HISTORY AND BUSCH STADIUM

Busch Stadium, St. Louis, the scene of this year's All-Star Game, was built in 1881 and until 1953 was called Sportsman's Park. Its officers in the last century had names like Von der Ahe, Muckenfuss and Diddle-bock; its greats of this century have been called Hornsby, Sisler, Dean and Musial. Above are pictured a few of the park's epic moments, some heroic, others zany. St. Louis fans still glow with the memory of Enos Slaughter (11) dashing all the way from first base to score the winning run of the 1946 World Series as Boston's Johnny Pesky, ball in hand, stood in frozen astonishment. They shudder at the memory of Dizzy Dean (9), pinch-running in the fourth game of the 1934 World Series, getting beaned during an attempted double play. And they chuckle in recalling the headlines the following day: X-RAYS OF DEAN'S HEAD REVEAL NOTHING. They have not forgotten the time Whitey Witt of the Yankees (2) got hit on the head with a bottle while standing in center field. How they hooted at the official explanation: since no St. Louis fan would stoop to throw a bottle, the bottle must already have been there and Witt, by stepping on the edge of it, flipped it up and hit himself. They can still taste the dust sent up by a Pepper Martin slide (7), reminisce happily about Bill Veeck's midget (15) or argue the respective merits of Hornsby and Sisler (1). There are still scars, they say, near the spot where Clint Courtney and Billy Martin battled (5), and the mound still vibrates from the duels waged by Carl Hubbell and Dean (8). And when the 1957 All-Star Game is played, who knows what new thrills there may be to remember.

ILLUSTRATION

JOE KAUFMAN

1
Hornsby-Sisler .400 rivalry

2
Whitey Witt gets hit on head with bottle

3
Ruth's homer breaks auto dealer's window

4
Ruth's one hand catch finishes 1928 series

5
Courtney-Martin fight rages from first to third

6
Ladies day started here 1917

7
Pepper Martin stealing bases

8
Dean-Hubbell pitching duels

9
Dizzy Dean hit on head by thrown ball "X-Ray reveals nothing"

10
The Mudcat Band

11
Enos Slaughter first to home on a single

12
Bottomley's day He gets cow

13
Mary Ott rooting

14
Branch Rickey

15
Midget bats against Detroit

Pesky hesitates as Slaughter scores