History 3000

Writing/review project

Baseball in Salt Lake in the 1950s

In 1957 a decision was made to bring triple A baseball back to Salt lake City after an absence of nearly thirty years having once had a team in the pacific Coast League where they would return in 1925. A lot of effort was made to attract a team. In the 1920s Salt Lake was also called the Bees as they were in 1957 and as they had been from 1939 until 1957 (with the exception of World War II when no games were played) and people were used to the name and they thought it would attract much support.

Partly the decision was made because major league baseball had expanded with two teams relocating in California after the 1957 season so there was an opportunity to build a new stadium and attract a team that would be affiliated with another major league team unlike the Phillies whom they had been affiliated with during most of the 1950s though they had also been affiliated with other teams as well. It wouldn’t be easy to do all that needed to be done in the time between the end of the 1957 season and the beginning of the 1958 season which was only a few months and many people wondered if the team would be ready or not by the time the season started which was not that long after the previous season had ended.

Derks Field was named for a long time sports writer named John C. Derks who had written for the Salt Lake Tribune for many years, and this it was felt that it would be nice to honor him with naming the field after him. According to the Salt Lake Tribune on November 4, 1957, a group of businessmen had approached the Pacific Coast League in order to secure a franchise for the city. That was possible and a team was selected which then moved to Salt Lake in order to be ready for the start of the 1958 season which was not that far away from the 1957 season. Clearly the decision to bring a team to Salt Lake was related to the view of many town fathers that such a move would not only mean a wholesome and inexpensive form of entertainment, but would also be good for business. These men would be the sparkplugs behind the decision to bring a team to Salt Lake for a variety of reason including business. An article in the Tribune on January 6, 1958 quoted Mr. Fred Jones as saying what is good for business is good for every body. Clearly and without any doubt he was right. Yet the motivations of the men who sought to bring quality baseball to Salt Lake were not mercenary in any way, being only designed to benefit the city itself without any ties to how it might affect there pocketbooks or wallets or bank accounts or portfolios.

Probably the best team of the 1930s was the 1937 squad which featured five players who would eventually make it to the bigs – Jones, Brown, Smith, Gonzales and White.

Construction started on the new stadium in November. Hoping to get ahead start on winter so much would be done before the 1958 season started. For the men sponsoring the new team there desire was to implement a business model based on a team they saw somewhere else which seemed to suggest baseball could be profitable. When the first season was in the books Salt Lake had finished a dismal last place with a record of 60 wins and 100 losses tho several players were called up to the parent club and some were able to begin a major league career and never returned to Salt Lake (except maybe as tourists!) While others never achieved their life long dream of being a big league player. For me as a ten year old boy I was just glad to be able to see them play and remember it well though it was a long time a go and I wasn’t very old but I will never forget the great season they had and all the great plays I saw and witnessed.

One local business man told the paper on 2 December 1957, our studies indicate we can make at least 50,000 the first year if we can convince the local folks they need triple A ball.