Tonight, I will visit the new Busch Stadium for the first time, and once again complete the circle of having seen a game with my father in every active major league stadium. We'll do it in our standard odd style, with standing room only tickets for Friday night's game, and box seats Saturday afternoon. I suspect I know which game will get rained out.

The journey, as best I can remember it, began in 1976 at the Vet in Philadelphia. I remember going to game between the Phillies and Reds with my dad and my grandmother, a huge Reds fan. Memory is a tricky thing though. My memory is that Paul Moskau pitched that game for the Reds. The problem? He didn't reach the majors until 1977.

Nonetheless, I've got countless real memories (I think) of the games I've seen in forty-seven major league parks. Even with that large a sample size of games, I can demonstrate Billy Beane's point about not believing everything you think you see: the best hitters I've ever seen are Milt Thompson and Jose Cruz Sr. (I've got the scorecards to prove it). 

I saw John Candelaria and Kent Tekulve shut out the Orioles at Memorial Stadium in game 6 of the 1979 World Series as the "We Are Family" Pirates were in the midst of a stirring comeback. From the top row of the stadium, no less.

I saw Carl Yaztremski hit the final triple of his career at the age of forty-two -- a bases loaded shot that caromed off the green monster. I saw Gaylord Perry load the bases with no outs and then turn his back to the plate and spend about five minutes behind the mound fiddling with his glove, his hat, etc. And then he got out of it. I saw George Foster hit a home run in his first game as a White Sock. Yes, he was briefly a White Sock.

Most men my age remember the opening of Return of the Jedi with Princess Leah in a skimpy outfit as some kind of sexual awakening. For me, it was seeing a topless woman for the first time at Wrigley Field. That was followed by incredible disappointment when the bleacher bums behind her inexplicably showered her with beer.

I saw the Orioles win the World Series in 1983.

I saw Mike Jackson take a no-hitter into the ninth inning as a starting pitcher, then lose the no-hitter. Steve Bedrosian then blew the shutout and then the game. And then he disappeared for about a week for "reprogramming," and came back to win the Cy Young award. I saw Eric Davis hit three home runs in game, and then swing so hard in his fourth at bat that he practically knocked himself over.

I held the flag on Opening Day one year at the Vet for a game against the Cardinals, and I did my Willie McGee imitation on the field.

My first date with my wife was a Phillies game at the Vet. When we play wiffle ball, she's still the 1993 Phillies, complete with killer Lenny Dykstra and Mitch Williams imitations.

I saw the Cleveland Indians turn your standard 8-2-5 triple play at Camden Yards. It took the umpires about five minutes of consultation to even figure out what happened.

I saw the Cleveland Indians win their sixteenth consecutive home game in 1994 in part on the strength of a home run by Carlos Baerga that was actually about fifteen feet foul. We then went home to our hotel and watched the O.J. Simpson white bronco chase.

That same year, I saw Lou Whitaker hit a walk-off grand slam off Paul Shuey at Tiger Stadium.

I was the only person who stood in a silent stadium when Tony Fernandez homered off Armando Benitez at Camden Yards to send the Indians to the World Series in 1997. It was so quiet that you could hear the Indians celebrating on the field from where I was sitting in the upper deck.

I saw Roberto Hernandez single-handedly destroy my fantasy team by allowing four runs without recording an out in the Devil Rays inaugural season against the Yankees -- as a particularly unpleasant Yankee fan ran up and down the aisle with his middle fingers raised.

I saw Brian Giles score from first on a single in the bottom of the ninth for the only run in a 1-0 game in Pittsburgh.

And of course, I saw my two year old son drop his sippy cup into the bullpen in Philadelphia.

What will I see this weekend? I'll give you a full report.