quote:Originally posted by nickp:
Regarding grass basepaths--I think many field maintenance people come to the conclusion that the grass basepaths are much easier to maintain than dirt basepaths.
I’m sure you’re at least partially correct in that many maintenance people THINK that the grass basepaths are much easier to maintain than dirt basepaths. Trouble is, either those folks don’t get a lot of play on their fields, or they don’t have much of a clue about how grass responds to a lot of concentrated wear and tear.
quote:I am in the middle of trying to rennovate a field that has been neglected for 5 years. The lips around the infield have built up due to dragging--so I am in the process of knocking them down with a machine and will be re-planting grass.
What kind of “machine” are you talking about? I’ve got an AA in Horticulture and been maintaining ball fields for many a moon and wasn’t aware that a machine to do that had come out. I’m still using the hose with the pressure nozzle.
Something people don’t realize is, although the vast majority of “buildup” comes from ****-poor dragging technique, there are two other way that probably make up for 20-30% of the problem. Poor raking technique can do more to wreck a field than what people believe! No matter how careful a person is, when they rake, tiny particles of soil fly up and away from the rake, and the faster the rake moves, the more particles are kicked into the air and the farther they’ll go. The only real way to combat that is to make sure all raking is done with a damp soil, but even then it won’t stop all of it.
Raking will also cause more buildup in the direction the rake is moving. IOW, if you rake the baselines “across” rather than “with” the foul lines, not only will the center of the base path be lower than closer to the grass, those little particles will be sent in the direction of the grass, rather than just in random directions.
The other way a lot of soil gets into the grass, is on or because of player’s shoes. The next time you get the chance, watch the feet of the infielders closely. They’re kicking the dirt nervously, plus soil sticks to the bottom of the spikes and will get naturally scraped off in the grass.
quote:So, to answer your question, I think to maintain a field with grass basepaths is probably less work (although I prefer the look of dirt).
Got take a look at any ball field that has no dirt base paths, has more than 2 games a week and practices on it, and I think you’ll see very quickly why grass base paths could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch!
quote:By the way--thanks SKeep for pointing out the flexibility of field construction specs. As a followup, the NFHS diagram shows that the grassline along the 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd basepaths are 3 feet indented from the actual lines connecting the bases. Again, I look at most ballparks and that indentation is much less--probably more on the order of 18" to 2 feet. I'm wondering the reason for that--although as you point out--there is flexibility in the construction layout. The only thing I can see is that it makes the grassline closer to the runner--which more or less gives him a better straight line guide between bases...
I think if you actually took tools and measured those fields, you’d find there was more of an indent than you thought. But even if it were true, I’d be willing to bet that somewhere along the line, someone had messed with the original layout. What normally takes place when a field is built, is that someone will get hold of the field specs from MLB. You can see them at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/0...ives_of_the_game.pdf
Unfortunately, people putting in fields don’t often realize that the specs used for MLB fields are for fields maintained by a crew made up of someone very highly trained to oversee the maintenance, plus a lot of guys running around taking care of things, and with a virtually limitless budget. That’s a little different than some volunteer at a HS field, doing what he can all by himself, with maybe a few hundred buck to buy some much needed supplies.
Unless someone goes out and cleans the soil from the grass, wherever the two meet, one of two things is going to happen, and usually it will be some combination of both. There will be “lips” built up, and/or the dirt will kill off some of the grass, effectively making the dirt areas larger. The only way to fight those problems effectively, is to clean off the grass after every field use.
I seriously doubt that the grass line being closer to a direct line from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd is because someone wanted to help the runner find the next base.
More likely, if it was even a consideration, that consideration was to keep the ball on the grass as long as possible to slow it down or give the fielders the best hops possible. But there’s one thing for certain, maintaining a field in tip top shape takes some time, but it takes even more time to try to fix it once its been screwed up.