball cap that never became part of the game uniform.[95]

Support
Fans
Main article: Cardinal Nation

Mascots
Main articles: Fredbird and Rally Squirrel
The team mascot is an anthropomorphic cardinal wearing the team's uniform named Fredbird. He is assisted by Team Fredbird, a group of eleven women who entertain fans from the field and on top of the dugouts.
While unofficial, the Rally Squirrel became an unexpected phenomenon during the 2011 postseason. Making its "debut" in Game 3 of the NLDS on Oct. 4, a squirrel ran across home plate in the middle of a pitch from Roy Oswalt of the Phillies to the Cardinals' Skip Schumaker. The Cardinals would win Game 4 and subsequently Game 5 (Oct. 7) in Philadelphia to advance to the NLCS, symbolizing the squirrel's "role" in the victory. The squirrel was popularized as "Buschie the Rally Squirrel"[97] As a tribute to the popularity of the squirrel, a small depiction of the Rally Squirrel is also included on the official World Series rings the team received. It shows up under the "STL" logo on the side of the ring.

Rivalries
Chicago Cubs
Main article: Cardinals–Cubs rivalry
The Cardinals–Cubs rivalry refers to games between the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. The rivalry is also known as the I-55 series (or in earlier years the Route 66 series), deriving its name from the roadway connecting the two cities,Interstate 55 (which itself succeeded the famous U.S. Route 66). The Cubs lead the series 1,096–1,054 through 2011,[98] while the Cardinals lead in National League pennants with 18 against the Cubs' 16. The Cubs have won 10 of those pennants in Major League Baseball's Modern Era (1901–present), while all 18 of the Cardinals' pennants have been won since 1901. The Cardinals also have a clear edge when it comes to World Series successes, having won 11 championships to the Cubs' 2. The Cardinals have enjoyed an overwhelming advantage over their Chicago rivals in the regular season standings since the Cubs last participated in a World Series (1945): in the 66 seasons from 1946 through 2011 the Cardinals have finished ahead of the Cubs 49 times. In that same span the Cardinals have had 45 seasons in which their winning percentage was over .500, while the Cubs have finished over that mark 19 times (they finished at an even .500 twice). Cardinals-Cubs games see numerous visiting fans in either St. Louis' Busch Stadium or Chicago's Wrigley Field.[99] When the National League split into two, and then three divisions, the Cardinals and Cubs remained together. This has added excitement to several pennant races over the years, most recently in 1989, 2003 and 2004; the first two times the division title was won by the Cubs, the third by the Cardinals, who went on to win the National League pennant as the Cubs faltered in the second half of the 2004 season.

Kansas City Royals
Main article: Cardinals–Royals rivalry
Although both teams play in the state of Missouri, they did not play each other for the first time until the 1985 World Series, which the Royals won in seven games, but which is perhaps best remembered for a controversial call from umpireDon Denkinger in Game 6. Due to their geographical proximity, the teams have faced each other every regular season in interleague play since it started in 1997. This is sometimes referred to as the I-70 Series.

Executives and Club Officials
See also: List of St. Louis Cardinals owners and executives

Ownership and valuation
An investment group consisting of William DeWitt, Jr., Fred Hanser, the Klingaman Group, and others, owns the St. Louis Cardinals, who bought the team from Anheuser-Busch (AB) in 1996.[100] As with other periods of the Cardinals' transaction history, doubt loomed as to whether the purchaser would keep the team in St. Louis, due to the city's status as a "small market," which appear to handicap a club's competitiveness. Such was the case when Sam Breadon put the Cardinals up for sale in 1947: then-NL President Ford Frick proposed moving the Cardinals to Chicago.[101] When AB placed the Cardinals for sale in 1995, they publicly expressed intention to find a buyer who would keep the club in St. Louis.[102] In March 1996, AB sold the team for $147 million to a partnership headed by Southwest Bank's Drew Baur, Hanser and DeWitt, Jr.[101] Civic Center Redevelopment, a subsidiary of AB, held the parking garages and adjacent property and also transferred them to the Baur ownership group.[103] Baur's group then sold the garages to another investment group, lowering the net franchise purchase price to about $100 million, about $10 million less than Financial World's value of the team at the time $110 million.[102][104]
Current Cincinnati Reds owners Bob Castellini and brothers Thomas Williams and W. Joseph Williams Jr. each once owned a stake in the Cardinals dating back to the Baur-DeWitt group's purchase of the team. To allow their purchase of the Reds in 2005, the rest of the group bought out Castellini's and the Williams brothers' shares, totaling an estimated thirteen percent. At that time, the Forbes valued the Cardinals at about $370 million.[105] However, after reabsorbing that stake into the remainder of the group, they decided to make it available to new investors in 2010. Amid later allegations that the Cardinals owed the city profit shares, DeWitt revealed that their profitability had not reached the threshold to trigger that obligation.[106]

Minor league affiliations

Level	Team	League	Location
AAA	Memphis Redbirds	Pacific Coast League	Memphis, Tennessee
AA	Springfield Cardinals	Texas League	Springfield, Missouri
Advanced A	Palm Beach Cardinals	Florida State League	Jupiter, Florida
A	Peoria Chiefs	Midwest League	Peoria, Illinois
Short Season A	State College Spikes	New York–Penn League	University Park, Pennsylvania
Rookie	Johnson City Cardinals	Appalachian League	Johnson City, Tennessee
	GCL Cardinals	Gulf Coast League	Jupiter, Florida
	DSL Cardinals	Dominican Summer League	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Radio and television coverage
See also: List of St. Louis Cardinals broadcasters

Radio
Capable of reaching 21 million listeners in nine states including Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, the Cardinals radio network is the second-largest in MLB with 117 affiliate stations.[8] In St. Louis, CBS-owned KMOX (1120 AM) airs Cardinals games over radio and feeds the rest of the Cardinals network. Mike Shannon and John Rooney alternate as play-by-play announcers, with Mike Claiborne serving as pre-game andpost-game host. KMOX's 50,000-watt clear-channel signal covers much of the continental United States at night. At one time, owing to the Cardinals' status as a "regional" franchise, the Cardinals radio network reached almost half of the country.
The 2011 season marked the Cardinals' return to KMOX following five seasons on KTRS (550 AM), a station which is 50 percent owned by the Cardinals. With a partnership spanning seven decades, and continuously since 1954, its conclusion realized after the 2005 season when CBS Radio and the Cardinals failed to reach terms on a new rights agreement. However, frustrated by the underpowered coverage of 5,000-watt KTRS, the Cardinals reached a new deal with KMOX in 2011.
Mike Shannon will announce 30 fewer games in 2013, compared to the 15 he took off in 2012, and in previous seasons. Most of the games will be road games and three-city trips. He has been announcing Cardinals' games starting in 1972, making 2013 his 41st year announcing. He turns 74 in July.[138] He has announced Cardinals' games for more years than anyone except Jack Buck (1954–58, 1961-2001) who announced for 46 years.
Television
Since 2000, Cardinals telecasts have generated the top three in ratings in MLB every season.[8] Fox Sports Midwest airs all games in high-definition and is the team's exclusive television broadcaster, with the exception of selected Saturday afternoon games on Fox (via its St. Louis affiliate, KTVI) or Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Tennessee, Fox Sports Oklahoma, and [[SportSouth air Cardinals games for fans living within the Cardinals broadcast territory who do not receive the Fox Sports Midwest channel. The television commentators lineup includes Dan McLaughlin, Rick Horton, and Al Hrabosky. Jimmy "the Cat" Hayes serves as dugout reporter during the game as well as on Cardinals Live, a pre- and post-game show. Cardinals Live is hosted in-studio by Pat Parris along with game analysts and former Cardinals players Jim Edmonds, Gary Bennett and Chris Duncan.[139]
Cardinals Kids, a program aimed at the team's younger fans, airs weekly in-season on Fox Sports Midwest. It's hosted by former Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes, team mascot Fredbird, and Busch Stadium Public Address announcer John "The U-Man" Ulett. The 30-minute show began airing in 2003 and prsents team news, player profiles, and Cardinals team history in a kid-friendly manner along with games and trivia.[140]
A weekly magazine program, This Week in Cardinal Nation, airs on St. Louis' NBC affiliate KSDK. Cardinals games had been seen on KSDK (and its predecessor, KSD-TV) from 1947 through 1958, 1963 through 1987, and 2007 until 2010. KPLR-TV was the Cardinals' other over-the-air broadcaster, carrying games from 1959 through 1962 and from 1988 until 2006.
Former Cardinals broadcasters include Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Dizzy Dean, Joe Garagiola, Sr., and Jay Randolph. Joe Buck, the son of Jack Buck, was an official member of the Cardinals' broadcast team from 1991 until 2007. The younger Buck is currently the lead play-by-play caller for Fox Sports' national Major League Baseball and National Football League broadcasts.