My son played yesterday at a high school varsity field with no base paths down the first or third base sides--as in it was just grass. Was dirt from. First to second and second to third. Son hated it. Any reason anyone can come up with why you would choose to do that? Just created a lot of comversation among parents and none of us could come up with an answer so decided to ask.
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Less cuts (where dirt touches grass) to maintain.
That's the way our HS field is now setup. They took out the dirt base path from home to 1st and 3rd to home a couple of years back. A lot less maintenance. As go44dad said, less cuts, plus less raking and smoothing after games as well as you can paint the foul line a couple of times a year instead of every game.
We are seeing more and more fields setup this way in our area.
We have the same at son's field. As Go44 said less maintenance and also easier drainage as less potential for standing water. I have noticed it more and more on non-turf fields now in our area.
I am just barely south of where I-80 and I-55 cross.There are a number of fields set up here like that including ours.
I've heard it's pretty big down south...I saw it for the first time this summer at a PG tourney in NJ at Gloucester College. It also struck me as odd.
That's how our field is here in the Northwest. We used to have dirt base paths from home to 1st and 3rd to home, but our current coach changed it last year. There were many reasons for the change, which included less standing water when it rained and easier maintenance. The lips were so bad on the base paths that it was very hard to play small ball (he is a big fan of bunting). It was like playing pinball, you never knew how the ball would bounce. It was almost impossible to lay a bunt down one of those lines and have it stay fair. We get zero support or money from the district to maintain our fields, so all of the field maintenance cost is on the team and the actual work is on the coaches and players. Anything to make the maintenance easier is welcome.
That makes sense. Thanks for the insight. Apparently then it was a separate issue that they had no foul lines painted (remember, it's Iowa, our real season doesn't start for about a month).
Son's college field (an old ballpark) is grass down the lines. He loves it- especially bunting down line. There are lines, but not dirt.
Outstanding job of lining the running lane so it does NOT touch the foul line.
But -- the batter's boxes should be complete.
