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Our journey began like every great adventure does, with four dudes piling into a minivan.
We upgraded our rental car after deciding we need more room, and the minivan definitely fulfilled that need. With copious amounts of leg room, plenty of space for bags, and a sleek, silver and heavy tinted design, we were set for embark on our 11-day road trip.
St. Louis
After splitting the seven-hour road trip between three drivers, we finally arrived in St. Louis just before rush hour. We were extremely fortunate to have a place to stay, as Nick’s aunt Nancy opened up her downtown apartment to us journeymen.
Nancy must have heard our stomachs were growling loudly, because she had the perfect place in mind to take us for dinner — Joey B’s On the Hill.
The set up of the bar and grill was pretty typical for that style of restaurant, but the food was amazing. In addition to a huge beer selection, Joey B’s had just about any kind of food you desire. The onion rings are especially impressive, possessing about the same diameter of a baseball and a thickness comparable to an old fashioned flip-to-open cell phone. If you plan on getting the rings as a side to your meal, be sure to come hungry; otherwise, they’re almost a meal to themselves.
Nick and Ben got the Cowboy Burger, which was also massive, as onion straws piled so high the top bun was a good three inches from the patty. Nate and Nancy had the Brettman Burger, which is topped with white cheddar cheese and caramelized onions. Nick ordered the jalapeño burger —really there was no wrong way to have a burger at Joey B’s. It was all very good.
With stomachs full of meat and fried deliciousness, we took a couple hours or so to rest up at the apartment. The Nicks played a quick series of pool in the building’s common room. Nick won.
The Village
For our first night out, Ben, Nick and Nick headed towards the stadium to check out the Ballpark Village, and this place was legit. Monstrous TVs lined one side of the enclosed courtyard, as a couple hundred, or so, Cardinals fans were watching the last few innings of St. Louis’ game with Milwaukee.
Surrounding the open area of the Village is a variety of bar options. We decided to hit up a personal favorite, Howl at the Moon. Being a Tuesday night, the piano bar was not crowded. Nick, a fan of the Chicago Cubs who are rivals with the Cardinals, found the courage to request that the musicians play the song “Go, Cubs, Go.” The Cardinal shirt wearing pianists were happy to oblige in their own way.
At the bar, we met two men from Wisconsin, in town to cheer on the Brewers. We talked with them about some of the places to visit while in St. Louis, as they frequently make the trip. By the time Howl at the Moon closed, we decided to go with the Brewers fans to a bar called Broadway Oyster Bar. It was a fun, New Orleans themed bar. The inside was small and full of lights and poster of blues musicians, past and present. But most of the entertainment was outside in the beer garden. We tried some local beers and swapped stories with the Brewers fans and some of the fellow bar-goers. The men’s bathroom was certainly interesting, as it almost required a man to hike up one leg into the sink to have enough room to use the facility.
Finally, about 3 a.m., the bar closed, and we took an Uber back to the apartment, telling our new friends we’d see them on the town again the next night.
Game day
The day of our first game on this year’s journey had finally arrived. And what better way to get in the mood for a Cardinals game than to go on a tour of Busch Stadium.
For 18 dollars we, we went on a tour which lasted about an hour. They took us through some of the suites, showed us the World Series championship trophies, and one of the press boxes. One of the coolest parts was when the tour group got to go on the field and into the home team’s dugout.
After the tour, we went the restaurant Cardinals Nation, which is also connected to the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame. Again, it was some good bar-and-grill food, with a few creative dishes and fun decor.
As has become a norm with most of our trips, we had to visit a brewery. And, being in St. Louis, there’s not bigger name in the beer market than Anheuser-Busch.
The Budweiser brewery offered several different tours, but due to our schedule being relatively packed, we chose the complimentary tour. Another complimentary tour begins about every 20 minutes. The tour guides showed us the stable where they keep with the famous Clydesdale horses, the massive warehouse that stores the beer during the process. One tank stores roughly 1.2 million beers. According to the tour guides, one individual would have to drink a 24-pack per day for 130 years to drink the amount of beer stored in just one tank. The warehouse stores 66 tanks.
We went through more of the facilities and enjoyed a free sample during the tour. At the conclusion of the tour, we got another free sample of any beer brewed at the facility. The architecture of the buildings was pretty fascinating. We would have liked to try one of the other tours that explore the facility in greater detail, but we had a couple other places to visit before our game.
We stopped at the Gateway Arch, but there was construction underway on the ground level below the arch. We had all already been to the impressive monument, so we elected not to spend too much time there or go up to the top of it. Instead, we headed back towards Busch Stadium to pregame a little bit at a rooftop bar called 360.
This is a great place to go before a game. It had an awesome view. There was a portion of the bar that was outside and had tables and chairs to enjoy the outdoors, and a larger part of it was indoors in the air conditioning. Beers were $6.25 each, which we kind of expected. After we had a few, it was time to go to the stadium.
The game
Our seats were in the front row in left field, and they were awesome. It was a great view and it was in the shade, which was especially nice on that hot and humid day. It didn’t take long for Ben to start heckling the Brewers players, especially left fielder Hernàn Perez. Ben got in a few good shots, but Perez and the Brewers were sitting pretty with a 6-0 lead after two innings.
The Cardinals slowly chipped away thanks to a pair of two-run innings, cutting the lead to 7-4. Then, in the middle of the seventh, we had a Stadium Tour first: a rain delay.
After what we estimated to be an hour, the game resumed. With the game nearing its end, Nick elected to go save our spots at Howl at the Moon, just missing out on a two-run home run from Aledmys Diaz to pull the Cardinals within 7-6 in the eighth inning. Unfortunately, immediately following the homer, the game went into another rain delay. And unfortunately for the Cardinals, the home team couldn’t keep its momentum going, as the Brewers came away with the win.
The domestic beers we drank during the game rang up at nine bucks apiece, pretty typical for a baseball game. Ben got nachos for dinner at the ballpark, Nate had a brat, and Nick ate a Philly Cheese Sandwich.
After the game, we found out that Nick had met up with our Brewers pals from the previous night in addition to making a new friend named Rico. Though, Rico did not stay around too long, and neither did we since the game ended after midnight. After last call at Howl at the Moon, we headed over to the PBR Bar, which was also a part of the Ballpark Village. We had one beer at PBR and watched Nick show off his moves on the dance floor, and then we called it a night. After all, we had to hit the road early for our next adventure.
Ratings
The Ballpark Village was a huge positive for Busch Stadium, which earned an 8.3 rating from us. The ballpark itself got a great rating when it came to the atmosphere, due in large part to the proximity and entertainment value of the Ballpark Village. The "sex appeal" of the stadium was also a big hit for us. The food at Busch Stadium wasn't very unique and there wasn't the variety we were used to from other parks, which did bring the rating down a little bit.
The nightlife was fun, but getting around the city wasn't as convenient as what we've had in the past. Uber was fine, but it proved costly by the time we visited all that we wanted.
The overall rating of 8.3 places Busch Stadium in eighth of the ballparks we've visited — though, four others are tied with the same score.
| Rank | Stadium | Rating |
| 1. | Petco Park (Padres) | 8.9 |
| 2. | Kauffman Stadium (Royals) | 8.4 |
| 3. | Target Field (Twins) | 8.3 |
| 4. | Angels Stadium (Angels) | 8.3 |
| 5. | U.S. Cellular (White Sox) | 8.3 |
| 6. | Wrigley Field (Cubs) | 8.3 |
| 7. | Busch Stadium (Cardinals) | 8.3 |
| 8. | Chase Field (Diamondbacks) | 8.2 |
| 9. | Miller Park (Brewers) | 7.2 |
| 10. | Coors Field (Rockies) | 7.1 |
| 11. | Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) | 6.2 |
On deck
Our next stop on our journey will be in Atlanta, where we will see the Braves host the Miami Marlins. Atlanta is in its inaugural season at Sun Trust Park after moving from Turner Field. Be sure to let us know about your experiences there in Atlanta or give us suggestions on things to do. Also like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, @MLBjourneymen, and check out our Instagram account, mlbjourneymen.
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