IT'S SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE TO YESTERDAY

I haven't been to any more major league parks, but I couldn't leave without one more look at Busch. From my first game there on May 13, 1966, at a Teen Night to my last game there with Scott on June 10, 2005--Cardinals vs. Yankees. Man, did I have some times there.

My 11th greatest memory was Ozzie's home run against the Dodgers in the "Go Crazy Folks Game." I was sitting in the loge section between third base and home by the Dodgers' wives. I didn't know it was a homer until he passed 2nd base and put his fist in the air in that classic picture. My 12th favorite game was Camera Day when Scott was about eleven. We messed around in the outfield after taking a few pictures. Scott had a camera but it didn't work. I remember waving to Dave Farley who was sitting in the stands. I was thinking about like Dave Justice said to Scott once, "Here I am on this field and you're not." We didn't do much, just walk around, but it was cool. We walked to the warning track and just took it all in. My 13th was a run-the-bases day when I took Courtney and Matthew Flanagan to the game. It was also some baseball give away game, so we started throwing the baseball around in the infield. There were all kinds of people around, but we just played around them. Some guy kept bugging me thinking I was a coach because I had a Cardinal jacket on. He had his kid with him and I guess he wanted an autograph or something.

My 14th favorite was when Scott and I went to a playoff game in 1996 against the Braves. We were seated near home plate by Ed Curtis and his son Edward. The National Anthem that night was played by a military band, but it was sung loudly and very well by Edward. He was sitting next to me and initially it was a little embarrassing. But the longer it went on, the more the fans liked it--he was very good. It was kinda neat.

My fifteenth and final were all the games I went to with my high school teaching buds. There were so many incriminating stories there, and yes, even a few on me. Like the morning I got home from a game at 4 am and had to teach that day. Thank goodness for a student teacher. (And no, it was long before Molly.) Like my pal Bob Noel who went to something like 23 games in a row before he saw a Cardinal victory--I was with him for about 10 of those. One night after a game, Mr. Noel rolled over passed out drunks to see if they were one of our teachers whom we had lost on the bridge outside of Gate # 6. He didn't find him in any of the geranium beds that night, but we found him later and all made it home safely.

There are all kinds of memories just waiting to surface at the New Busch Stadium. If you're lucky enough to get a ticket for the first game, and I plan to be back in St.Lou for it, then you'll be lucky. Because there's no better place to watch baseball. And as Jack Buck used to say, "So long from the ballpark."