Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — A flood of memories rushed through Bret Helton's mind when he stepped back onto Smith's Ballpark for the first time since his college days.
Helton thought about the big wins and the moments he shared with his teammates during his three seasons at the University of Utah, like beating BYU on a walk-off hit in front of a rowdy crowd. This is where his journey to professional baseball began nearly a decade ago, ultimately taking him to where he is now with the Party Animals, the primary foe of the uber-popular Savannah Bananas in a completely different style of baseball.
"Being back in town has been fantastic," Helton told KSL.com before the team began their last practice before playing in front of a Utah crowd for the first time Friday night.
It's given him a chance to reflect on a wild journey dating back to this ballpark.
After a strong junior season with the Utes, who share Smith's Ballpark with the Salt Lake Bees, the Pittsburgh Pirates nabbed the righty in the ninth round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft. He quickly learned how much of a roller coaster professional baseball is.
On one hand, he was paid to explore the country playing a game he loved with a shot at the big leagues; on the other, there were promotions and demotions, and it wasn't clear how much of either was tied to performance or logistics. It stung that the Utes won the Pac-12 conference the year after he went pro — leaving him with the fear that he missed out — but he also got to experience the journey with others going through the same emotions.
"You kind of get every emotion you can imagine — the highest are really high and lows are really low," he said.
Helton made his way up to the Double-A Altoona Curve before he was released in 2019, but he was determined to chase the game wherever it took him. He spent four seasons in the American Association, an independent baseball league in the Upper Midwest, playing for the Milwaukee Milkmen in August 2022 when he got a mysterious phone call.
A representative of the Savannah Bananas, a team that takes independent baseball to the extreme, had called to see if Helton had any interest in their unique style of "Banana Ball." Helton knew of the Bananas, a team now well-known for its extreme antics that push baseball to boundaries Alexander Cartwright probably could never have imagined when he came up with the modern rules of the game.
The Bananas and Party Animals spend about an hour before batting practice rehearsing choreography and different surprises they have planned for the upcoming evening. There's a batter on stilts taking hacks at practice pitches while Helton recalls his baseball journey.
However, he never really thought of ever trying to be a part of it.
The team invited him to their headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, to see what it was like in person. Intrigued by the opportunity, he took them up on the offer and immediately fell in love with Banana Ball. He found interest in a style that forces players to dwell on ways to entertain fans more than any individual performance.
Sure, the score is kept and there are winners and losers in Banana Ball, but it's more about having fun.
"I told them I ain't goin' nowhere. I will be here until they drag me out of here, because I think it's the coolest thing ever," he said. "It's just so much more fun showing up to the park playing for somebody else instead of playing for your own career."
He's been with the Party Animals ever since, which has taken him all over the country now that the team barnstorms in different communities. Then, in October 2023, he learned that he'd get a shot to play in front of friends and family because the Bananas and Party Animals were coming to Utah.
He wasn't the only one thrilled by that announcement. There are a few other players between the two clubs who played for the Salt Lake Bees, who also had fond memories of playing at Smith's Ballpark.
"I circled this one on the calendar because this was the first (Los Angeles Angels) affiliate that we've visited as a Savannah Bananas organization," said Connor Higgins, a former Bees reliever and Helton's teammate on the Party Animals.
For Higgins, this weekend represents a full-circle moment for where his traditional baseball career went.
Helton, on the other hand, thinks about how he'll get to play on the same stage that catapulted him to where he is now.
He's taken advantage of the moment, grabbing a bite at Moochie's, hanging out with college friends and watching the Utes win in their football season opener. He even toured the construction site of the new Utah baseball stadium now under construction, which will be the team's new home after Smith's Ballpark closes down.
"Just to know where the journey started by having an opportunity to play here was incredible," he said. "Now I get to bring a totally different show and look of baseball back to it, which is amazing."
