Saint Louis is hosting the 2009 Major League Baseball All Star Game tonight.  This has become a big deal here in town.  Events have been occurring here since last Saturday.  On last Saturday, the All Star festivities began, with Fanfest.  Fanfest is basically a shopping experience for baseball fans and runs throughout the festivities.  On Saturday night there was also a concert under the Arch.  Sheryl Crow headlined the concert.  Sunday featured the so called, Futures game, sort of an all star game for the minor leagues.  Following the Futures game as part of a double header was a celebrity-Hall of Famer’s softball game.  We actually considered going to these events, because the cost of tickets was only twenty dollars for good bleacher seats and forty dollars for box seats.  However, the weather was not very nice.  Big storms swept through town just after the Futures game had started.  They got both games in, but they were delayed for at least a few hours.  Monday night was a big night.  It featured the Home Run Derby.  I would have liked to watch it, at least on TV, but Anne and I had to go to church Monday night.  Well actually we had to go to the Muny, where Godspell  was playing.  😉

Festivities culminate in tonight’s All Star Game.  The spectacle of tonight’s All Star game has exceeded all previous baseball spectacles in town, at least the ones that I have witnessed.  Throughout the relatively few National League Pennants (five of seventeen) and World Championships (two of ten) that I have been part of Saint Louis, I have not seen a similar level of hoopla.  This is the first All Star Game held here in Saint Louis since 1966, when the old Busch Stadium was still new.  It is the fifth All Star Game held here in Saint Louis since the inception of the event in 1933.

In preparation for the All Star Game the city of Saint Louis has placed sixteen mini-Arches around town.  I have personally seen twelve them.  The six pictures in the gallery above are as follows: 1) Anne models the mini-Arch in front of the Saint Louis Art Museum also known as the SLAMmer.  Its theme is a commemoration of the Cardinal’s retired player numbers.  2) This Arch is in front of the Saint Louis City Hall and commemorates the seventeen National League Pennants that the Cardinals have won.  3) Standing in front of the Grand Basin, this Arch celebrates the All Star Game itself.  4) Don and I pose inside the Arch in front of the History Museum.  This Arch remembers the ten World Championships that the Cardinals have won.  5) This is another World Championships Arch (I guess that they recycle some of the themes), it is one of six that are in Kiener Plaza, just a block or two from Busch Stadium.  Can you see the reflection of the real Arch on the side of the office building?  6) This Arch commemorates the Cardinal Baseball Club itself.  It is situated in front of the Saint Louis Zoo, in front of the Animals Always  sculpture.  This sculpture features an Arch theme also.