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This week's Cardinals-Cubs series at Busch Stadium saw some of the smallest crowds in the storied series in decades, and Cubs broadcasters couldn't help but to take note.

The Monday through Thursday series averaged an announced crowd of 29,949 fans, the fewest at a series in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ between the two teams since 1995 and more than 11,000 fewer than last year's full slate of Cardinals-Cubs games here.

"So strange to see so many empty seats here in this big ballpark," Hall of Fame Cubs radio play-by-play man Pat Hughes said Wednesday night during the third game of the series.

"You're accustomed to 40-45,000 every game. And I mean every game for the last, I've been here 30 years. I don't remember crowds this small ever in the 30 years."

The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½-area heat warnings and advisories during the entire series likely depressed walk-up sales to some degree. The announced attendance is based on ticket sales, not actual entries to the stadium.

Last year, an average announced crowd of 41,483 saw the six Cardinals-Cubs games played at Busch Stadium. The Cubs return this season for three more games on the second weekend of August.

This week's four games rank as the four lowest-attended non-pandemic Cardinals-Cubs games at the current stadium, built in 2006.

In fact, prior to this series, there had only been two non-pandemic Cardinals-Cubs games with fewer than 40,000 fans at the current stadium.

The average this week makes it the sparsest average gathering for a Cardinals-Cubs series here since May 8-10, 1995, when an average of 24,559 fans passed through the turnstiles to watch the Cubs take two of three on a Monday through Wednesday at Busch Stadium II.

Like the radio crew, the Cubs' television broadcasters also noticed the paltry turnout.

"Not the biggest crowd I've seen for Cubs, Cardinals, by the way," Marquee TV play-by-play man Jon "Boog" Sciambi said Monday.

"No, not at all, not even close. I mean, surprising," analyst Jim Deshaies replied. "Well, surprising and yet not surprising, because their attendance overall has been down a good bit over the last two years."

As the series went on, Hughes, the radio broadcaster, continued lamenting the lack of fans.

"Another small crowd," Hughes said during Thursday afternoon's finale. "Very disappointed with the audiences for this series. Two very good teams, and this is one of the great rivalries in all of sports.

"The Cardinals did get off to a slow start this year, but they've played very good ball of late. They are now 44-37 and right in the thick of things in this tough National League Central Division."

Overall, the Cardinals are averaging 30,062 fans per game, mid-pack among MLB teams after consistently ranking in the top five. Last season, the team averaged 35,532 fans for the full season.