The Oilers nearly moved to Albuquerque in 1961 in part due to the stadium's poor state of repair before A. Ray Smith bought the team and heavily renovated the stadium to ensure the Oilers would stay in Tulsa.

The grandstand's poor condition was even mentioned comically in Jim Bouton's landmark baseball memoir Ball Four.

[3] After the Oilers, long a mainstay of the AA Texas League, won promotion to Triple-A, Smith poured significant resources into keeping Oiler Park at something approaching Triple-A standards.

However, when he could not get support from public or private sources for further repairs, he moved the Oilers to New Orleans as the Pelicans after the 1976 season.

In 1977, part of the grandstand collapsed during a major league exhibition game.