Two worlds collide joyously as my home team comes to town

England has become increasingly Americanised in the 25 years that I’ve lived here. Never in my wildest dreams, however, did I imagine I’d ever sit in a London Stadium watching my beloved St. Louis Cardinals take on the Chicago Cubs, with a packed house of local fans in red or blue cheering on their boys.

It almost didn’t happen. I had my tickets and my guest rooms were booked with family and friends for a 2020 series. Then came Covid. It took three years for Major League Baseball to get its plans back on track. While frustrating, I’m happy to say that they used the delay to improve most aspects of the experience from their inaugural London Series between the Yankees and Red Sox in 2019.

Some background:

To be born in St. Louis is to be born into Cardinal red. You learn history and civic pride through legends of the storied, 141-year-old franchise, winners of more World Series championships than any team except the Yankees. (Ergo you learn to dislike the New Yorkers. A lot.) The Cardinal players of your childhood become your models for success, perseverance, focus and positive attitude. Other parents track children’s growth with marks on a wall; Cardinal parents take annual photos in front of a statue of sainted outfielder and first baseman Stan Musial. On hot summer nights, your childhood lullaby is a duet between the cicadas in the trees and the Redbird game announcers on the radio. Your social milestones will be marked at Busch stadium, from childhood birthday parties to grown-up games followed by long hours drinking frosty local beer in iconic baseball bars. Winter isn’t a sporting season, it’s a rest between the World Series and Spring Training. 

I’m not just a Cardinals fan. They’re a fundamental part of my identity.

Proximity made the Cardinals and the Cubs natural rivals. With 300 miles between them, they were the closest teams to each other in their division, and have been playing each other for more than 130 years. (The Cubs have a narrow edge on their Southern rivals in the series, winning 1,261 to the Cardinals’ 1,212.) 

And yet, I love the Cubs, too. I went to university just nine miles North of their home ground and learned early on that they have the most beautiful stadium in baseball. Wrigley Field is an ivy-clad time capsule of mellow brick and wrought iron. I was at Northwestern in the years when Wrigley was the last park in Major League Baseball to reject lights. With all play fit in before twilight, weekdays at Wrigley were magical opportunities for poor students. Five dollars got you into the bleachers, a bit more into the upper decks from which you could drift down to excellent empty seats on the baselines without anyone really caring. I spent a lot of my spring quarters within these friendly confines, no doubt to the detriment of my grade point average. (My mother, equally steeped in Cardinal red, understood and sometimes even joined me.)

So while the MLB coming to London in 2019 was fun, this series was sacred. The iconic experiences of my youth were transposed onto the home of my maturity. Complete with local fans, Midwestern geniality and ballpark junk food. It was utterly bizarre, and joyously wonderful.

It wasn’t the sell-out of the Yankee-Red Sox outing. Fans who weren’t season ticket holders could get better seats, and everyone could buy in without difficulty. London Stadium repeated the miracle of building a round baseball stadium inside a football oval, but improved things by bringing the baselines in a bit and moving the seats closer to the field. Once you were inside the charmed circle, it felt a lot more like a proper baseball park than last time. 

Brits who were taking the opportunity to experience America’s pastime may be disappointed if they move on to see a game in the States. The ceremony and general level of hoopla was more like a championship match than your typical mid-season contest. There was a band and an entertaining in-stadium pre-game show. Massive flags unfurled on the outfield for the anthems, sung by a top-quality gospel choir. Players came out to bursts of flame. Fireworks wrapped the contest. In the middle, most intervals between innings had some sort of action, from mascot races to audience members catching fly balls for prizes.

The 7th-inning Stretch featured a glorious production of “Take me out to the ballgame.” Harry Carey, the legendary Cubs (and once Cardinals) commentator who immortalised communal singing of that anthem at Wrigley Field died 25 years too soon to lead the voices this weekend, but actor and Chicago Cubs stalwart Bill Murray took his place. I was hoping that Jon Hamm would make a corresponding appearance for our side, but I didn’t catch sight of him.

Sadly, the enormous fan zone that had been on the practice field did not make a return, but there were a smattering of batting cages on the concourse around the stadium. The rest of that circle was packed with food and drink options, and organisers made an honest attempt to get the right food into the Cardinal and Cub zoned areas. Chicago was big on hot dogs. St. Louis had bbq brisket sandwiches. I even heard reports, though never saw proof, that there was toasted ravioli somewhere. The BBC also reported on a frightening prospect called a donut burger, which seems to be an innovation made since I left the states and one I suspect someone with a lifelong weight problem should ignore.

A fan zone did exist … in Trafalgar Square. Free to enter, this featured batting cages, pitching games, booths to have a baseball card of yourself made and the shortest queues of the weekend for merch. The’d divided the square into a Cards side and another for the Cubs, with a small range of food and drink stalls. Offerings here were more generically American that aligned with either team, as evidenced by the Philly cheesesteak stand on my home town side. (Maybe they’re preparing for next year, when the Phillies take on the Mets.) A generous spread of picnic tables offered spots for people to watch the games, broadcast on three enormous screens. 

This was a great option for Brits who wanted to sample the fun but were put off by the hefty London Stadium ticket prices. Unlike the live game, crowds here were majority British with a sprinkling of American fans like me who had gone to one game but thought they’d check out the second here. One disadvantage to the remote location is that they don’t broadcast any of the pre-game festivities, which seemed a shame. No doubt something to do with broadcast rights. Attendance in Trafalgar Square was surprisingly light; it will be interesting to see if they do the takeover next year. 

If they do, I suspect I’m more likely to be there than in London Stadium. While I’m delighted MLB will return, it would take a lot to match the Cardinals v. The Cubs. 

The Cardinals and Cubs split the series, with Chicago taking the first game 9-1 and St. Louis fought back to a 7-5 victory in the second.