Herman L. Franks

Herman Franks spent his boyhood in Salt Lake's ballparks, and this was one of them. Born in Price in 1914, he was signed as a catcher at seventeen and spent the next half-century in professional baseball — as a player for the Cardinals, Dodgers, Athletics, and New York Giants, and later as a coach, manager, and general manager from Salt Lake to San Francisco to Chicago. The Deseret News named him Utah's greatest baseball player of its first hundred years. He learned the game on amateur diamonds like this one.

What the plaque says

Herman L Franks was horn in Price, Utah, in 1914. He grew up in St Lake City and spent much of his youth in Salt Lake baseball parks. At seventeen Franks was signed as a catcher by Hollywood in the Pacific Coast League. For most of the next 50 years he was in organized baseball-as a player, coach, a manager or general manager. Franks played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Philadelphia Athletics and the New York Giants. As a manager, he wore the uniforms of St. Paul, Salt Lake, Caracas, Puerto Rico, San Francisco and Chicago. Franks was named Greatest Baseball Player in Utah, 1850-1950, by the Deseret News, and voted into the East High School and Utah Sports Halls of Fame. This ball park was the scene of many of Franks' early games when he played on several amateur teams. Dedicated April, 1990 The name for this park was submitted by Dr. Dominic Albo, Jr.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gilgal Sculpture Garden — steps away
  A surreal and eccentric sculpture garden hidden in a residential neighborhood
• Liberty Park — 0.4 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882
• Salt Lake City — 2.4 mi
  Utah's capital and largest city — where the Wasatch Range meets the Great Salt Lake.
• Temple Square — 2.4 mi
  The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City

More markers nearby

• Chase Mill — 0.3 mi
• Liberty Park Veterans Memorial — 0.3 mi
• Pioneer Home — 0.4 mi
• Wilford Woodruff's Farm 1850 — 0.5 mi