Busch Beer and Busch Stadium

[Khristeeanos]

I heard something recently I would like to run across my fellow Cardinal fans.

I was told that When AB bought the Cardinals and Sportsman's Park back in the 50's that the new owners wanted to rename Sportsman's Park "Budweiser Stadium" but MLB nixed the idea.

So they named it Busch Stadium and then created a new beer and called it Busch.

Any truth to this?

[CardinalFanatic]

I think what you just said IS the truth. He wanted to name SP "Budweiser Stadium or Park" and MLB didnt want name tied with alcohol. So he named it after himself for the time being and came up with Busch Beer. I dont know why MLB let it stick, probably because they can argue that it was named after their last name than the beer?
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[clevy328]

This is somewhat true. When the Brewery bought Sportsman's Park in '53 they wanted to rename it "Budweiser Stadium". But Commissioner Frick vetoed that idea. So they named it after Auggie and the family calling it Busch Stadium.

Conveniently, Anheiser-Busch began production of "Busch Beer" in 1955. Just two years after renaming the stadium. Now whether Auggie did it on purpose or not remains a question.

[CardsFan52]

I'm not sure if it's documented anywhere that naming the beer "Busch" was because of the baseball connections, but the facts around the assumption are all there. August Busch, Jr. did want to rename Sportsman's park after Budweiser, and MLB owners rejected the idea (side note: the owners also rejected the proposal to name Coors Field "Coors Light Field" in the 90s).

Anyway, the brewery bought the team in '53. "Busch Barvarian Beer" was introduced in 1955. If you are 21, you can view the original commercial on the Busch web site. THe one thing I don't think we know is if the name of the beer would've been different had the stadium name Budweiser Park or Stadium been accepted.

Busch II, opening in 66, had the official name of "Busch Memorial Stadium". I guess that satisfied the other owners the new stadium was being named after the family, not the beer. I recently heard a rumor that Gussie noted, with pleasure no doubt, that from the top, Busch II looked light a bottle cap. I have nothing to back that one up, so it very well could be just a crazy rumor.

One thing I read on the history section of the Cards web site when looking at the timelines around the stadiums and the beer caught my eye. I never knew the Browns departure from St. Louis was directly related to the brewery's purchase of the team. When they bought the team, the Browns owned Sportsman's Park, but they quickly sold it to AB and put the team up for sale. I guess that means they were hoping and out of town group would buy the Cards and move them away, leaving the Browns as the one team in St. Louis. Interesting stuff, I'm sure all of the team history buffs here already knew that, but it was new to me so I thought I'd point it out.
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[sambanks2]

I read something a while back that said that Major League Baseball didn't want any corporat sponsorship of ballparks, so that's why they didn't want it named Budweiser Park/Stadium or whatever. The article was making fun of baseball today and how marketed it is now, and how they didn't want that to happen back then.
Gussie complained that Wrigley Field was named after gum, so he didn't see why his ballpark couldn't be named after his beer. And Frick told him that it wasn't named after the gum, it was named after the family that owned the company.
So Gussie, wanting to be able to tie in his baseball investment with his beer marketing had the idea to call the ballpark Busch Stadium, and then make a beer called Busch Beer, so he would have a beer to market and be recognizable through his baseball team.

That's what I got from the story.
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[MAVERICK]

More importantly, they need to rename the Scottrade Center the Schlafly Center
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From Fark.com:

[Cardinal_Beams]

What I can't get over is the fact that when they were re-naming the TWA Dome, they actually considered naming it after Dirt Cheap Beer and Liqueor. The "Dirt-Cheap" Dome. Kind of fitting for how the Rams have performed the past couple of seasons, but that's neither here nor there.

[sambanks2]

Oh my God, that would have been so darn funny if they named the Eddie Dome the Dirt Cheap Dome. I can never get sick of those 'Cheap Cheap' commercials.
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