Busch Stadium was our very first print so it took a little longer than the rest. We were still figuring out our process and what a "Stadium Graph" even was by definition.
We started at home, being a life-long Cardinals fan I was already well versed in the team history and had some of those amazing playoff and championship memories that were made over the years at Busch II and III.
[caption id="attachment_369" align="alignright" width="150"]
early Busch Stadium sketch[/caption]
Early on we wanted to include ALL the baseball history of St. Louis; Browns, Perfectos, the Gas House Gang. It's some amazing stuff, but it was just too much story to fit on one poster with all of the stadiums as a centerpiece. Usually, the process of creating infographics is about "finding the story". We realized there was an interesting narrative with the Busch Family and the team so we started there. We did some really rough early sketches... the result was kind of a triptych of the three Busch Stadiums, with Busch II anchoring the center.
The Anheuser-Busch company and the Busch family have a deep interconnections as team owners, stadium owner, and stadium namesake all at different times. From the animated neon eagle to the "Gates of Baseball Heaven" we see some amazing team history that most fans of a certain age can identify with.
We started doing some more detailed sketches on the computer and start layout out the information. These were really dense, they included city maps for stadium location. In the end this was just going to feel too dense and cluttered. We did end up keeping the footprint overlap of Busch II and III, which is a fun detail.
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Busch Computer Sketch 2[/caption]
We changed some layout from the sketch... Busch II just really wanted sit centrally. Finally we made some font and layout choices that would scale across the Stadium Graph Series. This print also gave us a process for research to repeat (which we hope to write about soon!)
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The St. Louis Cardinals and Busch Stadium[/caption]
Here's some raw text from our research... (DISCLAIMER: some of this data was lifted and massaged from other sites, We've done my best to pay attribution at the bottom)
BUSCH I: 1953 – 1965
April 9, 1953, August Busch, owner of the Cardinals, buys Sportsman’s Park. Despite stadium makeover including an animated neon eagle, history will remember this stadium as Sportsman’s Park.
BUSCH II: 1965 – 2005
The design of Busch Memorial Stadium is inspired by the recently completed Gateway Arch. The Anheuser Busch company buys the stadium, drops “Memorial” from the title. Playing surface changes to Astroturf in 1970 and back to grass in ‘95 when football leaves town and the team changes ownership.
BUSCH III: 2006 –
Like Busch II, the stadium design borrows from the city’s existing architecture (Ead’s Bridge). The footprint of the stadium overlaps with the previous venue.
1965 – New Stadium
1966 – All Star Game
1967 – WS
1968 – Stan Statue
1968 – Bob Gibson Cy Young
1970 – Bob Gibson Cy Young
1974 – Lou Brock steals 118
1980 – Whitey brings small ball to STL
1981 – AB buys stadium (“drops memorial”)
1982 – Enter “The Wizard” #1
1982 – WS
1985 – Pennant (“Go Crazy”)
1987 – Pennant
1990 – Joe Torre becomes Manager (to ‘96)
1995 – Bill DeWitt (and partners) purchase the Cardinals from AB.
1996 – Tony LaRussa becomes manager (to ‘12)
1998 – Big Mac hits 62
2001 – Enter Albert Pujols
2002 – RIP Jack Buck
2004 – Pennant
2005 – Chris Carpenter Cy Young
2006 – New Stadium
2009 – All Star Game
2011 – WS (“We will see you tomorrow night”)
MVPs
- 1964 – Ken Boyer
- 1976 – Orlando Cepeda
- 1968 – Bob Gibson
- 1971 – Joe Torre
- 1979 – Keith Hernandaz
- 1985 – Willie McGee
- 2005 – Albert Pujols
- 2008 – Albert Pujols
- 2009 – Albert Pujols
THE MAN
(November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013)
Gave his entire career to one lucky team. (1941-1963)
Managers:
1980 – 1990 Whiteyball
1990 Red S. (1965–1976, 1980)
1990 – 1995 Torre
1996 – 2011 Tony
2012 – Matheney
Reference:
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/
http://www.baseball-reference.com/
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/
http://www.andrewclem.com/
http://onthisdayincardinalnation.blogspot.com/2014/04/april-9-1953-busch-buys-ballpark.html
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/2/10/5390172/major-league-attendance-trends-1950-2013
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/attend.shtml
early Busch Stadium sketch[/caption]
Early on we wanted to include ALL the baseball history of St. Louis; Browns, Perfectos, the Gas House Gang. It's some amazing stuff, but it was just too much story to fit on one poster with all of the stadiums as a centerpiece. Usually, the process of creating infographics is about "finding the story". We realized there was an interesting narrative with the Busch Family and the team so we started there. We did some really rough early sketches... the result was kind of a triptych of the three Busch Stadiums, with Busch II anchoring the center.
The Anheuser-Busch company and the Busch family have a deep interconnections as team owners, stadium owner, and stadium namesake all at different times. From the animated neon eagle to the "Gates of Baseball Heaven" we see some amazing team history that most fans of a certain age can identify with.
We started doing some more detailed sketches on the computer and start layout out the information. These were really dense, they included city maps for stadium location. In the end this was just going to feel too dense and cluttered. We did end up keeping the footprint overlap of Busch II and III, which is a fun detail.
[caption id="attachment_372" align="alignnone" width="600"]