My wife and I went to Smith’s Ballpark on Sept. 21 to watch the last night game ever for the Salt Lake Bees in that ballpark. The team is moving to a new park being built in Daybreak next year, so it was time to go to Smith’s stadium and reminisce. For me, it’s just one of TWO stadiums that I’ve frequented through my years as a baseball fan that have been closed this year. Here are my memories of both of them.

OAKLAND-ALAMEDA COUNTY COLISEUM

In 1968, MLB’s Kansas City Athletics relocated to the Coliseum, which was built primarily for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL who started playing there in 1966. The Coliseum was one of those multi-purpose stadiums, round by design but never really ideal for baseball. Similar “circle parks” were built in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Philadelphia for use by both baseball and football teams. Those other four stadiums have subsequently been demolished. The same approach was later taken when Candlestick Park in San Francisco was converted to be home for the Giants and 49ers. Candlestick is also now a goner.

The A’s had great success at the Coliseum, winning three straight World Series titles in the ‘70s and boasting some great All Stars and Hall of Famers. The Raiders also did well the first time around – the team moved to Los Angeles for a few years then came back to Oakland before finally moving again…this time to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the A’s (and other MLB teams for that matter) complained about the Coliseum, its small locker rooms and dilapidated structure. Team owners played hopscotch with city leaders in efforts to get a new municipally-funded stadium, but finally gave up and purchased land in Vegas for a new ballpark that could be opened for the 2028 season. The A’s will be playing in Sacramento the next three years – I’ll get back to that in a minute.

I have a lot of good memories of the Oakland Coliseum, but one of my favorites was off the field and in the dugout. A’s owner Charlie Finley was an unusual entrepreneur and always tried to shake things up. He was the first to place two young women as “ball girls” in the foul areas down the left and right field line. As a high school newspaper reporter in 1970, I decided it was time to interview them. So I called the A’s office and arranged to meet them before a game. They were Marry Barry (yes, spelled that way) and Debbie Sivyer, both students at Bishop O' Dowd High School in Oakland, and they were paid $5 an hour, which was twice the minimum wage in 1970. The interview was fine and made for a good story, but years later I met up with Debbie again when she was Debbie Fields – the founder of Mrs. Fields’ Cookies. She remembered me (sort of) and we laughed when I gave her the photo I had taken for the school newspaper. Wish I had that back now!

I haven’t been back to the Coliseum in 30-plus years, but even with its quirks and rather steep angles from the upper decks, it was fun to watch baseball, and even a couple of Raiders’ games, in that arena.

SMITH’S BALLPARK

When Derks Field was originally opened in 1915 for minor league baseball, and called Community Park until it was renamed in 1947 after a former Salt Lake Tribune sports editor. Baseball has been played at that corner of Salt Lake City every year since 1915, with the exception of 1993, when Derks was demolished so the new park now known as Smith’s Ballpark was built. During the floods of 1983, fans would have to walk across a wooden bridge over 1300 South from the north parking lot to get to the gates. Another great memory of a very wild spring and summer that year.

Derks had a ton of history of its own. Babe Ruth “played” at the park three times – in 1927, 1930 and 1940. According to the Tribune, the first time involved a weeklong camp where he was making some extra money off season. He wasn’t actively playing for a team the other two times, and the final visit in 1940, not long before he died, he struggled to hit the ball over the fence during his hitting clinic. And a lot of major MLB stars played at Derks, and later Smith’s Ballpark, during their minor league careers or while they were rehabilitating from injuries.

When the new park, which was originally called Franklin Quest Field, opened in 1994, I went to the first game along with the late Dirk Facer, long-time sports editor for the Davis County Clipper (he took that role after I’d left the paper). Dirk told me he’d grabbed a brick from the old Derks Field when it was demolished. I told him it would now be known as “Dirk’s Field” to me. We sat along the left field line and marveled at how beautiful the park was, and it truly was the best park in all of minor league baseball. 

But now, baseball is done for those two stadiums in Oakland and Salt Lake City, their fates yet to be decided. They will sit idle or possibly host other events of one kind or another or, in the case of Smith’s Ballpark, perhaps eventually be replaced with apartments or something else not related to baseball. That makes me sad. And, in fact, it almost didn’t need to be that way, because there was nearly a connection between these two organizations that could have extended baseball at 1300 South and West Temple.

When the A’s decided to leave Oakland, they needed a place to play for three seasons while their Vegas stadium is being built (it still hasn’t received final approval, by the way). The owner of the Bees – the Larry H. Miller Company – courted the A’s about playing in the new Daybreak Park for three years and then working to have the Bees stay at Smith’s. That would have been a win-win for both the A’s and Utah, which is clamoring to get an MLB team here itself. Three years here and then a move to Vegas would have made for a whole new bunch of A’s fans, who would follow the team and even attend games when they were in Vegas. And it would have proved Salt Lake City’s viability as an MLB city. But the A’s ownership – notorious for making bad decisions – chose instead to play games in Sacramento’s AAA ballpark and split time with the minor league franchise there. That should make the playing field interesting with all the wear and tear, plus major leaguers will just love flying into Sacto for games against the team that will be known simply as “The A’s.” A sad ending to two stadium legacies, but filled with good memories.