Helper American Legion Field
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The Helper American Legion Field was founded in 1923 in Helper, Utah. The old stadium hosted Negro league game along with Utah Industrial league games in the 1930’s and 40’s. In 2004 it received a remodeling. Today Helper teams still compete and play on the field. In 1923 railroad ties were used to hold up the fence, they are still in use today.
In 2004 the field was brought back to life with it’s new look while keeping much of it’s rich history. The field is still filling it’s bleachers when the Helper American Baseball team plays at home.
The field was built during the great depression with the help of the Works Project Administration who built the stone wall that runs along left field. The stonemasons who built the wall hailed from many different countries. Which included Germany, Greece and, Austria. Some of the railroad ties that held up the original wooden fence are still used in the chain link fence that is used today.
In 1949 there was a game that was played between the Helper Merchants, The Utah League champions, and team Coors, the Colorado Simi-Pro league champs. There was also a game that was played between the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro League team, and the House of David, a bearded team of players from Michian Religious colony.
The league that Helper Merchants played in consisted of teams named, Helper Merchants Bingo Stealers, American Folk Steelmen, Brigham City Peaches, Provo Temps, Penny Beverage of Salt Lake City. Coal companies sponsored the league and there was no compensation for players, but they could find good jobs within the coal companies that sponsored them.
One should visit the field because it is a very well kept field with green grass and lots of rich history that any true baseball lover would appreciate. The hills in the background would also make a good post card or facebook post.