Utes Close Down Smith’s Ballpark In Emotional Farewell
May 17, 2025, 4:21 PM
The Utah Utes host the TCU Horned Frogs in the final baseball game played at Smith's Ballpark in downtown Salt Lake City in Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Brian Preece)
(Brian Preece)
SALT LAKE CITY – The corner of 1300 South and West Temple in Salt Lake City has been a bastion of baseball beauty since Community Park, later known as Derks Field, opened in 1928. Ninety-seven years later, when Smith’s Ballpark closes its doors for the final time this weekend, nearly a century of Utah baseball history will be lost.
Saturday afternoon’s Big 12 regular-season finale between the Utah Utes and TCU Horned Frogs took on added importance for Beehive baseball fans, as it was the final baseball game played on the site.
New homes for the Salt Lake Bees and Utah Utes mean the end of the line for a Salt Lake community jewel that has hosted millions of baseball and non-baseball fans for decades.
“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.”
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“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.”
About Smith’s Ballpark
The current iteration opened in 1994 as Franklin Quest Field. Home to the Salt Lake Buzz, the park set a Pacific Coast League attendance record in its inaugural season when more than 700,000 fans packed the park from April to September.
In addition to hosting more than 30 years of minor league baseball for affiliates of the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels, these hallowed grounds have hosted two MLB exhibition games, an MLB spring training game, concerts, soccer, and a variety of high school and college games.
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The Triple-A All-Star game has come to town twice. The NL team beat the AL squad in 1996. In 2011, the International League All-Stars defeated the PCL All-Stars 3-0.
Utah baseball fans will also remember the 2016 Pac-12 championship run when the team came out of nowhere to secure its first and only Pac-12 Conference crown.
“This was my baseball home for 18 years,” Kinneberg said wistfully. “The support that we had from the city and the Larry H. Miller Group allowing us to play here and to call this our home. We had some good games. We had some bad games. But the 2016 championship will never be forgotten. It’s the highlight of my baseball career.”
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Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X, Instagram, and BlueSky at @bpreece24.
