Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Tony Parks remembers walking his family's dog at Chicago's Milton Lee Oliver Park in October when his phone started to buzz.
It was then-Salt Lake Bees general manager Marc Amicone. He was calling to offer Parks his dream job: the team's next play-by-play voice, replacing Steve Klauke who had just retired following his 29th season on the air.
"I had to just have a minute and sit down," Parks told KSL.com, recalling the moment while watching the Bees take batting practice as the sun poked through the clouds on a mild Wednesday afternoon at Smith's Ballpark before the team's season opener this weekend. "I was brought to tears."
The ever-cheerful Parks had served as the team's beloved emcee and filled in for Klauke at times. He believed his interview had gone over well, too, so he wasn't completely surprised by the offer. But he also had questioned if where life had taken him over the previous few years may have knocked him out of the running.
He and his wife, Natalie, had somewhat quietly moved to Chicago because of some recent medical issues and — with Natalie's blessing — he secretly spent the past season traveling back and forth from their home in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood and Salt Lake City so he could continue a job he loved.
This was after the COVID-19 pandemic cost him his full-time job in the industry, forcing him to balance a tricky commute between a full-time office job and his part-time Bees job. These experiences made the job offer that much sweeter, yet that's just the beginning. It set off a chain reaction of full-circle moments even he can't comprehend as he prepares to begin his new job.
"It's surreal," he said. "There were so many variables that made it possible for this not to happen. So for everything to come together the way it did, I feel very blessed and very grateful."
Finding a love for the game
Parks fondly remembers the moments he bonded with his mother over Chicago Cubs baseball games on WGN from their home in California's East Bay and then in West Valley City in the late '80s and early '90s. Sports was a special connection that they shared.
At the same time, something about Harry Carey's unique vibrancy and Steve Stone's insight drew him deeper into the sport. He'd also watch University of Michigan football games every Saturday and listen to Klauke once Triple-A baseball returned to the Salt Lake Valley with the Buzz/Stingers/Bees in 1994. All of it sparked his interest in broadcasting.
"There are certain dreams you have," he said. "To be a play-by-play announcer for the Salt Lake Bees or a major league team or something like that — that was always such a huge part of the dream."
The dream slowly morphed into a career. He got his first break in 1999, calling High School Game of the Week for 1320 KFAN while still a student at Hunter High School. He would eventually land a gig as the Bees' on-field emcee in 2007, becoming one of the most recognizable faces and voices for the minor league team since then.
It also led him to other sports opportunities. He had a regular role on 1280 The Zone for nearly a decade beginning in 2012 and he's had made regular or fill-in appearances for the Utah Jazz, Utah Stars, University of Utah and Weber State University over the years. He's recently served as ESPN's play-by-play voice for the Big Sky basketball tournament in recent years, as well.
It was easy to see why he was chosen as Klauke's successor.
"He is a terrific broadcaster and a great representative for the Bees," said Michelle Smith, president of Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment, after Parks' hiring was officially announced in November.
Dealing with setbacks
Life away from the mic had been far from easy, though.
Tony and Natalie Parks opened up about the heartbreak they felt over the passing of their young daughters, Brooklyn and Siobhán Jocelyn to the Deseret News in 2016. They started a pair of holiday events for underprivileged children in their honor: the B is for Brooklyn Holiday Party and Banphrionsa Siobhán Easter Brunch.
In April 2020, Larry H. Miller Company, which owns the Bees and 1280 The Zone, laid off hundreds of employees as the COVID-19 pandemic decimated sports and other industries that it operated at the time. Parks was among the layoffs and suddenly out of a job in an industry for about the first time since he was a teenager.
Those, he says, were "very dark times," because the future of the industry was so uncertain. He knew he would have to shift gears, which is why he's still thankful he landed on his feet fairly quickly. America First Credit Union offered him a marketing job later that year.
The company also allowed him to keep a foot in the door regarding sports. After the 2020 season was canceled, Parks returned as the Bees' emcee in 2021 — but on a part-time basis. It meant that he would clock out of his job in Riverdale and then race down to Salt Lake City, a 30-to-45-minute drive to reach the ballpark.
Oftentimes he'd arrive just as all the off-field festivities began before the first pitch.
"I'd have to glance at the game sheet and I ran out onto this field with a microphone and introduce the Field of Dreams team with getting handed the roster just minutes before," he said. "I had just got done with a full 9-to-5, I hadn't processed anything — there was a lot of stress that came with that. ... It was hard."
The commute got even more complex last year. Between the 2022 and 2023 baseball seasons, he and Natalie moved to Chicago to be closer to doctors helping her through some recent medical issues.
He planned to work remotely and wait tables at their favorite Streeterville restaurant, Volare. But before he went forward with that work plan, he received a full-time offer to remain in sports as director of fan experience at the Miller Company.
With the new job in place and Natalie's support, Parks kept working as the Bees' emcee. This time he would take red-eye flights between Chicago and Salt Lake City for every Bees homestand, staying at his friend's basement and receiving early morning rides to and from the airport from his closest coworkers.
Most of this was kept away from the general public.
"Nobody knew that," he said.
A series of full-circle moments
There are many aspects to his journey that Parks thinks about now as he starts his new job.
First, he thinks about how ironic it is that he and Klauke — the only two radio voices since the Bees were reestablished in 1994 — fell in love with sports broadcasting through watching or listening to games on WGN. Then, getting offered his dream job while living in the city that sparked the dream.
There's no place I'd rather be than right here and right now.
–Salt Lake Bees radio broadcaster Tony Parks, on his new job
But that's just the beginning. There are so many that Parks was certain he left out several details in the almost hour that he spoke with KSL.com.
What he does notice off the top of his head is that the team's opener is at Sacramento, taking him back close to where he was born and where he revisited many times in his 20s to help raise his sister. He knows enough people in the area that he spent the days before the season opener juggling over 100 ticket requests from friends and family there to cheer him on opening weekend. The season was supposed to begin Friday but it was rained out.
There's another celebration planned for his first home game calling the Bees. That will be on Tuesday, almost exactly four years to the day that he was laid off. Taking the job now also allows him to be the voice of the team during what may be its final season at Smith's Ballpark, a venue he visited many times as a kid.
He, his wife, mother and other family members all agree, that everything fell into place perfectly in a way none of them imagined.
"So (the season opener) is big for me. It's a big deal," Parks says, summing it all up ahead of his first game as the Bees' play-by-play voice. "There's no place I'd rather be than right here and right now."
