A physical piece of history passed into oblivion this week as aging Derks Field was demolished to make way for a new baseball stadium to house a Triple A franchise. While this is a good move for Salt Lake City, the loss of Derks Field nevertheless brings a pang of nostalgia and regret.
The once-lovely park - at one time considered a jewel among baseball stadiums in America - was rich in sports history as well as having other memorable moments. But in recent years it has become dilapidated, and some sections were closed because the seating was unsafe.The Salt Lake Trappers, a rookie league team not affiliated with any major league organization, have moved to Ogden, and Derks Field will be replaced with a sparkling new 14,000-seat stadium - one of the conditions of a Triple A team moving from Portland to Salt Lake City.
Triple A baseball is the classification just below major league level. All Triple A teams have ties to major league clubs, and soon-to-be major league stars as well as aging former major leaguers are among the players. As a sports franchise, it is far more prestigious than an unaffiliated rookie league team.
Yet Derks Field already has had its moments of glory as a home to Triple A teams. In 1959, the Salt Lake Bees, then a Triple A farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates, won the Pacific Coast League championship, and many of the Bees players ended up with the Pirates and other top teams.
In the early 1960s, exhibition games were played between major league teams in Derks Field, and some of baseball's subsequent Hall of Fame stars performed in those contests.
Derks Field began as Community Park in the 1930s. Class C Pioneer League ball came to Salt Lake City in 1939 and was a huge favorite. The advent of professional baseball in Salt Lake City was due largely to the efforts of John C. Derks, a former Salt Lake Tribune sports editor. The name Community Park was changed to Derks Field in 1947 in a tribute to the then-ailing editor.
The ballpark was refurbished and upgraded in 1958. The late 1950s and early 1960s were the glory years before a long, slow slide into obscurity began, mostly because of the loss of major league affiliation as the majors began to cut back on the number of farm clubs.
In many respects, Derks Field was a symbol of a bygone era when sports were more personal and local - lacking the huge television market and merchandising hype. Because of that sense of identification, the memories linger with special intensity.
The new stadium that replaces Derks Field will have its own attractions and will build its own memories. But for several generations of Utahns, there cannot be anything better than old Derks Field.