Results tagged ‘ MLB ’
2013 MLB Youth Academy Field Clinic Series
Over the past couple days I had the chance to meet some future MLB groundskeepers at the Houston and New Orleans Youth Academy field maintenance clinics. It was a great event in both cities with a wonderful turnout of current and future turf professionals.
At our clinic in Houston, we had some super guest speakers. Dan Bergstrom with the Astros, Tom Burns with Diamond Pro and our Chad Olsen . We went through mound an homeplate construction, infield and turf management – stressing safety for the kids that play on the fields in their parks. One of the highlights was talking with a group of students from Nimitz High School who attend the Co-op AG program. The teacher brought the students to expose them to sportsturf management. It was great talking with them about a career in this industry.
From there we headed to New Orleans for their Academies inaugural clinic. This venue just opened a few months ago and is still being updated and improved. Most of the attendees were from local parks and rec as well as nearby universities. Again our speakers provided a lot of grass roots education for the group. Rene Asprion, Tommy Marks, Chad Olsen and I presented topics on turf maintenance, field layouts, construction and safety tips. A BIG Thanks to Darrell Miller, Eddie and D.Wade from the UYA team for all your help in pulling these clinics together. MLB is making a major effort to provide education around the world in developing better fields. These clinics are a key component of that initiative. Future clinics are being planned in Compton, CA and DC so stay tuned.
Groundskeeper- Mankind’s First Job!
According to the Bible, Adam was given a job to take care of the grounds in the land of Eden. It would appear that this was our world’s first employment offer. Genesis 2-15 ” And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” . According to Christianity we are decedents of Adam… therefore from a groundskeeper. After tending the turf in the garden, Adam was offered a promotion to name all the animals including the groundhog which eventually led us to groundhog day ..
Over the weekend our sportsturf industry received a fair amount of press due to all the great turf managers working at the Superbowl and also from a fun article that Mark Newman wrote about Ground Hog Day / Grounds Crew Day which came out the day before the Superbowl. The article provides an analogy regarding the same Biblical verse.
Here is the irony! After the SuperBowl half time show they ran the Dodge truck commercial featuring the voice of “Paul Harvey” one of my favorite radio shows ever! Paul eloquently spoke about how God made farmers to tend to the land, sow the seeds, milk the cows, etc.. a really good commercial no doubt referring to the same verse.
So MLB.com and the NFL painted a similar message over the weekend about farmers and groundskeepers. Its a good day for the men and women who tend the earth! How about that!
Fyi – Genesis 1-11. “And God said let the earth bring forth grass…
New Ballpark in Hermosillo Opens with the Caribe World Series
The 2013 caribbean world series began today in Sonora mx The field is looking pretty sharp thanks to Chad Olsen and the construction team in Hermosillo. The young sea spray Paspalum Turfgrass will be under a lot of use in the next week of games. A great event to open this new ballpark to the world. I’m just excited for the people of Sonora and their new venue. I am sure the city leaders and staff are Proud of the accomplishment. This park will set a new standard for future stadiums in Mexico and South America.
2013 Caribbean World Series Venue looking sweet!
The new Sonora stadium in Hermosillo Mexico is almost complete. Typical details remain as with most major stadium projects, but this park is setting a standard for future venues outside of the USA. With the help of the D-backs relationship over the years the Naranjeros plan to fulfill a plan to build the best ballpark in Mexico. Congrats to the team ownership and municipal government.
Lets just say they are making a really good run at the title of the best park in Latin America! Congrats to Chad Olsen and our Brickman sportsturf team that have put time into the new field development over the past several months.
Ballparks in Regensburg and Athens
On my recent venture we took some time to check in with the folks in regensburg Germany to see how the WBC qualifier preparations were coming along. Stopped in Amsterdam to see the developments of a new ballpark and then onto Athens. The 2004 Olympic baseball stadium in Athens is currently not a baseball venue but a soccer venue. At least they are using it for a outdoor sport!
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There is only one “main” olympic stadium still being used for baseball which is in barcelona host of the 1992 games. The 1996 olympic stadium was Fulton county stadium which was torn down,the 2000 olympic main stadium in Sydney was a showground for cattle and was only a temporary venue for the games. However west of Sydney is the 2nd olympic venue and it has been resurrected by mlb and is used in the abl league. The 2008 wukesong baseball olympic stadium in beijing and both Practice fields were reduced to rubble shortly after the games. So the Olympic baseball stadium legacy plan is not doing so great
MC
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