Cards fans mourn end of Busch

ST. LOUIS -- Kevin Seifert quietly scrawled his name among hundreds of others on the right-field foul pole, making no effort to hide his moist eyes.

His St. Louis Cardinals had just succumbed to the Houston Astros 5-1 Wednesday night, sending the Astros to the World Series and ending not only the Cardinals' season, but their 40-season run at Busch Stadium.

But like a lot of fans at the ballpark, the feeling of melancholy extended beyond baseball or a building. For many in St. Louis, baseball and life are so intertwined that separating them is impossible.

"My brother was killed in 1989," Seifert, 31, of Springfield, Ill., said. "I was afraid I wouldn't come down here one more time. He meant the world to me, and he had a passion for Cardinals baseball."

Seifert wrote his name on the foul pole, but he also stopped by the right field bleachers, where his brother used to watch games. On a step there, he wrote, simply, "In memory of Brian Seifert," then took a picture of it.

"I know he would have been here for this," Seifert said. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to be here for one last game."

Busch Stadium was the last of the multi-purpose stadiums of the 1960s, concrete relics in an era of baseball-friendly parks.

St. Louis will soon have one of those. The new Busch Stadium, a red-brick ballpark under construction on what used to be the south parking lot of the old Busch, opens next season. Demolition of the old concrete park is expected to begin within days.

Many were taking the loss of the stadium harder than the end of the season.

Jill Baer, 55, of suburban St. Louis, smiled as she surveyed the emptying ballpark one final time.

"I'm sad that we're not going to be here again, but I'm absolutely thrilled about the new stadium," Baer said. "We've already got our seats picked out."