EMILY KWONG, HOST:
Major League Baseball stadiums all over the country are hosting their first games of the season this week. But it's not just the players making their debut - oh, no. The fields take months to prepare to ensure they're in top shape to wow audiences and minimize injury. Scott Maucione from member station WYPR takes us to Baltimore to see how the Orioles prepare for their home opener.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOOLS STRIKING GROUND)
SCOTT MAUCIONE, BYLINE: Orioles groundskeeper Nicole Sherry's tamping dirt at home plate.
NICOLE SHERRY: We built all this back up from scratch - not the entire plate but just, you know, this rim area.
MAUCIONE: Yeah.
SHERRY: And that's all we've been doing is tamp, tamp, tamp, so...
MAUCIONE: Wow.
SHERRY: ...Yeah, we're a little bit exhausted.
MAUCIONE: For the better part of a week, Sherry's crew has been tamping dirt by hand with flattening tools to ensure the home plate mound at Camden Yards is at a certain elevation and gradient for baseball and for water runoff. The work's all part of a monthlong sprint the Orioles grounds crew goes through every spring to ensure the field's in tip-top shape for its TV appearances and for the players who will be running and fielding balls on it.
SHERRY: The main importance of keeping a safe and healthy playing surface is for the athletes that play here. You know, if we don't have a good root system or good, strong grass plant that can withstand the impact from their - the soles of their feet or their diving for a ball, you know, that could, in turn, cause an injury.
MAUCIONE: A divot in the dirt could be the difference between a hurried run to first base and a torn ACL or an errant ball bounce to the face. So as spring nears, it's all hands on deck to get the grass growing in green, the dirt smooth and the chalk lines fresh.
ANDREW LAWING: Everything's starting to wake up, so we're trying to cut. We're trying to get the grass stimulated and growing.
MAUCIONE: Andrew Lawling (ph) is the Orioles' assistant director of field operations.
LAWING: We take field data every single day. We're measuring the moisture. We're measuring the soil temp, the canopy temp and all the environmental factors that play a part of how to grow grass or anything, really.
MAUCIONE: Once things are growing, the team focuses on maintenance and cosmetics.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOWING)
MAUCIONE: That's the sound of heavy-duty mowers the team uses to give the grass that fresh checkered look you see on television. But the chance of a wild pitch from Mother Nature is always present. Sherry keeps a Doppler weather radar screen up in her office. And for opening day, the forecast is looking questionable. The Orioles have a crew of about 30 people on call to do groundskeeping tasks during games. They're the ones who pull a gigantic tarp over the diamond at the chance of rain - an important job to protect the field during storms so players can get back on the field quickly. Nathan Shifflett is one of the grounds crew members.
NATHAN SHIFFLETT: It's unreal. I feel like it's dream come true 'cause I always dreamed of being a baseball player for the Orioles when I was younger. And now I get the next best thing is, be on that field, taking care of them to make sure it's all good for them to go, looking good.
MAUCIONE: The Orioles are a hyped-up team with loads of young talent. And Nicole Sherry, a 22-year veteran at the stadium, is only one of two women to ever serve as a Major League Baseball groundskeeper.
SHERRY: For the fans, like, I mean, like, you see this field, and you're like, wow, this is amazing looking. You know what? I could see all the wrong in it. I could see all the little things that, you know, are imperfect. But I think for any fan that comes to the field or watches it on TV, you know, they marvel at this, you know, ballpark, and they marvel at the field.
MAUCIONE: The Baltimore Orioles hold their first home game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday. For NPR News, I'm Scott Maucione in Baltimore.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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