There have been more than 1,800 baseball games played this season. On Sunday, the Cardinals and Pirates played a game longer than any other. We were there for all 6 hours and 7 minutes. In honor of those 19 innings, here are 19 tidbits from our time in St. Louis:
1. The Ford Focus is not a racecar
If you are thinking about purchasing a Ford Focus (or renting one for a cross-country baseball roadtrip), there is something you should know. It doesn’t go very fast. Justin drove the 248 miles from Kansas City to St. Louis. When he reached 75 miles an hour, the dashboard beeped and displayed a message: “Vehicle Near Top Speed.” At 80 miles an hour, the dashboard said: “Vehicle At Top Speed.” Obviously, once the car said it couldn’t go any faster, we instantly checked to see if it could go faster. It couldn’t.
2. Sandwiches are wonderful
We reached St. Louis at 1:30 and snagged food for the game. Justin’s research had identified Stellina, a neighborhood Italian/sandwich place. We got a fancy turkey sandwich (avocado, sunflower sprouts, peasant bread), a heartier sandwich (roast beef, cappicola panini), a spiffy salad (mixed greens, beets, goat cheese, garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, white balsamic vinegar), a deliciously simple potato salad, and the highlight: a watermelon salad with olive oil, feta, and fresh basil. We ate the turkey sandwich in the car and the rest at the ballpark.
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| Turkey sandwich |
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| Justin: "That was the gooiest turkey sandwich I've had. I liked it." |
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| What's left of the watermelon salad |
3. Some very specific travel advice
The Pear Tree Inn is perfect for a baseball roadtrip. [Justin’s Note: All credit for hotel selection goes to Ari. He reserved hotels and transportation. I was in charge of food and sightseeing. As a result, most of our sights are restaurants.] The Pear Tree has a complimentary happy hour every day. Breakfast and parking are free. They have about 20 board games in the lobby. You can walk to the stadium or, if you don’t want to walk a mile, the hotel’s adjoining bar will shuttle you to the game for $2. And, most importantly, they have a complimentary happy hour every day.
4. Saturday’s game
We walked to Busch Stadium. It’s a gorgeous ballpark. Where Kansas City had the warmth of a minor league park, Busch was definitely major league. The place is huge. The Cardinals do a great job of constantly playing lively, situation-appropriate music (for example, when the opposing manager ambled to the mound to consult with a struggling pitcher, the stadium blared the Beatles’ “Help!”). Everything was red—red seats, red brick, red t-shirts. The Cardinals are probably the most successful National League franchise, with eleven World Series titles, and homages to that success adorn the park. The entrance features about ten bronze statues of Cardinal greats. Inside, we saw shout-outs to the 1930s Gashouse Gang and to 1980s Whitey Ball. The stadium had its flaws, however. Corporate logos dominated the skyline, the scoreboard, and almost every flat surface. The scoreboard isn’t high definition. Many of the statistics displayed at every other park—radar gun readings, batters’ year-to-date stats—were missing. Food and beer prices were exorbitant. On the whole, though, we liked Busch Stadium. It managed a balance between honoring history while looking modern and fun.
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| The Cardinals have great fans |
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| The statue of Stan "The Man" Musial |
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| Justin's Note: This is like Build-A-Bear, but with Fredbirds. We elected not to build our own Fredbird. |
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| I'm a lefty |
We started out in the upper deck behind home plate and improved our situation until we could smell the grass along the third base line. The Cardinals won 5-4, bringing the home teams’ record to 4-0 on our trip.
5. The happiest hour
Saturday's game ended at 6:30. The hotel stopped serving free drinks at 7 o’clock. We hustled. As we got in line for beer and wine at 6:48, I asked the imperative question. “Am I allowed to get multiple drinks at once?” Moments later, we were playing board games in the hotel lobby with four beers and two wine spritzers. I’ll let you guess which one of us had the spritzers.
6. Don’t lie to your mother
I drove to dinner because Justin had sipped two wine spritzers, which is twice what it takes to incapacitate him. [Justin’s Note: I thought you weren’t going to say who had the spritzers.] During the drive, Justin called our mother and pretended to be me. She saw right through it. It didn’t help that he called from his own cell phone.
7. Where credit is due
As native San Diegans, we tend to be snobby about Mexican food. But Neveria La Vallesana, in St. Louis Benton Park West, was good. The chicken enchiladas had a sweet verde sauce. The steak fajitas were tender. The al pastor taco was best—sweet and punchy meat with a hint of cilantro. I got spicy mango ice cream for dessert. [Justin’s Note: I have used my Spanish language skills and 45 seconds on the Internet to translate the name of the restaurant. My working guess is, “Ice Cream Parlor The Vallesana.”]
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| Carnitas taco on the left, al pastor taco on the right |
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| steak fajitas |
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| To eat an ice cream cone, one must be vigilant |
8. The pappiest hour
We made sure not to eat too much Mexican food because we wanted to be hungry for the next day’s breakfast. St. Louis is known for its ribs and Pappy’s Smokehouse is the undisputed rib champion. Pappy’s posed a challenge, though. They would be closed after our 1 o’clock game ended on Sunday. Our only option was to pick up our order when they opened at 11 AM. We called in the order at 9:30 AM—the earliest permissible time—and went to the gym. I was on the treadmill. Justin was on the bike. Out of nowhere, Justin turned around and shouted, “You know what I’m doing?” I asked what he was doing. He pedaled harder: “I’m working up a Pappetite!”
When we arrived at Pappy’s at 11 sharp, the line must have had at least 75 people. We bought some sauce bottles and two of Pappy’s Hog Whisperer t-shirts.
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| Do I even need to say it? |
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| The place opened at 11. By 11:05, every table was taken and the line still numbered 75. |
Once back at the hotel, we devoured the barbecue and learned what all the fuss was about. I’m still on the fence about whether Pappy’s ribs exceeded Oklahoma Joe’s, but they’re certainly among the best ribs I’ve ever had. [Justin’s Note: Pappy’s ribs are awesome. Joe’s ribs are better.]
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| Breakfast |
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| Brisket on the left, pulled pork on the right. |
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| Pappy's serves seven different sides. We ordered six of them. Given the food formation, it's hard to do a right-to-left identification. Let's try this: if the photo above were a map of the US, the corn on the cob would be the Atlantic Ocean; apple sauce in Florida; cole slaw in Maine, baked beans in Kansas; potato salad in Washington; and green beans in California. The pulled pork at the top is Canada. |
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| Baby back ribs |
9. Problem solving
I enjoy drinking beverages during baseball games. I do not enjoy paying ballpark prices. Ballparks do not allow people to bring their own beverages. These three facts create tension.
I’ve found that the best way to relieve that tension is to sneak beverages into the game. Sometimes I am cagey. Other times I offer whiskey to the woman at will call.
10. Go Bears!
Entering the stadium, Justin spotted a guy in a Stanford t-shirt. Justin is excellent at spotting the enemy. The guy was about 20—young, but definitely old enough to boo. So I did. “Boooooooo! Stanford is the worst!” [Justin’s Note: Ari is the only person I know who has booed another human being face-to-face. This is at least the second time he’s done it.]
11. Bleacher bums
This was our fifth game of the trip but our first time sitting in the outfield. In fact, it was Justin’s first time ever sitting in the bleachers. It’s a different experience. Not only is the view completely changed, but people tend to be much friendlier. It just feels like a more communal experience.
12.Lying to strangers is less terrible
We wore our new Pappy’s t-shirts to the game. We did this with the goal of supporting the city. We couldn’t buy Cardinals shirts—Berkeley grads don’t wear red—so we figured that wearing Pappy’s shirts was the next best thing. This had an unintended consequence: fans thought we actually worked at Pappy’s. I fostered this misperception by telling people that Justin did, in fact, work at Pappy’s.
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Justin handled the ruse well. He already knew the store hours backwards and forwards. He knew the location. He had studied the menu longer than he studied for the Bar Exam. Early on, he made a mistake by calling himself a griller instead of a smoker, but he recovered quickly. His biggest challenge was when another fan asked if Justin knew Jim Westeby. Obviously Justin did not know Jim Westeby. I wished Justin had pulled an Ocean’s Eleven and said, “Not since he died two years ago.” But he played it safe and said, “I know a Jim.” The guy said Jim was a local judge. “Tell him to wear his robe next time he comes in,” Justin said. “I’ll give him a discount.” Justin got so into character that he got angry when I told someone he was merely an intern at Pappy’s. [Justin’s Note: I didn’t want to be an intern. I wanted to be a smoker.] Here were Justin’s three best moments while impersonating a Pappy’s employee:
#3 – When a woman asked what makes Pappy’s so special, Justin said, “It’s our consistency. Other places will serve a good rib every now and then. But have you every had a bad meal at Pappy’s?” The woman shook her head, turned to her friend, and said, “It’s true.” “See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Justin bragged about his fictional employer.
#2 – Someone said they planned to pick up Pappy’s after the game. “No way. We close early on Sundays,” Justin said. “I thought you were open until 4,” the woman said. “We’re open until we run out of food. On a Sunday, the ribs will be gone by 3.”
#1 – Justin recommended that someone order Kevin’s Special the next time she went in. “It’s not on the menu,” Justin said. “What is a Kevin’s Special?” she asked. “It’s a surprise,” he answered. There is no Kevin’s Special. Surprise!
13.Miami Metro Homicide
There was also a lot of fun baseball played in those 19 innings. The Cardinals scored early and the Pirates tied the game at 2. After 11 scoreless innings, the Pirates grabbed the lead—and then the Cards promptly got a run home to send it to the 18th inning. The Pirates erupted for three in the 19th and closed out the game. In all, the teams used 32 hitters and 16 pitchers, including the Pirates pitcher who was supposed to start the next game.
More importantly, Jaime Garcia pitched well. I picked up Jaime for my first place fantasy team just so I could have a rooting interest in the game. Jaime struck out ten and had no earned runs in eight innings of work. If you don’t follow baseball, that’s really good. [Justin’s Note: Ari’s team is called Miami Metro Homicide in honor of the TV show Dexter. I try to be supportive of Ari’s team and players. But it’s really awkward to yell “Homicide” at a baseball game.]
14.“Who wants to drink with the king!?”
The beer vendors at Busch Stadium have plenty of personality. On Saturday, the guy selling beer in our section was Tiresz. He was carrying a huge bucket of beer and ice. Justin asked him how much it weighs. “It can way 80 pounds, man. This is job is tough physically. It’s even tougher mentally.” Justin asked what makes the job a mental challenge. “You know it, man,” Tiresz replied.
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| Beer Man, action shot |
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| Beer Man, philosophical pose |
15.“Get down. Now.”
In the 14th inning, we left the bleachers and headed closer to home plate. Along the way, we spotted a cameraman. I wanted the same view he had. I also wanted to see how long I could stand on the camera platform before stadium security ordered me down. Answer: about 90 seconds. [Justin’s Note: I do not know what compels Ari to constantly test authority and boundaries, but it does keep things interesting during 19-inning baseball games.]
16.Some people are not as good at things as they think they are
While chatting with a pair of sisters sitting in front of us, one of them asked where we were from. I told the truth. I said we were from San Diego. One of the sisters did not believe us. “You’re not from California. You have a Saint Louis accent.” I said, No, I’m from California. The other sister chimed in: “My sister works in sales. She knows when someone is lying.” Apparently not. I showed them my California driver’s license. “It looks like a fake,” said the human lie detector. I gave up.
17.Fried pasta, meat, cheese, and sauce
After the game, we drove to the Hill, the Italian neighborhood. We had one purpose: acquire toasted ravioli, the pride of St. Louis. “Toasted ravioli” is a misleadingly healthy name. They’re actually breaded, deep-fried ravioli, usually filled with meat. We went to Charlie Gitto’s, home to some of the most lauded t-ravs in the city. They did not disappoint. The pasta was crunchy. The flavor was nuanced. The marinara was luscious. [Justin’s Note: I wish we ordered more.]
The chopped salad was also outstanding.
18. Sightseeing in St. Louis
We watched our first television of the trip, making sure we were back in the hotel room by 9 PM for Breaking Bad. Spoiler Alert: The show is awesome.
19. A saucy joint
On Sunday, a few seemingly unrelated events combined to have a large impact on our evening. We ate Pappy’s barbecue in the hotel room at 11:30. We left for the game at noon. We returned at 8:45 and found that we had accidentally left the Do Not Disturb sign on the door from the day before.
The room had not been cleaned.
The room reeked of barbecue.
Justin and I had different reactions. I felt like I was in a cloud of barbecue sauce. I thought it was thick, dense, and overwhelming. I eventually grew accustomed to it, until I woke up in the middle of the night. I was sleeping next to the air conditioner, which had essentially become a barbecue sauce vent. I found it highly unpleasant.
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