Notes: Outfield grass redone for Game 3
By Marc Zarefsky / MLB.com
CHICAGO -- When the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks resume their
National League Division Series with Game 3 at Wrigley Field on
Saturday, they will be playing on almost completely new outfield grass.
"We did some sodding and got the field in the best possible shape for a
playoff game," head groundskeeper Roger Baird said Friday. "There was a
fair amount of sod brought in, thick cut, and it took us about three
days to do it. We decided to put mostly a whole new outfield in."
The outfield grass at Wrigley was criticized by opposing teams in the
last few weeks of the season for being unsafe for outfielders to play
on. The field had burnt patches of grass, which were predominantly in
center field, resulting from two concerts by The Police in early July.
"They must have had a monster-truck rally out there," Cincinnati
outfielder Adam Dunn said after the Reds series in mid-September.
Former Pirates manager Jim Tracy expressed similar opinions after
Pittsburgh's 13-8 loss in Chicago on Sept. 21. "The outfield is
horrendous to play on -- the worst I've ever seen," he said. "It's not
a Major League-caliber outfield. It's really bad."
Baird did not want to answer questions about the criticism.
"We work year round," Baird said. "We work hard every day. I've said
for years, I think I've got one of the best crews in baseball. They
give it their all. They care for their job -- it's not just a job, we
love what we do."
This is Baird's 25th season with the Cubs, and 12th as head
groundskeeper. This is not the first time he has had to conduct a mass
overhaul of the outfield during the season, and although there are a
few brown patches in left and right, Baird insisted that the field will
be fine.
"We've had it where we've gotten hit with a disease, or you run into
problems, and you have to repair it during the course of the season,"
Baird said. "We had outfield areas that we replaced.
"It's ready to play baseball on."
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com
