The eyesore next to the new Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis was supposed to be Ballpark Village, an ambitious, downtown-changing development of restaurants, bars and luxury condominiums. But as the 2010 baseball season begins, it’s still just a swath of scorched earth, evidence of another wealthy corporation’s broken promise.

Ballpark Village has devolved into ballpark “pillage.” And if the history of redevelopment pledges in downtown St. Louis holds true [specifically, Kiel Auditorium, almost 20 years of nothing–and counting], we can expect to see that chain-link fence and veneer of grass at Ballpark Pillage for decades to come.

Here’s an alternative: Turn the “Ballpark Village” site into a vertical farm, and be the first city in the U.S. to bring this innovative concept to life.

What’s a vertical farm? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a high-rise greenhouse, with a farm on every floor. It uses advanced, soil-free technologies to grow crops, and because its footprint is vastly smaller than that of a tradition farm, it’s perfectly suited for small plots of land in urban areas.

Vertical farming is a big-concept innovation with world-wide implications, says Dickson D. Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University. In his August 24, 2009 op-ed in the New York Times, Despommier wrote:

“If climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years, farming as we know it will no longer exist. This means that the majority of people soon could be without enough food or water. But there is a solution that is surprisingly within reach: Move most farming into cities, and grow crops in tall, specially constructed buildings.”

That idea is catching on among urban planners, proponents of the local-foods movement, agricultural experts, and climate-change scientists. Vertical-farming technology developed by El-Paso, Texas-based Valcent Inc., was cited by Time Magazine as one of its Top 50 Best Innovations of 2009. A small-scale design of a vertical farm for downtown Seattle won a regional green-building contest in 2007. And the U.K.’s Paignton Zoo is making high-tech horticultural history by creating a small vertical farm to grow food for its animals.

To date, however, no American city has jumped into vertical farming. So, why not St. Louis? A vertical farm in the heart of downtown St. Louis could be the visionary, transformational development that city residents, boosters, planners and politicians have hoped for since the last game-changer—the Busch Stadium doughnut—opened in 1966, on the exact same spot where Ballpark “Pillage” sits idle today. Having the first large-scale vertical farm could revitalize urban life in St. Louis. Architectural renderings of vertical farms reveal buildings that—because they promote growth by capturing passive sunlight—feature completely transparent walls and ceilings, making them potentially eye-catching, graceful additions to the cityscape. Such an iconic structure in St. Louis could bring thousands of visitors—both to look and to learn. It would put St. Louis in the vanguard of a new technology, and help to jump-start a revolution in urban agriculture.

No, it wouldn’t be cheap. Despommier estimates that a prototype, five-story farm, taking up one-eighth of a square city block [in New York City], would cost $20 to $30 million. Presumably, the cost in St. Louis could be far less. And considering what the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals wangled in tax breaks to build the stadium next door, plus more recent strong hints that they want even more before fulfilling their promise to build Ballpark Village, Despommier’s estimate represents a bargain. (To get the stadium built, the state contributed $36 million in tax credits and spent $12 million to move a highway ramp. The city agreed to suspend a tax on ticket revenue. The team financed $363 million, which includes a subsidized $45 million loan from St. Louis County.)

But long-term profits are feasible, says Despommier: “The real money would flow once entrepreneurs and clean-tech investors realize how much profit there is to be made in urban farming.”

Making the argument for vertical farms, Despommier says, ” When people ask me why the world still does not have a single vertical farm, I just raise my eyebrows and shrug my shoulders. Perhaps people just need to see proof that farms can grow several stories high. As soon as the first city takes that leap of faith, the world’s first vertical farm could be less than a year away from coming to the aid of a hungry, thirsty world. Not a moment too soon.”

St. Louis’ impressive horticultural resume already includes the Danforth Plant Science Center, the Missouri Botanical Garden and Monsanto world headquarters. This city is well-positioned to lead in this arena. How about it? Let’s get vertical.

The post From Ballpark Village to Ballpark “Tillage?” appeared first on Occasional Planet.

In 1995, the percentage of African-American players on the Cardinals was above the league average.  In 2009 it was one-fourth the league average, and as the 2010 season begins there are no African-American players on the Cardinals roster or coaching staff.

Below is a partial chronology of important events in the history of African-American players on the Cardinals.

• The first African-American to play for the Cardinals was Tom Alston in 1954, seven years after the major league color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• There were African-American players on the Cardinals during the final thirteen years of the first Busch Stadium (Sportsman’s Park).
• In 1964, the Cardinals defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series, four games to three.  There were at least four outstanding African-Americans on the team: Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Bob Gibson, and Bill White.  Brock and Gibson are in the Hall of Fame; Flood paved the way to free agency for players, and White became president of the National League.
• In 1995, journalist David Halberstam published a book about the 1964 World Series.  It was called October 1964.
• The review of October 1964 by Amazon.com states:

The 1964 World Series between the Yankees and Cardinals was coated in myth from the get-go. The Yankees represented the establishment: white, powerful, and seemingly invincible. The victorious Cards, on the other hand, were baseball’s rebellious future: angry and defiant, black, and challenging. Their seven-game barnburner, played out against a backdrop of an America emerging from the Kennedy assassination, escalating the war in Vietnam, and struggling with civil rights, marked a turning point–neither the nation, nor baseball, would ever be quite so innocent again.

• There were African-American players on the Cardinals all forty years that the team played in the second Busch Stadium (1966 – 2005).
• The Cardinals won the National League pennant in 1967 and 1968.  In 1967 they won the World Series.  Among the African-American players on these teams were Brock, Flood, Gibson, Al Jackson, Alex Johnson, Dave Ricketts, Ted Savage and Bobby Tolan.
• In 1975, the percentage of African-American players in the major leagues was 27%, the highest in the history of the game.
• The Cardinals won the World Series in 1982 against the Milwaukee Brewers.  Among the African-American players on the team were George Hendrick, Tito Landrum, Willie McGee, Lonnie Smith and Ozzie Smith.
• There have been only four African-American players on the Cardinals since moving into the third Busch Stadium in 2006.  They are Brian Barton, Joe Thurston, Rico Washington, and Preston Wilson.  None of the four has been a consistent starter.
• The Cardinals won the World Series in 2006 against the Detroit Tigers.  Preston Wilson was the only African-American player on the team.
• In 1996, the first year that Tony LaRussa was manager of the Cardinals and Bill DeWitt, Jr.’s syndicate owned the team, 24% of the players on the roster were African-American.  This was both 7% greater than the major league average for that year and 7% greater than the 1995 Cardinal team under previous ownership and management.
• The 2006 championship team was 2.44% African-American.  The league average that year was 9%.
• 2007 was the low-point of African-American players in the major leagues since integration.  8.2% of the players in the League were African-American; 2.22% of the players on the Cardinal roster were African-American.
• In 2009, the percentage of African-American players in the major leagues rose to 10.2%.  The Cardinal percentage was 2.77%
• On opening day, 2010, the percentage of African-Americans on the Cardinals was 0%.  For the first time in years, there was also no African-American on the team coaching staff.  We do not have figures for the entire league.
• In the history of the third Busch Stadium, 5,761 innings have been pitched by Cardinal hurlers.  Not one pitch by a Cardinal has been thrown by an African-American.
• In the history of the third Busch Stadium, 4.89% of the Cardinal at-bats have been by African-American players.  In 1996, the first year with DeWitt as owner and LaRussa as manager, 41.33% of the Cardinal at-bats were by African-American players.

Change happens for better or worse.

Link to Part I
Link to Part II

Link to article on “St. Louis Baseball in Black and White” on Corresponding Fractions blog.

n 1996 was the first year of the William DeWitt / Tony LaRussa era

n 2006 – 2009 are recent years in Busch Stadium III

The post Baseball and Politics – Part III appeared first on Occasional Planet.