by Mat Camp, Alestle Copy Editor
Last weekend marked the opening weekend for everyone’s favorite local baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
I decided to start the season off right with all-inclusive seats to Friday’s game, which included all the beer you can drink starting 30 minutes before the game until midway through the eighth and a two-hour buffet of nachos, hotdogs and barbecue beef briquette. Granted the tickets were pretty pricey: $120 each due to opening weekend, and I couldn’t find any discounts.
Still I ended up saving money in the long run on not having to pay ballpark prices for beer and food like I usually do. I also had to go through the St. Louis Cardinals website since StubHub (which is the go-to site for cheap tickets) didn’t have the seats I was looking for.
I started the evening off by having a few beers up at Mike Shannon’s right across the street from the ballpark, which has a great atmosphere to get you pumped up for baseball. The outdoor patio has a full bar and another smaller station that just serves beer, so there is virtually no waiting in line no matter how crowded it gets, and it does pretty packed. Not to mention the bartenders are gorgeous.
The whole patio was a sea of red and white, and everyone was excited to see the redbirds play. It is easy to see that with our city’s enthusiasm for the Cardinals how people consider St. Louis’ fans the best in baseball. I kind of felt bad for the only four people in the bar sporting Mets blue as they huddled in their corner, isolated from everyone else.
The luxury of the all-inclusive tickets was meant we had to have them checked at several points after the front gates, as well as get a wristband before we finally arrived at our party suite. The suite itself was awesome with our own climate controlled room for around 20 people with a window view of the field, tables to eat and, my personal favorite, our own private bartender. He was very friendly and served soft drinks and beer, which made it so easy and fast to grab a refill between innings. It also had a private section of our own with outdoor seating under an overhang of cheap seats that kept out the light rain.
Overall, it was a great opening weekend experience and the perfect way to start baseball season off this year. If you have never tried the all-inclusive seating, I highly recommend you do sometime in the season. If you don’t want to spring for the $100+ price you can get E-SAVER deals through the Cardinals website, which offers half-price all-inclusive seats throughout the year. I will reiterate that if you do, make sure you bring that designated driver because it is very easy to get beyond tipsy with “free” beer just a few steps away.
Filed under: Dining, weekend fun | Tagged: alcohol, Alestle, alestlelive, baseball, beer, Cardinals, Entertainment Blog, Mathew Camp, St. Louis, weekend fun | Leave a comment »