Last month, I blogged about the Buena Vista baseball team and how they had to play all of their games on the road because their home stadium, which they share with Storm Lake High School, was undergoing major renovations. They never did get to play a home game, but the project is now far enough along that the high school has played a few games there. On Memorial Day, my friend who is on the Storm Lake school board took me to the ballpark so that I could inspect the progress.
The biggest reason that the project took some time was because they completely re-did the infield. They also leveled and reseeded the outfield, but that’s a pretty routine procedure. What they did to the infield was something that has never been done to any other infield in the entire state of Iowa. They installed a synthetic surface known as Field Turf.
Field Turf is the artificial surface that is being installed by athletic teams, large and small, all across the country. From NFL franchises to high schools, the list of entities using this blend of sand and rubber is long. It’s a far cry from the rock-hard Astroturf popularized in the 70’s and 80’s.
Field Turf is comprised of multiple layers. The bottom layer is large stones loosely packed together. On top of that is a layer of tightly packed small rocks. Resting on top of the rocks is carpet backing that provides the base for the synthetic blades of grass. On top of that is approximately a three inch layer of sand and tiny rubber pellets. The top layer is made up of artificial fibers treated to resemble real grass.
The infield in Storm Lake is completely covered with the stuff. I mean everything. There is no dirt around the bases, home plate or even the pitching mound. It’s a little strange to see at first. Where there should be grass, it is painted green. Where there should be dirt, it is painted brown.
That sounded unbelievably tacky to me, but as I rolled my wheelchair onto the new field, I had to admit that it looked pretty good. Storm Lake head coach Bill McCabe was getting ready for practice and told us his thoughts on the new surface.
He loves it. Every ground ball takes a true hop. The field can drain 11 inches of rain an hour. And every baseball coach’s fantasy, maintenance is next to nothing. No more dragging the infield. No more hauling out the tarp. His biggest problem was trying to figure out a way to keep players from dragging in rocks on their cleats from outside.
I didn’t stand on it (or run the bases. Surprise!), but I did run my foot on the surface. It felt like other Field Turf fields I have been on. It was very smooth and had a lot of give. I have spoken with enough football players to know that the surface is great for football. But I don’t know many who have played baseball on it. So I asked Bill what his players thought about it a week into the season.
They feel the same as their coach. They love it. As a former infielder, I think I can understand why. No bad hops and no grounders that go above the knees sounds good to me.
I have two issues. I don’t want to call them “concerns”, but they are things I am curious to see how they go. First of all, I imagine throwing off a mound covered in Field Turf instead of dirt is going to piss off a few pitchers. They are a finicky bunch. Bill says it hasn’t been an issue yet. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around throwing off of a rubber that’s on rubber. Secondly, the ground where the synthetic turf ends and the outfield grass begins is uneven. That will just take time to smooth out.
Those quirks and the uniqueness of the ballpark should give Storm Lake and Buena Vista quite the home field advantage. The surface has a life expectancy of 20 years and would be easy to update if so desired.
For more information on the surface, check out the website of the company that installed it, Midwest FieldTurf.