A Day In The Life Of A Groundskeeper
By Matt Ellinghuysen
Baseball is America’s pastime and always will be, but many do not understand what all has to happen behind the scenes before the first pitch can even be thrown. This is where my job comes in. For the past three summers I have been the head of the baseball grounds crew for the city of Saint Charles, Minn.
Typical days start when I wake up around 9am or so, and go around to check all five baseball fields of which I am in charge. I am looking for things such as standing water if it had rained the previous night, or gaping holes which need to be filled in around high traffic areas such as first base, second base, the pitcher’s mound, and the home plate area which includes where the batters, catchers, and umpire stand. These areas must be patched up every day in order for a new game to begin.
On days when it rains I am usually prepared. I do this by watching the weather forecast on the television or checking it on the Internet. I also make sure my water pumps are clean, primed, and ready to go as well as, making sure I have enough Diamond Dry; That’s my go-to life saver in order to make the field playable for that night’s game. Diamond Dry is a kitty-litter type drying agent which when put down on the wet dirt and raked in, sucks all the moisture out of it before my eyes as if it were magic.
Another way I dry the baseball fields is by spike-dragging them with my Toro 2000 Sandpro, a three-wheeler that contains a drag and the back to groom the field and spikes I can put down to dig it up. On most days I spend more of my time on the Sandpro then I do on my feet. Spike dragging the field allows the clay to dry. Afterwards, it looks like crop land which has just been chiseled plowed and ready for planting. Even after all this work is done, some days Mother Nature has the upper hand and you cannot play; but as my high school baseball coach Scott McCready always reminds me, “Rain doesn’t mean rain-out.”
Being a head groundskeeper may sound easy to most, but when it all comes down to it, I am the deciding factor as to whether the game is to be played in bad weather. I also affect the way the game is played by the length of the grass when I cut it or things such as how the infield is dragged and what sort of hops the ball takes as it bounces toward an awaiting infielder. I like this control, because I feel I know what kind of field conditions the players want, considering I have been playing baseball for over 15 years now.
If nothing too major is wrong with the field, I begin to prep it by first raking around all the bases. After this I go to home plate and fill in the batter’s box with dirt and add water. Then after it is level, I will tamp down home plate so it will not erode from under a batter’s feet and so it is a level. Then I go to the pitcher’s mound and do the same thing I did to home plate which is fill in the holes, and level it off so the pitchers’ feel comfortable when pitching. After this I will hop onto the Toro Sandpro and lay down drag flat behind it. I usually start at the pitcher’s mound and drive a circle around it to groom the field and after this I just keep following the my path as the circle begins to get larger and larger and before you know it you have groomed the whole infield. Some people may think I spend too much time on each field, but I take pride in my work and jokingly tell them, “I treat the field as if it were my child.”
When the grooming is complete I lay down the chalk lines for the batter’s box and the foul lines. I use a wooden template which I lay chalk into for the batter’s box and for the foul lines I lay chalk down my laying down a string and pulling it tight to make sure there are no imperfections down the baselines, because one mix-up could affect the game. If it needs to be down I also paint the foul lines in the outfield, by again taking a string to make a straight line to the foul poles. After finishing getting a field ready for a game, I take a moment and look over the prized work I have just finished, only to realize also that tomorrow I will have to do it all over again.
Many would find my job as time consuming, boring, or maybe even dull, but I love what I do and take pride in it, and it is just one more way I can be involved in the beloved game of baseball even long after my playing days are over.
Toro Sandpro 2000
http://media.photobucket.com/image/sand%20pro%202000/sox1fan/People/Anderson_MaintForeman.jpg
Groomed infield
http://www.whitlampaint.com/Baseball_Field1.JPG
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