St. Louis is a city with a long and rich history in sports. The city has been home to many professional and collegiate sports teams, as well as being the site of numerous major sporting events.Sports have been a part of St. Louis since the city’s founding in 1764. The first recorded sport in St. Louis was horse racing, which took place on the banks of the Mississippi River. Over the years, the city has hosted a variety of professional sports teams, including baseball, football, hockey, and basketball. St. Louis has also been the site of many major sporting events, such as the 1904 Summer Olympics, the 1912 World Series, and the 1958 National Football League Championship Game.

At the starting blocks St. Louis got off to a fast start. In 1881, the St. Louis Brown Stockings became the first professional baseball team in the city. The team was a charter member of the American Association, which began play in 1882. The Brown Stockings played their home games at Sportsman’s Park, which was also home to the St. Louis Maroons of the National League. The Maroons were established in 1884 and played their home games at Sportsman’s Park until 1887, when they moved to West Side Park. In 1902, the Brown Stockings and Maroons merged to form the St. Louis Cardinals. The St. Louis Browns were around for a while but the consistent losing put them out of business just after WW2. The Cardinals have been one of the most successful teams in baseball history, winning 11 World Series titles. The Cardinals have also won more National League pennants than any other team, with 19 titles. But St. Louis is much more than baseball.

The St. Louis Blues are one of the NHL’s most consistent teams ranked 7th in all-time winning percentage. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team is named after the famous song “St. Louis Blues” by W.C. Handy. The Blues have been in existence since 1967, when they were founded as an expansion team. The team has made 25 appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals, winning the Stanley Cup four times. The Blues are the only team in the NHL to never have lost a Stanley Cup Final series. The team’s four Stanley Cup wins came in 1968, 1969, 1970, and 2019. The team’s most recent appearance in the Stanley Cup Final was in 2020, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.

Today, St. Louis is not only home to the Cards, but the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League and now, the new St. Louis City SC which is kicking off (literally) in late February in downtown St. Louis directly across the legendary Maggie O’Brien’s Restaurant and Pub. Notably, St. Louis is also the only city to lose 2 NFL teams and not have a current team in place.

Kelly Kleinman