Results tagged ‘ Japan ’
“United at the Seams – Divided by Country!” Congrats to the 2013 WBC Groundcrews
With Rounds 1 and 2 coming to a close there have been some great stories and awesome competition during the first 2 weeks of the WBC. The Games in PR were packed as were the game sin Japan. Country pride says a lot for each of the teams competing. I love the ground crew T-Shirts in Taichung. “United at the seams divided by country.” In our case its more united by the rake… nevertheless a pretty cool T-shirt. The fields have played well all the way around so far. Some really hard work by each of the crews and the local staffs in each country. Looking forward to seeing some photos from our US ballparks that hosted some of the first round action.
Chad Olsen has been overseeing our Japan fields, Kevin Moses, Joe and Darrell in Taichung and Chad K., Dennis and myself in San Juan along with some help from Eric, and Anthony. Our groundcrew in San Jaun had the tarp down to a mere 1:30 seconds. With rains threatening almost everyday we were able to get everything in with only a slight delay on opening night. Tough to do when NOAA‘s satellite services were down for a few days but they were so pumped to to a great job it made it easy.
A big thank you goes out to Deborah Martorell Meteorologist at WAPA. She really helped us out with some accurate info until the NOAA satellite radar came back up. Onto round two in Miami and the final in SF. Good luck guys!
MLB Wraps up Japan Series
What a week. A lot of firsts even for this old dog. Great games both pretty close. A’s came out ahead tonight so now the A’s and Mariners are tied for 1st place for about a week. A lot of thanks go out to way to many people I cant remember for helping us pull this one off. Tamba, Hokike and my man Kas. Shawn took us through the first steps and chad Olsen played the key roll in making the event successful Along with the masked man and moma boss. Both supervisors that we nick named for fun
What a great crew of Japanese and American turf managers. Couple other fun shots of the final game.
Then there is cepesdes
And my fav..UMPIRES TRAINING!
Tokyo Dome Prepares for 2013 MLB Opening Series
Plans are well underway on the field and ballpark improvements at the Tokyo dome for the 2013 MLB Opening Series. Teams arrive tomorrow, practice saturday then back to back double headers before the opening games on weds and thursday between the A’s and Mariners . Reconstruction of bullpens, homeplates, mounds, base pits, turf repairs, etc… took place over a 38hour time frame due to the event constraints around the opening series…The guys worked in shifts from the crew but there were a few Yomuri warriors along with the grounds supervisors that worked straight through along with Chad-son an Murray-son. The dome is a slightly pressurized facility that helps support the roof membrane that covers the stadium. Built in 1988 on the old Velodrome site, you can still walk in the outfield and see the track railings. Every time you leave the park your ears pop from the pressure in the building.
This is our 5th time working in the “egg”. The staff has always been great and they recently made a few changes. The head groundskeeper Hoshimoto an his trusty assistant Suzuki retired last year after working 50+ years with yomuri giants and the Tokyo dome . They look like they are both 40! A true inspiration to sportsturf managers around the world. 50 years with one company! Hoshimoto was telling me about the earthquakes and how the dome was swaying last night. What’s cool is they promoted Tamba and Kohike from within showing consistency and loyalty to the young guys on the crew. The Dome is showing its age but at the sametime versatility to be able to host major events throughout the year similar to the rogers centre in toronto.
Going to be a fun event…i really like not having that big tarp to mess with!
In Honor of St Paddy’s Day…Thanks you Mr Hops!
When you think of St. Patrick’s day you cant help but to think of green and beer. Growing grass is fun but brewing beer is pretty fun too. It’s actually not that difficult. A little water, brewers yeast, malted barley and hops and away you go! Pretty much anything with sugar in it will eventually ferment but the brewers yeast helps the fermentation process. The flavor of beer comes from the hops ( photo above is a hops field we drove by in Germany.) As a novice brewer, hops tends to balance the sweetness of the malt. You can find Hops in all sorts of flavors and aromas these days. Hops also acts as a preservative in the beer and helps maintain that frothy head after a good pour. Beer is one of the worlds oldest prepared drinks and is number 3 on the all time popular world drinks after water and tea.
One of the coolest beer dispensers I have seen is located in the Narita airport terminal in Japan. Set the “chilled” glass on the machine, push a button…and the glass goes to a perfect angle as the machine pours the beer perfectly every time. Pretty cool.
That being said off to Japan for the Opening Series Preps between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s ! Have a great St Patrick’s day and drink responsibly.
Paying it forward
Big week for the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) Our conference starts this week in long beach ca. This will be my 25th year attending the conferences. Quiet a bit has changed and for the better. Great leadership and our industry staying true north with a vision to educate and share information about making sports fields safer and playable around the world has allowed our numbers to grow. When I started to become really involved with the association was in 1991, I think we had about 100 people show up at the conference in Vero beach. Now its in the thousands.
I have always enjoyed teaching and sharing what I have learned over the years in baseball. I recall sharing stories of my own turf problems and field issues with so many that its difficult to remember the number of times others shared their insight to make a project better or a field safer that i was involved with. It’s all about paying it forward. The expression “pay it forward” is used to describe the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead. This conference is all about sharing ideas and learning new ones from others.
This past year we did several sports turf clinics around the world and this year we have a bit larger docket of clinics in the works. I believe we are up to 6 on paper. Dont want to let the cat out of the bag but they are all international. Its going to be a fun year with the MLB Opener in Japan, the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers and several new ballparks developing outside the USA. Looking forward to sharing those experiences and many others with everyone this year.
Hoping everyone has a great and prosperous new year.
Taiwan’s Ballparks Prepare for 2011 MLB All-Star Tour
The MLB All Stars arrive this Sunday in Taiwan to play the Chinese Taipei National Team in a 5 game series at 3 ballparks across the country. Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium in Taipei, Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung and Kaohsiung National Stadium in Kaohsiung will each host games. With a practice session on Monday in Zinzhuang and a game on Tuesday we have been pretty busy helping our friends in Taiwan prepare the fields and ballparks for the event. The last All star tour was in Japan , I believe in 2006 and I can’t recall the last MLB All star tour that was in Taiwan however we did play a couple Dodger Games here last year.
The Xinzhuang Baseball has hosted several World Cup Baseball events dating back to when I was here in 2001. They actually had an all clay infield that first series. Coming back in 2007 for the Baseball world Cup they replaced the infield clay with grass and upgraded maintenance etc.. Its an older park better known as Xinzhuang Baseball “Court” in New Taipei City. They also call it Taipei City stadium and seats about 14000.
The Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung is a larger ballpark at about 19000 and has seen numerous Major events. A unique design of an iron sculpture arcs over the stadium. It’s a natural turf field as well with typical 330 distances down the lines and 400 to center but this ballpark plays big. Taichung has 2 other stadiums that are also pretty nice.C
Chengcing Stadium in Kaohsiung hosted the Dodgers series last year and is also ongoing some minor upgrades for this event. The largest park of the series at 25000 it will see the final two games of the event. We have had a few guys seasoned vets working the parks helping preparations. Greg Jones from the revolution ballpark is in Taichung, Ryan Woodley from the Staten Island Yankees Ballpark in Kaohsiung and Eric Ogden who helped us with the 2007 World Cup in Europe and Daytona Beach.
Having worked numerous tournaments here in Taiwan the people are crazy about the game . Its going to be a fun event and the country is really excited to see these games.
MC
Recent Comments