PCL Travel: Smith's Ballpark -- Salt Lake City, Utah

The two best parts of going to Smith's Ballpark in Salt Lake City are the stunning views of the Wasatch Mountains ... and the massive fruit tray for the press that I annihilate every day.

Fellow radio guy Johnny Doskow and I argue (a little more than half-joking) about which of us enjoys fruit more and eats more fruit. One of the days in Salt Lake, I ate a huge late lunch and didn't want to eat again before the game ... so I just piled a ton of fruit on a plate and called that dinner.

Every time we travel to Smith's Ballpark, it's like a personal competition to get an even better picture of the mountains with snow on them. I took photos of the Wasatch in the afternoon, at dusk, at twilight, zoomed and not zoomed, black and white, and many other options on the iPhone. Rather than overwhelming you with all of the various angles, here's two that illustrate the backdrop.

Rockies reliever LaTroy Hawkins joined us in Salt Lake on this trip, as part of his Major League rehab assignment. Hawkins was part of the original 1994 Salt Lake Buzz, so it was a sentimental trip for him. Hawkins is one of the great humans in the game, his memory is tremendous, and it was just having him around. He's even immortalized on the "Walk of Fame" at Smith's Ballpark.

Of course, it rained. It always rains everywhere we go. Here's the prerequisite shot of a tarp on the baseball field as we wait out a rain delay. [The game was postponed and it forced us to play yet another doubleheader. Gosh, I hate doubleheaders.]

This delay allowed me to wonder around the ballpark and steal a few more photos from locations I don't normally invade. Most of the suites are decorated the exact same. One exception is the Coca-Cola suite. They did a really impressive job of making you feel like it's the 1950s with this decoration.

When we finally played a game, it went 10 innings, and Isotopes outfielder/first baseman Kyle Parker won it with a massive home run. It was one of those home runs where you have to walk to where the ball landed the next day and take a photo to appreciate how far the ball traveled.

It cleared that yellow table near the middle of the photo, on the fly, and rolled down the hill to approximately where I'm standing when this photo was taken.

Overall, it's always visiting Salt Lake City. The views. The ballpark. The fruit tray. The team does a commendable job of celebrating its past, even the players who are no longer in the Angels organization (like AJ Pierzynski, Hawkins and David Ortiz). We'll return in three weeks, so I'll do another post on the ballpark with some of the quirks and history at that time.