At Busch Stadium, even the dirt's for sale

As anyone knows who has had garage sale, some junk can make you money.

The owners of the St. Louis Cardinals and Busch Stadium know that for sure.

The new stadium, which opened in April, comes complete with a team store where fans can buy small containers of dirt from the old stadium, the white numbers on squares of green which were used on the old stadium scoreboards, and even some of the old, red seats.

You also can buy baseballs used in games last year as well as balls that got roughed up in games this year.

New Busch Stadium is clearly a moneymaking machine, from its high-priced hot dogs to its Cardinal memorabilia.

Ballpark food for a family of four will cost you more than $40.

I'm surprised they don't sell used scorecards or crushed popcorn boxes from previous games to make even more money.

I love the Cardinals, but it does make a dent in the pocketbook.

And if you still have money left over after expenses for parking, food and drink, you can send text messages to be displayed on an electronic message board that fans can see from their stadium seats.

But be careful what you write. At one game, a woman sent a message saying she was pregnant. Most men don't want to hear such news in the middle of a ballgame.

Still, all those messages do provide an interesting distraction if your team is losing badly.

Restrooms and elevators are the only free services provided at the stadium.

It pays to use the elevators because at least that way you can find your seats.

The new ballpark has been designed to look like an old baseball park with its different levels of seating. You can feel like a rat in a maze trying to reach your seats.

But even while you're adding up the costs, you at least know one thing is priceless: watching Albert Pujols hit home runs.

The Cardinals lost only two games on their recent 10-game homestand. I saw both of them. Based on that kind of luck, I might as well forget about winning the lottery. Fortunately for me, I also saw them win two games last month.

Win or lose, however, it's clear there's money to be made in used stuff.

Maybe I should follow in the footsteps of Cardinal management. I have a lot of used stuff in my garage.

If I sold it all, I could have a tidy garage. As it is, our garage has become sort of a storage shed for everything from Joni's Girl Scout supplies to our stock of soft drinks.

Of course, we don't keep anything famous in our garage, although I'm sure we have some stuff that's just as dirty as a used baseball from a Cardinals game.

If it's dirt you want, I'll sell it for less than they do at Busch Stadium.

Our front yard has a lot of dirt. Some parts are bare of grass. Two oak trees provide so much shade it's difficult to grow grass.

I have lots of acorns. If the Cardinals owned those trees, they'd be selling acorns as souvenirs.

As fans, we know we can't go to a professional baseball game with an empty wallet.

If you have to declare personal bankruptcy so be it. Cardinal Nation knows the importance of having a new stadium.

We're happy to have it.

It's the best view money can buy.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.