Derks Field

{{Short description|Former minor league baseball stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah}}

{{Infobox stadium

| stadium_name = Derks Field

| nickname =

| former_names = Community Park (1928–1940)

| image =

| location = 1300 South & West Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

| broke_ground =

| built =

| opened = 1928, 1947

| expanded = 1958

| closed = 1993

| demolished = 1993 {{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Aj9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3YQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6390%2C2716826 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Benson |first=Lee |title=Stadium's new name complete's Salt Lake's demolition of Derks |date=July 21, 1993 |page=D1}}

| owner = City of Salt Lake City

| operator = City of Salt Lake City

| surface = Natural grass

| construction_cost =

| architect =

| tenants = Salt Lake City Bees (PioL/PCL) (1947–1984)
Salt Lake City Trappers (PioL) (1985–1992)
Salt Lake Sting (APSL) (1990–1991)

| seating_capacity = 10,000 (1958–1993)
  5,000 (1947–1957)

| dimensions =

}}

Derks Field was a minor league baseball park in the Western United States, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the home field of the Salt Lake Bees, Angels, and Gulls of the Pacific Coast League, Bees, Giants, and Trappers of the Pioneer Baseball League, and the Salt Lake Sting of the American Professional Soccer League.

Opened in 1928 as Community Park,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BNs0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=kXcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3822%2C2900081 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Goates |first=Les|title=Bees pry lid off SL season |date=May 23, 1947 |page=1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ulZTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=54QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6064%2C1993343 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Johnston |first=Jerry |title=Park history included more than baseball |date=April 21, 1993 |page=1}} the ballpark's final seating capacity was 10,000.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8GYpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UIQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6562%2C7101776 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Evensen |first=Jay |title=Committee favors going with new stadium to replace Derks |date=April 15, 1992 |page=D1}} In 1940, it was named for Salt Lake Tribune sports editor John C. Derks.

Derks Field had replaced the previous professional ballpark, Bonneville Park (originally called Majestic Park), which was south of 9th Street between State Street and Main Street, on the site of an amusement park called the Salt Palace, which had been destroyed by fire in 1910. It operated from 1915 through 1927. As part of the construction of the new Community Park, the Bonneville stands were taken down and reassembled at the new site.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/deseret-news-derks-field-loss-a-threat-t/127939488/|date=September 25, 1946|page=3|first=Les|last=Goates|title=Derks Field Loss A Threat To Pro Ball|newspaper=Deseret News|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 9, 2023}}

Destroyed by arson on the night of September 24, 1946,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zi1mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zC8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3384%2C6299718 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Baseball park burns in Salt Lake City |date=September 25, 1946 |page=8}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hGRSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5008%2C2602176 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Mulliner |first=H.L. |title=How Salt Lake got Derks Field |date=September 27, 1946 |page=17}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hWRSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5929%2C2883461 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |title=S.L. man admits setting Derks fire |date=September 30, 1946 |page=1}}{{cite news |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865600827/Derks-2-A-6Field-of-Dreams7.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417145949/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865600827/Derks-2-A-6Field-of-Dreams7.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2014 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Florez |first=John |title=Derks – a 'Field of Dreams' |date=April 12, 2014 |access-date=March 29, 2017}} it reopened in May 1947, and was expanded in 1958 with the return of the PCL.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zfQvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V0gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6214%2C6064473|work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Chipman |first=Dee |title=Welcome Bees |date=April 28, 1958 |page=C1}}

Major League Baseball teams occasionally played exhibition games at Derks Field, including the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1964 Milwaukee Braves.Salt Lake Tribune Negative Collection, Utah Department of Heritage and Arts, J. Willard Marriott Digital Library

The field was aligned to the southeast, with a view of the Wasatch Range, and its elevation was {{convert|4230|ft}} above sea level. Its successor, Smith's Ballpark, opened on the same site {{Time ago|1994}} in 1994.