Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Green Green Grass of Home

I'm not gonna lie to you. This kind of stuff interests me way more than it should:

Mowing patterns in major league baseball run the gamut, from San Francisco’s AT&T Park, where the grass is mowed in one direction so no pattern appears, to Boston’s Fenway Park, where the groundskeeper David Mellor is renowned for his grass-cutting creativity. Here is what fans can expect to see when the playoffs begin . . .

. . . LOS ANGELES ANGELS, ANGEL STADIUM: Barney Lopas mows the outfield so that each fielder stands among stripes pointed toward home, to help balls roll straight rather than “snake.”The infield is a popular variation of checkerboards and stripes.Lopas’ hopes for the playoffs: “Just green grass and no snaking.”
If I owned a stadium, I'd probably make my son mow it. Builds character.

4 comments:

Daniel said...

My wife is a baseball fan, but not as into it as I am. The mowing pattern of fields is the most interesting part of baseball for her. She always remarks that she wants me to mow our lawn like the Angels do. Aside from not having any idea how to do that, I usually tell her it's probably not worth the effort.

Maybe someday I'll do it to surprise her.

tadthebad said...

Usually reserved for the playoffs, I love the Red Sox logo mowed into the infield grass at Fenway. Creative, clever and cool. Nice touch. However, I'd hate to be the groundskeeper that draws that duty as it seems like it would be a huge pain in the ass.

Unknown said...

Mowing the stadium sure is powerful fun.

Anonymous said...

APBA Guy-

Of course, in discussing ball park hroticulure, one would be remiss not to mention the tomato plants that have long been an Orioles fixture, first at Memorial Stadium then at Camden.

My dad used to do the 90 minute drive to Memorial Stadium from the Va suburbs just to talk tomatoes with the groundskeepers before the game.