Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League of Major League Baseball. It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. Busch Stadium has been chosen by MLB to host the 2009 All-Star Game.[4]

The ballpark opened on April 4, 2006 with an exhibition between the minor league Memphis Redbirds and Springfield Cardinals, both affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Springfield won 5-3. The first official major league game occurred on April 10, 2006 as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4. A commercial area, dubbed Ballpark Village, is being developed adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.

The stadium is the third stadium in St. Louis to carry the name Busch Stadium. Sportsman's Park was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953, after team owner Gussie Busch. The first Busch closed in 1966, and both the baseball Cardinals, and the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals moved to a new multi-purpose stadium, named Busch Memorial Stadium.

Whereas the old stadium was a fully enclosed "cookie-cutter" facility similar to Riverfront, Veterans and Three Rivers stadiums, the new stadium is much more open-air, allowing an unobstructed view of its surroundings. It offers a panoramic view of the downtown St. Louis skyline, as well as the city's distinctive Gateway Arch. The Arch and several other significant St. Louis landmarks are reflected in the park's architecture.

The Gate 3 entrance on the west side of the stadium is most iconic, with a large "bridge" resembling the Eads Bridge arching over the entrance. Outside this entrance also stands a bronze statue of Cardinals legend Stan "The Man" Musial. Other Cardinals statues that previously surrounded Busch Memorial Stadium are now displayed at the corner of Clark and Eighth streets, outside the Cardinals' team store. The exterior contains historical plaques of Cardinals logos, the STL insignia and a Busch Stadium logo behind home plate. Hand-carved originals were cast into colored concrete for a total of 94 castings that adorn the brick facade. Around the exterior of the stadium, embedded into the sidewalks are fan-purchased bricks surrounding marble plaques commemorating the Top 100 Cardinal Moments.

The interior incorporates many familiar elements from the previous Busch Stadium into the new, intimate "retro-era" design. The traditional green fences and Cardinal red seats are a theme continued from the previous ballpark. The center field batter's eye is a grassy knoll, flanked symmetrically by bleacher seats and the bullpens. Although a new electronic scoreboard is now in use in right center-field, the old scoreboard is still displayed in the main concourse as a monument to the old stadium, acting as a buffer to the nearby I-64/US-40. Furthermore, the neon flying redbird display is faithfully recreated on the new LED ribbon boards during Cardinals home runs. A tornado siren also sounds and fireworks are launched from the right field scoreboard after Cardinal home runs and wins.

The new stadium has nearly the same field dimensions as the old stadium, although with less foul territory. Observations indicate it plays fairly to both hitters and pitchers, as well as lefthanders and righthanders