Sportsman ' s Park Sportsman ' s Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St . Louis , Missouri , USA , all but one of which were located on the same piece of land , the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street on the north side of the city . History . From 1920 – 1953 , Sportsman ' s Park was the home field of both the St . Louis Browns of the American League , and the St . Louis Cardinals of the National League , after which the Browns departed to become the modern - day Baltimore Orioles . The physical street address was 2911 North Grand Boulevard . This ballpark ( by then known as Busch Stadium , but still commonly called Sportsman ' s Park ) was also the home of the St . Louis Cardinals of the National Football League from 1960 until 1965 , after the team ' s relocation from Chicago and before Busch Memorial Stadium opened its doors in 1966 . In 1923 , the stadium hosted St . Louis ' s first NFL team , the St . Louis All Stars . 1881 structure . Baseball was played on the Sportsman ' s Park site as early as 1867 . The tract was acquired in 1866 by August Solari , who began staging games there the following year . It was the home of the St . Louis Brown Stockings in the National Association and the National League from 1875 to 1877 . Originally called the Grand Avenue Ball Grounds , in 1876 it was re - named Sportsman ' s Park . The first grandstand - - one of three on the site - - was built in 1881 . At that time , the diamond and the grandstands were on the southeast corner of the block , for the convenience of fans arriving from Grand Avenue . The park was leased by the then - major American Association entry , the St . Louis " Brown Stockings , " or " Browns " . The Browns were a very strong team in the mid - 1880s , but their success waned . When the National League absorbed the strongest of the old Association teams in 1892 , the Browns were brought along . Soon they went looking for a new ballpark , finding a site just a few blocks northwest of the old one , and calling it New Sportsman ' s Park , which was later renamed Robison Field . They also changed team colors from Brown to Cardinal Red , thus acquiring a new nickname , and leaving their previous team colors available , as well as the old ballpark site . 1902 and 1909 structures . When the American League Browns moved from Milwaukee in 1902 , they built a new version of Sportsman ' s Park . They initially placed the diamond and the main stand at the northwest corner of the block . This Sportsman ' s Park saw football history made . It became both the practice field and home field for Saint Louis University football team ' s , coached by the visionary Eddie Cochems , father of the forward pass . Although the first legal forward pass was thrown by Saint Louis ' s Bradbury Robinson in a road game at Carroll College in September 1906 , Sportsman ' s Park was the scene of memorable displays of what Cochems called his " air attack " that season . These included a 39 – 0 thrashing of Iowa before a crowd of 12 , 000 and a 34 – 2 trouncing of Kansas witnessed by some 7 , 000 . Robinson launched an amazingly long pass in the game against the Jayhawks , which was variously reported to have traveled 67 or 87 yards in the air . College Football Hall of Fame coach David M . Nelson called the pass extraordinary , " considering the size , shape and weight " of the fat , rugby - style ball used at that time . Sports historian John Sayle Watterson agreed . In his book , " College Football : History , Spectacle , Controversy " , Watterson described Robinson ' s long pass as " truly a breathtaking achievement " . St . Louis finished with an 11 – 0 record in 1906 , outscoring its opponents 407 – 11 . In 1909 , the Browns moved the diamond to its final location , at the southwest corner , in the shadow of a new steel and concrete grandstand - - the third such stadium in the major leagues , and the second in the American League ( after Shibe Park ) . The previous wooden grandstand was retained as left - field bleachers for a while , but was soon replaced with permanent bleachers . The Cardinals came back to their original home in mid - 1920 , as tenants of the Browns , after abandoning the outdated , mostly - wooden Robison Field . After nearly winning the American League Pennant in 1922 , Browns owner Phil Ball confidently predicted that there would be a World Series in Sportsman ' s Park by 1926 . In anticipation , he increased the capacity of his ballpark from 18 , 000 to 30 , 000 . There " was " a World Series in Sportsman ' s Park in 1926 - - but it was the Cardinals , not the Browns , who took part in it , upsetting the Yankees in a memorable seventh game . 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 had moved in , the two teams ' situations had started to reverse , both on and off the field . The Cardinals ' 1926 World Series victory more or less permanently tipped the balance in favor of the Cardinals . From then on , the Cardinals were clearly St . Louis ' favorite team , while still tenants of the Browns . The 1944 World Series between the Cardinals and the Browns , won by the Cardinals 4 games to 2 , was perhaps a good metaphor for the two clubs ' respective situations . In addition to its primary use as a baseball stadium , Sportsman ' s Park also hosted several soccer events . These included several the St . Louis Soccer League and the 1948 National Challenge Cup when St . Louis Simpkins - Ford defeated Brookhattan for the national soccer championship . In 1936 , Browns owner Phil Ball died . His family sold the Browns to businessman Donald Lee Barnes , but the Ball estate maintained ownership of Sportsman ' s Park until 1946 , when it was sold to the Browns for an estimated price of over $ 1 million . By the early 1950s , it was clear that the city could not support both teams . Bill Veeck , by then owner of the Browns ( who at one point lived with his family in an apartment under the park ' s stands ) , fancied that he could drive the Cardinals out of town through his promotional skills . He caught an unlucky break when the Cardinals ' owner , Fred Saigh , pleaded no contest to tax evasion . Faced with certain banishment from baseball , Saigh sold the Cardinals to Anheuser - Busch in 1953 . Veeck soon realized that the Cardinals now had more resources at their disposal than he could hope to match , and decided to move the Browns out of town . As a first step toward moving the Browns , he sold Sportsman ' s Park to the Cardinals for $ 800 , 000 . He would have probably had to sell the park anyway , as the Browns could not afford to make repairs necessary to bring the park up to code . Busch had the money , and the ballpark was soon renovated . Meanwhile , by the next year , the Browns were in Baltimore . The brewery originally wanted to name the ballpark " Budweiser Stadium " . Ford Frick , then Commissioner of Baseball , vetoed the name because of public relations concerns over naming a ballpark after a brand of beer - - an ironic stance , given all baseball clubs ' significant revenues from beer sales . However , the Commissioner could not stop Anheuser - Busch president August Busch , Jr . from renaming it after " himself " , and so he did ; however , many fans still called it by the old name . Although the ballpark ' s final name was Busch Stadium , it was known for most of its history as Sportsman ' s Park , and that is the term normally used to refer to it most often . The Anheuser Busch " eagle " model that sat atop the left field scoreboard flapped its wings after a Cardinal home run . Sportsman ' s Park / Busch Stadium was the site of a number of 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 and 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 . The stadium also hosted Major League Baseball All - Star Game s in 1940 , 1948 , and 1957 . Sportsman ' s Park / Busch Stadium was replaced early in the 1966 season by Busch Memorial Stadium , during which time much was made of baseball having been played on the old site for more than a century . A helicopter carried home plate to Busch Memorial Stadium after the final Sportsman ' s Park game on May 8 , 1966 . The 1966 stadium was in turn replaced by the new Busch Stadium in 2006 . The Sportsman ' s Park site is now home to the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club . While the grandstand was torn down in late 1966 , the diamond was still intact at the time the structures were cleared . The field is now being used for other sports . Dimensions . For a small park , there were plenty of posted distance markers . The final major remodeling was done in 1926 . Distance markers had appeared by the 1940s : The following links provide images of the field ' s markers . Layout . The left field and right field walls ran toward center , roughly perpendicular to the foul lines or at right angles to each other . The center field area was a short diagonal segment connecting the two longer walls . When distance markers were first posted , there was a 426 marker at the left corner of that segment , and a 422 marker at the right corner of it . There was another 422 marker a few feet to the left of the other one , and that marked " true " center field . For symmetry , a corresponding marker ( 425 ) was set a few feet to the right of the 426 . The two corner markers were eventually painted over , leaving just the 425 and the true centerfield 422 . Successful hitters . Left - handed power hitters enjoyed hitting here . Stan Musial benefited from playing the home - team half of his entire career here . Other sluggers took advantage , notably Babe Ruth , who hit 3 homers in a World Series game on two different occasions , both of them here , in 1926 and 1928 . When facing the Browns during the regular season , Ruth also hit well here . On one occasion he drove one across Grand Boulevard that shattered the window of a car dealership . The owner had the glass replaced by the next day , just in time for Ruth to shatter it " again " . On another occasion , Ruth launched one into his straightaway - center power zone that landed behind the center field bleachers , some 500 feet from home plate .