1/11/2024 0 Comments Monster jam angel stadium“Taking this thing from nothing to the best baseball field we can make – that doesn’t get old.” Crews work on home plate as they prepare for the start of the baseball season at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Thursday, March 21, 2019. It’s what makes my heart beat,” Lopas says. He goes through the process every year – seeing his handiwork treated roughly, then covered up completely for an off-season of events, but he never tires of the annual spring renewal. He’s always tweaking his procedures to cater to the team’s manager, nine coaches and 25 players, and to better withstand the repeated tread of cleats, whether plastic, rubber or metal.Īsked if he gets compliments on his work, Lopas modestly declines to discuss it. ![]() When an aggressive play leaves a divot in the field, he’s got a small sod farm behind the outfield wall for patches. But even then, his work isn’t done.Īt home games, he watches the first three innings from the batting cage below the dugout steps in case he’s needed. Lopas uses more fertilizer, a liquid iron supplement and plenty of watering to make sure the grass is a vibrant green before the TV cameras switch on and the stands fill with fans. The stripes go toward the outfield position players, which Lopas said can keep balls from “snaking,” or zig-zagging, instead of moving in a straight line. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)Īfter a few days, he’ll start mowing the grass every day or two, and he’ll “verticut” it – sort of like a hair stylist putting in layers – so it doesn’t get too puffy, because the outfielders don’t like that. Head groundskeeper Barney Lopas waters the recently-laid sod as the field takes shape at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Monday, March 4, 2019. Lopas puts a top dressing of sand on the fresh-laid sod to help hide the seams, and soon he begins watering it with a garden hose as activity continues around him. ![]() Meanwhile, a tractor is driving in increasingly large figure eights, tilling the outfield dirt to prepare it for the same process. They fit the strips together like enormous puzzle pieces covering the infield. A small sort of forklift unfurls the sod a roll at a time, with about a half-dozen workers following behind to line up the edges of the strips and trim off any overlap with small sickles.
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