It’s officially the end of baseball at Smith’s Ballpark, as the Utah Utes closed the curtain on baseball at 13th South and West Temple with a final home game, in anticipation of a Salt Lake City-led overhaul.
With the Salt Lake Bees (Triple-A; Pacific Coast League) moving to a new ballpark in South Jordan this season, Smith’s Ballpark–which opened in 1994–was kept open by the Bees to accommodate the University of Utah Utes until a new on-campus ballpark is completed for the 2026 NCAA season. The history of the site as a baseball Mecca, however, dates back to 1927 when Community Park/Derks Field was built there. Over the years there were plenty of affiliated and renegade teams playing there–the Trappers, Stingers, Gulls, Buzz and Bees–so naturally there’s a few teams shed over the end of an era. From KSL Sports:
“I’ve called a lot of games here over the years for Utah baseball,” Voice of the Utes Bill Riley said from his familiar perch in the press box. “It’s weird to think that I won’t be coming down to this park anymore. That there won’t be baseball at 13th South and West Temple anymore.”…
“There’s been a home plate right where it is here for 97 years,” former Utah head coach and current analyst Bill Kinneberg said. “That’s pretty iconic and kind of amazing. So it’s sad that it’s going away.”
Strictly speaking, the ballpark isn’t totally going way, but being redeveloped in the name of adaptive reuse. We’re likely to see outfield sections torn down, but the playing field will remain as community green space and the current entryway remaining.
RELATED STORIES: Salt Lake Bees break ground on new 2025 Downtown Daybreak ballpark; New Salt Lake Bees ballpark proposed for South Jordan; Is new Salt Lake Bees ballpark in the works–or is MLB the final goal?; Salt Lake City: Smith’s Ballpark upgrades key to development; Salt Lake City eyes Smith’s Ballpark area for development