Tag: st louis

Cardinals’ rookies get a welcomed introduction to first-class big-league travel

The detached reality of Major League Baseball can make it challenging to remember that some of the trappings of life in the big leagues are staggering the first time they’re experienced by people who become used to them over time.

Five-star hotels and private flights are perks of the job, but for a young player out on the road for the first time, it’s difficult not to be every bit as wide-eyed as a fan might be in their place.

“I was like, ‘where am I gonna sit,’ I think was my first thought,” St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “I felt very underdressed because I didn’t know that we wore suits on the road at the time.”

Crawford, who made his debut in 2011, was quickly set straight and guided to his seat by teammate Emmanuel Burriss. For catcher Pedro Pagés, making his first big league road trip this weekend in New York, it was Willson Contreras, Iván Herrera and Masyn Winn. Manager Oli Marmol, promoted temporarily in September 2016, was set straight by former coach Mike Aldrete.

Reliever Ryan Fernandez, in his rookie season but a veritable veteran compared to Pagés, lucked out – he was the last guy on the plane, and there was only one row left in which he could sit.

Yes, a whole row. “I got three seats to myself,” a beaming Fernandez said. “It was really cool.”

The minimum travel standards for major league players are written into the league’s collective bargaining agreement, so players and coaches have an academic understanding of what awaits them before they take off on the first team flight. There is undoubtedly a lot of money coursing through baseball, and while it’s reflected in the travel accommodations, they also represent an opportunity for teams to encourage rest

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In Lake Worth Beach, Old Florida Gulfstream Hotel could be restored

Holiday wishes could come true for Lake Worth Beach residents hoping to see the historic Gulfstream Hotel reopened and restored to its former grandeur.

In mid-December, the hotel and vacant land at 1 Lake Ave. are expected finally to transfer from CDS International of Delray Beach to Restoration St. Louis, a firm specializing in historic restoration.

The sale will consist of the land and a separate entity awarded rights to restore and expand the hotel, according to Amy Gill, chief executive of Restoration St. Louis. These rights include money incentives and entitlements that allow for renovation of the hotel and construction of a hotel addition.

Must-try eateries:5 hot restaurants worth a visit while in downtown Lake Worth Beach

Restoration of the Old Florida landmark could begin immediately after the closing, with completion of the hotel slated to take about 15 months, Gill said. The hotel would be done first, followed by the additional portion.

Financing issues have delayed the project’s redo for the past three years, but Gill said all funding is in place now.

Final details delayed Gulfstream Hotel’s sale in October

Although a sale had been expected to take place in October, Gill said a final detail needed to be completed before the purchase could be completed. That detail involves submission of an updated plat that establishes new entrances and exits and utility easements for the site. The plat also separates the hotel property and the hotel addition into separate parcels.

The Lake Worth Beach City Commission is expected to vote on the plat redo Dec. 5, according to Lauren Bennett, director of the city’s leisure services department. Once that vote clears, Gill said her company can complete the purchase “and we’re off to the races,” she said.

Still, Gill hedged on whether a closing will

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A New Report Has The Best Places To Go

True crime is red hot. According to a recent YouGov poll, more than half of Americans say they are obsessed with the genre, with shows like Tiger King and The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel captivating audiences.

Now true crime is also motivating travelers: True crime junkies are going beyond the humble haunted house and traveling to check out notorious locations, from Milwaukee, former home of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, to Hollywood Hills, where the Manson family made their mark.

To find out the best places for true crime tourism, the site UpgradedPoints.com analyzed 50 U.S. cities, analyzing data points like true crime tours, crime museums, FBI crime rates, serial killer victims and cold cases.

Coming in at the top of the list as the best city for true crime tourism: New Orleans. The city is home to nine true crime tours (versus the U.S. average of 4.5). And the Big Easy isn’t so easy: It averages 7.33 serial killer victims per 100,000 residents (versus the U.S. average of 3.75).

Next on the list of the best true crime cities: New York City, followed by Chicago (Al Capone’s former stomping grounds), Seattle (where serial killer Ted Bundy got his start) and Washington D.C. Read on for the list of the top 20.

Top 20 Cities for True Crime Tourism

1. New Orleans: NOLA is the best city for true crime tourism. According to UpgradedPoints, it has nine true crime tours (the average city has 4.5) and the highest

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After years of planning, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra embarks on European tour

By the end of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s concert Thursday night, stagehands had rolled giant instrument cases into Powell Hall’s lobby, preparing to fill them with precious cargo once the last note sounded.

When it did, the cases were packed with everything the orchestra would need for its European tour, which takes the SLSO to five cities in four countries over eight days. Stringed instruments, horns and woodwinds, percussion instruments, even large, cumbersome items including a tuba, two harps and a set of tympani were packed and hauled away. So were various stands, stools and chairs, dollies for moving instruments and all other essential equipment and accessories; everything but the two pianos required for each performance. Those will be supplied by the venues overseas.




St. Louis Symphony Orchestra prepares for European tour

Members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra pack up their instruments after a performance at Powell Hall to prepare for their European tour on Thursday, March 16, 2023.




The cases were loaded onto special climate-controlled trucks and driven to Chicago overnight, then flown on a cargo plane to Luxembourg on Friday. From there, they’ll be trucked once again, this time to Austria’s Vienna Konzerthaus, for the tour’s debut March 23.

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The other venues and cities the SLSO will play are Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels; the Netherlands’ Muzikgebouw Eindhoven and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; and Audiotorio Nacional de Música in Madrid.




St. Louis Symphony Orchestra prepares for European tour

Music Director Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall before leaving for a European tour on Thursday, March 16, 2023.




“I’m so proud of the orchestra. I think it’s a really great ambassador to show what the city really is,” SLSO music director Stéphane Denève said in a recent interview. “It’s, for me, a very important

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Animated show aims to make ‘reading an adventure’ for St. Louis kids

Count a few skateboarding and tutu-wearing comics lovers (and one parrot) among St. Louis’ new supporters of reading.

These animated characters track down nefarious types who escape from books and invade a city similar to St. Louis. The heroes are word-slingers who throw around tactics such as “trace,” “infer” and “compare” in pursuit of rascals like a pizza-loving cat, a renegade robot or a Greek goddess.




"Drawn In"

The main characters of “Drawn In,” a program from Nine PBS and Lion Forge Animation. 


“Do not attack me, humanoids,” one escapee says. “I will not rest until every robot in the universe is free.” 

The heroes strategize. “We’re here to help,” one says. “If we analyze the situation, study it, and figure out what’s going on, maybe we can find how to stop it.” 

So in this fun way, a series of new animated videos and comic books highlights vocabulary words for young readers.

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But unlike some long-running TV children’s series that have also taught vocabulary and encouraged reading, these St. Louis Nine PBS characters aren’t cuddly animals or fuzzy puppets. Instead, the heroes are humans with primarily brown and black skin tones. 

“Drawn In” is promoted as one of the few times a series like this has people of color as the main characters. Geared, also, to a slightly older age group, “Drawn In” is a million-dollar initiative from Nine PBS and Lion Forge Animation to serve the community by joining schools and literacy groups to improve some of the area’s troubling reading rates. 

“Black and brown kids often get left behind,” Angela Carr says. “We want to do our part to help the region flourish.”

The program was shown at various times last year and may soon get a regular time slot on TV.

Carr, vice

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