SKeep--all points well taken. When I say a machine--I have access to the boro bull dozer. Lips were so bad I decided to cut them off about 18" and now in the process of re-planting grass. I've read all the pointers on power washing so I plan on doing that once I get the field back in decent shape.
Back to the grass line question... If you look at the MLB diagram closely you can see that the 1st and 3rd basepaths are 6 feet wide. The 45' restraining box is 3' wide--and by eyeballing the schematic--it looks like the dirt base path straddles the foul line 3 feet on both sides.
However, take a look at any major league game on TV tonight. I think you'll see that the outside part of the restraining box is actually in the dirt...which reinforces to me that the actual dirt basepaths are not centered 3 foot around the baselines. They look to be 2 feet dirt in fair territory and 4 feet dirt in foul territory. By eyeballing the grass line on TV between 1st and 2nd--it also looks more like 2 feet to me.
I know this is a pretty boring issue--but I am at a point where I can put this field back together the way it should be--and I find this grassline issue interesting. I guess I would just love to know the real reason why these grasslines in the pro's seem to be a little different than the specs....