I attended 2 games at Busch Stadium, along with 2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, 2 at AmeriQuest Field in Arlington, TX, 1 or 2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, and 4 or 5 at Wrigley. I was 10 when I went to Busch, so I really only remember thinking that the place looked like crap. This was in 1993, still a few years before they put natural grass back in. They made quite a few improvements to the place over the last decade or so that made it a great ballpark, not a cookie-cutter, multi-purpose, civic sports complex.

Speaking of the Cardinals, the Cubs signed longtime-Cardinal John Mabry the other day, improving a pretty mediocre bench. More importantly, Juan Pierre has signed with the Cubs, finally giving them a speedy leadoff hitter. Pierre played a critical role in that infamous 8th inning of Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. As detailed on Retrosheet.org, Pierre scored the first and drove-in the last runs of that inning. During that series, he batted .303 against Cubs pitching, getting a double and 2 triples. I knew he annoyed the hell out of me... Also on the Cubs roster from the 2003 Marlins: Derrek Lee.

The Cubs also effectively let Nomar go. No mo' Nomar. Yeah, that's original...