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A brief history of St. Louis since the last Blues home Stanley Cup Final game

It’s been a while since the Blues have been to the Stanley Cup Final.

By hildymac
Kurt Warner #13...

Tonight’s game is special. It’s the first time in 49 years that the Blues have hosted a Stanley Cup Final game. That’s 17,924 days.

That is... that is not recent.

People like to say that nothing exciting ever happens in St. Louis, or that the city’s best days are way, waaaay behind it. I think that when you look at things that have happened over the past 49 years, well... ok fine, it’s not obnoxiously exciting and there are obvious ebbs and flows, but them’s the breaks.

Hopefully the next time someone looks at the drought between Cup Final appearances, this list is a lot shorter.

  • 1970: St. Louis’ population is 622,236
  • 1971: The Zoo-Museum District is created
  • 1974: Lou Brock sets the stolen base record; it stands for eight years until broken by Ricky Henderson.
  • 1975: Pruitt-Igoe imploded
  • 1977: The St Louis Convention Center Opens, now known as America’s Center. It is not, despite its name, located at the geographic center of America, which (if you don’t count Alaska and Hawaii, is in Lebanon, KS.
  • 1980: Whitey Herzog brings WhiteyBall to St. Louis; Escape from New York films in St. Louis, taking advantage of some lovely post-apocalypse landscaping, a non-restored Grand Hall in Union Station, and the Chain of Rocks Bridge.
  • 1982: St. Louis Cardinals trade Gary Templeton for Ozzie Smith, win World Series over the Milwaukee Brewers
  • 1985: Cardinals lose World Series to Kansas City Royals. Blues fans can learn a thing or two about blown calls from this one; Union Station re-opens as a shopping mall. The rent is too damn high.
  • 1987: Cardinals lose World Series to Minnesota Twins because half of the team is injured
  • 1987: The Football Cardinals relocate to Arizona
  • 1990: St. Louis’ population is 396,685.
  • 1993: Metrolink begins operation, bringing together the areas of Metro STL who aren’t too NIMBY-centered; The Great Flood of ‘93 destroys homes, sets records that are still unsurpassed (though the flooding of 2019 is pushing it).
  • 1994 The Kiel Center, AKA The House that Hull Built, opened
  • 1995: The LA Rams relocate to St. Louis and christen the TransWorld Dome
  • 1998: Mark McGwire broke the single-season home run record. It was totally above board, why do you ask?
  • 1999: St. Louis Rams become the Greatest Show on Turf and win the Super Bowl
  • 2001: St. Louis Rams lose the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots, who were just as above board as Mark McGwire. Trans World Airlines acquired by American Airlines after 9/11 and liquidated.
  • 2000: St. Louis’ population decline slows down a bit to 348,189
  • April 2nd, 2001: Albert Pujols makes his first St. Louis Cardinals appearance
  • 2001: Francis Slay elected mayor. He’s mayor for possibly two days short of forever. People stop counting.
  • 2004: St. Louis Cardinals lose their last World Series in Busch Stadium II to the Boston Red Sox; Kurt Warner is released from his contract.
  • 2006: New Busch Stadium opens, Cardinals christen it with a World Series victory over the Detroit Tigers.
  • 2008: Anheuser-Busch is acquired by InBev. Sellouts.
  • 2009: CityGarden opens, St. Louis Cardinals host All Star Game
  • 2010: St. Louis’ population is now 319,294. Please stop leaving.
  • 2011: St. Louis Cardinals win their eleventh World Series Championship
  • 2013: Cardinals lose the World Series to the Boston Red Sox. Again.
  • 2016: Rams relocate to Los Angeles after NFL and Stan Kroenke insult the city.